can't really go wrong with any of these albums up through veedon fleece -- tupelo honey might be the one with the most filler, but it's still great.
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 16:59 (thirteen years ago) link
Get them all, but i'd agree w/ korn that your next acquisition should be St. Dominic's...Don't nobody forget the greatest live album ever(?): "It's Too Late to Stop Now" f/ '74!!
― Sanford, Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:08 (thirteen years ago) link
hell yeah that album is BONKERS
― lemmy ruxpin (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:09 (thirteen years ago) link
caledonia soul is off the heezy
sorta wanna vote for "Almost Independence Day" just to get the maximum bang for my buck. and cuz probly no one else will.
― Egyptian Raps Crew (bernard snowy), Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:12 (thirteen years ago) link
Love St Dominic's P (title track nearly had my vote), but feel as though the seeds of later rambling Van are in there - slightly bored by Almost Independence Day (ha xp).
― portrait of velleity (woof), Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:13 (thirteen years ago) link
going with "into the mystic"
perfect song
― gman59, Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:20 (thirteen years ago) link
hell yeah that album is BONKERSCypress Ave gets the audience whipped into a frenzy!Actually, forget all the rest of Van's catalogue...you all NEED "It's Too Late..."
― Sanford, Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:21 (thirteen years ago) link
xxp I think maybe it's cuz I got into VM at a time when I was listening to a lot of jazz, especially like Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane and shit — kind of approached those long-ass irish hippie religious experience jams with that same framework, and they sounded amazing
― Egyptian Raps Crew (bernard snowy), Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:21 (thirteen years ago) link
also I think his album closers are excellent in general — "Slim Slow Slider" is sometimes my fav track on Weeks; at other times tho it's simply a beautiful little gemlike poem of a song
― Egyptian Raps Crew (bernard snowy), Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:22 (thirteen years ago) link
and "Glad Tidings" may be a "Brown-Eyed Girl" ripoff but it's a pretty fun one so w/e
― Egyptian Raps Crew (bernard snowy), Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:23 (thirteen years ago) link
I was more ok with it a few years ago, liked the Celtic visionary stuff in my youth, but it's come to annoy me more and more now, quite impatient with it - think the later stuff has maybe poisoned the better earlier works for me? Like the 80s long'uns w/ iffy synths tested my patience and I'm less likely to trust him to guide me on a mystic journey. Also I smoke less weed.
― portrait of velleity (woof), Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:34 (thirteen years ago) link
haha, there are some iffy synths near the end of "Almost Independence Day" actually!!
― Egyptian Raps Crew (bernard snowy), Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:36 (thirteen years ago) link
just realized I've been listening to "Sister Ray" for the last 12 minutes. so I guess maybe I'm just a 'long songs' person/
― Egyptian Raps Crew (bernard snowy), Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:39 (thirteen years ago) link
love that moog on independence day
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:44 (thirteen years ago) link
i know i recc'd it on some other van thread, but the pacific high studios bootleg from 1972 is beyond essential. some of the best van morrison of all time.
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:45 (thirteen years ago) link
what is that (awesome) 70's live boot (on my other computer) with the 'just like a woman' cover and such? was that from yr blog tyler?
― bear, bear, bear, Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:48 (thirteen years ago) link
oh shit, xp ha
i never put it on my blog, but it should be out there. if anyone can't fid it, maybe i can up it.
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:50 (thirteen years ago) link
can't *find* it
so, so good
― bear, bear, bear, Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:52 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, there's stuff on there that is pretty breathtaking. i love it's too late, but pacific high might be better.
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 17:55 (thirteen years ago) link
Sweet Thing
― ciderpress, Thursday, 6 January 2011 18:11 (thirteen years ago) link
I'd love to hear that 1972 bootleg. What is your blog?
― kornrulez6969, Thursday, 6 January 2011 18:34 (thirteen years ago) link
http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.blogspot.comi'll try to upload it this week. it must be heard!
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 18:34 (thirteen years ago) link
― Egyptian Raps Crew (bernard snowy), Thursday, January 6, 2011 11:21 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
it hit me once that van's voice usually functions more like a saxophone, musically, than a regular singer
― lemmy ruxpin (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 6 January 2011 18:50 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah definitely
headphonestonedlistening to "Astral Weeks" (the song),especially when it gets quiet at the end,I swear I could perfectly see, in my mind's eye,how he worked the microphone, that little man,how tension seized his body like a fever,and how he drew it back
― Egyptian Raps Crew (bernard snowy), Thursday, 6 January 2011 19:12 (thirteen years ago) link
^TOTALLY! one of his most distinctive features imo.
― the Sonic Youths of suck (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, 6 January 2011 20:55 (thirteen years ago) link
The Way Young Lover's Do or Madam George from this list.Madam George has a verse where he's stumbling over his words and it breaks your heart.Had we gone to Veedon Fleece I think You Don't Pull No Punches has the most extraordinary singing he ever did.
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:00 (thirteen years ago) link
WISH VEEDON WAS HERE TOO.If it was i'd go for Punches or Streets Of Arklow.
As it isn't i'll say The Way Young Lovers Do.
― reallysmoothmusic (Jamie_ATP), Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:06 (thirteen years ago) link
has anyone actually listened to van's live astral weeks from a few year's back? i never did. was a little bit afraid to.
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:09 (thirteen years ago) link
(also seems like there should be a veedon fleece poll?)
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:10 (thirteen years ago) link
I so OD'd on Moondance - my friend's mom played that album like 10x/day while I was living at their house when I was 19 and it's been poisoned forever for me since as the soundtrack to middleclass lefty pretensions to artsiness. Astral Weeks, predictably, is my alltime album & at various points I might have been tempted to rep for "Beside You" or "Cyprus Avenue". "TB Sheets" is also amazing, but it's "Madame George" (in both its 'introverted' [Astral Weeks] and 'extroverted' [Bang Records] versions) that never loses its magic for me. I keep it under a rock for special occasions - probably never listen to either version more than once a year anymore - to protect its aura, tho.
Haven't ventured into too much of his career after Moondance though this thread is piquing my interest & reminding me how great he was when he was great.
Listening to the Bang material and Astral Weeks as Van's working-out of his coming-of-age experiences is an interesting exercise - there's something behind all those songs that remains just out of reach & operates them from behind the scenes.
The live Astral Weeks is execrable. Don't even listen to it in a masochistic spirit - just pretend it never happened.
Looking forward to tyler's blog post & we'll see where it goes from there...
― we can only flee in abject horror from yesterday's mistakes (staggerlee), Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:14 (thirteen years ago) link
i def prefer the pacific highway set to IT'S TOO LATE TO STOP NOW - i find Van's excessive patois-slippage on the latter to be v offputting, and i don't think the band on that rec is all that hot
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:29 (thirteen years ago) link
xpkinda know what you mean about moondance, but hopefully you can come around on it again someday -- really some wonderful stuff on there.
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:30 (thirteen years ago) link
yo i wanna give a shout out to van's karate kicks in The Last Waltz and his horrible brown suit
― lemmy ruxpin (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:30 (thirteen years ago) link
also the first time i heard a non-brown eyed girl van morrison song was when i was a kid and my sister watched this movie all the time on VHS dubbed off of our cousin's HBO:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/Dream_a_little_dream.jpg
― lemmy ruxpin (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:32 (thirteen years ago) link
they sure don't cast movies like that anymore
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:33 (thirteen years ago) link
eeee was just trying to remember who piper laurie was and GIS-ed her -- Carrie's mom! nooooo
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:34 (thirteen years ago) link
i also downloaded from somewhere or other a great four disc set of outtakes, studio rarities etc called 'the real philosopher's stone' - hunt that out, too
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:35 (thirteen years ago) link
yeahhh, that's got the moondance demos on there, which are pretty essential. y'know that philosopher's stone legit release has some great stuff on it too.
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:37 (thirteen years ago) link
people that just go for astral and moondance are definitely missing out on a LOT of his best. I'd say nearly everything up to 1980 is at least great with a lot of the stuff on records like Veedon and Highway being incredible.
― reallysmoothmusic (Jamie_ATP), Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:49 (thirteen years ago) link
into the music has some great stuff on it. i was just laughing with my brother about van naming a record "a period of transition" -- like there may as well be a sticker on it saying "you probably won't like this record."
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:52 (thirteen years ago) link
ITM is basically one long, beautiful reverie in its last fifteen minutes; and "Full Force Gale" is a great single.
― Gus Van Sotosyn (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:55 (thirteen years ago) link
According to critics and a bunch of fans i've spoken to, Hard Nose the Highway is meant to be one of his records to avoid. But it starts with this...which is incredible...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akAqMpp-Da0
― reallysmoothmusic (Jamie_ATP), Thursday, 6 January 2011 22:59 (thirteen years ago) link
how are those eighties record released after Beautiful Vision (which I like as a minor work)?
― Gus Van Sotosyn (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 6 January 2011 23:01 (thirteen years ago) link
hard nose the highway is about half a masterpiece tbh. some of my favorite van, along with stuff i always skip. "snow in anselmo" is amazing.
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 23:05 (thirteen years ago) link
sometimes I think that my favorite Van tune is Them's cover of "It's All Over Now Baby Blue"--definitely one of the best Dylan covers.
― the Sonic Youths of suck (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, 6 January 2011 23:36 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah it's fab, tho i might prefer 13th floor elevators' cover of that tune. if i had to choose.
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 23:37 (thirteen years ago) link
that's really good too, but I just dig the little bell-like notes that suffuse Them's cover--they're so lovely. Admittedly, my first exposure to those sounds was on Odelay. They're sampled in the song, "Jackass"
Still one of Van's prettiest moments.
― the Sonic Youths of suck (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, 6 January 2011 23:42 (thirteen years ago) link
hard nose the highway's good! you'd be missing out if you avoided it
― just sayin, Thursday, 6 January 2011 23:43 (thirteen years ago) link
great (terrible) cover too
― just sayin, Thursday, 6 January 2011 23:44 (thirteen years ago) link
ha, yeah, odelay's where i first heard it too. really is a lovely effect. xp
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 23:44 (thirteen years ago) link
Me too.
I'm very partial to Bryan Ferry's version.
― Gus Van Sotosyn (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 6 January 2011 23:47 (thirteen years ago) link
wow never heard snow in anselmo
how gorgeous
― lemmy ruxpin (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 6 January 2011 23:48 (thirteen years ago) link
insanely good version of that song here: http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/van-morrison/concerts/orphanage-july-29-1974.html
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 23:52 (thirteen years ago) link
also check this, which might be an early version of the same song? some similarities anyway, even though completely different lyrics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_YMPV3Y8sk
― tylerw, Thursday, 6 January 2011 23:56 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah holy shit at 'snow', jeez
― bear, bear, bear, Friday, 7 January 2011 00:03 (thirteen years ago) link
thing is nuts, some of those high notes that he sorta doesn't stick are heavy
― bear, bear, bear, Friday, 7 January 2011 00:06 (thirteen years ago) link
Just dug out Tupelo Honey prompted by this, and the back cover photo is hilarious: Van, his Woman and a Horse - but Van is sitting on a fence with his legs wide open, like some rustic porn idyll is about to begin. The horse looks worried to me.
― sonofstan, Friday, 7 January 2011 00:36 (thirteen years ago) link
I voted for Madame George but if you haven't heard TB Sheets, please do. It's florid and preposterous,and fantastic. I still can't believe it exists when I listen to it.
― Fruitless and Pansy Free (Dr. Joseph A. Ofalt), Friday, 7 January 2011 01:26 (thirteen years ago) link
Catching up.The live KSAN performance from 1971 is absolutely stunning. Think it is the same thing as the pacific high studios boot. Must hear for all Van fans. I'd give it the nod over "It's Too Late" though that's fabulous as well. EDIT: some of the tracks are up on youtube & are titled pacific high studios:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZpKAB_6qkM
The Greil Marcus book is not really a conventional biography. More of Greil's reactions to Van's music. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Voted for "Astral Weeks."
Can't resist posting one from this 1974 tv show. It will make Into The Mystic fresh again.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpPSBzGEklE
― that's not my post, Friday, 7 January 2011 05:13 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah snow in san anselmo is amazing.
IT WAS LAYING ON THE GROUND
― clotpoll, Friday, 7 January 2011 07:33 (thirteen years ago) link
love those 70s van performance clips. something amazing about them: from what i know of the guy, he's not the happiest person in the world, but watching stuff like that you can tell that he really does live for the music, like inhabiting those songs is really the only time he feels comfortable in his own skin.
― tylerw, Friday, 7 January 2011 16:25 (thirteen years ago) link
not that he looks happy in the into the mystic clip, haha.
― tylerw, Friday, 7 January 2011 16:33 (thirteen years ago) link
I love snow in San Anselmo. I've also got a soft spot for Wild Children from that album, with its sudden lurch into cocktail jazz
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Friday, 7 January 2011 19:09 (thirteen years ago) link
really i like too much of van's stuff to choose. i love "sweet thing" too.
― Moonlight Graham (chrisv2010), Friday, 7 January 2011 19:11 (thirteen years ago) link
here y'all gohttp://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/2642433271/nobody-feels-any-pain-van-morrisons-its-too
― tylerw, Friday, 7 January 2011 23:12 (thirteen years ago) link
woah, thanks tylerw, i know what ima listen too shortly!
― KC & the sunshine banned (outdoor_miner), Saturday, 8 January 2011 01:19 (thirteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Tuesday, 11 January 2011 00:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Wednesday, 12 January 2011 00:01 (thirteen years ago) link
On most days I would probably go for "Madam George", but tonight's it's all about "Slim Slow Slider". "I know you're dying, babe.." Jesus.
― Mule, Monday, 1 October 2012 20:17 (eleven years ago) link
new Van album out tomorrow!
― Inconceivable (to the entire world) (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Monday, 1 October 2012 22:04 (eleven years ago) link
has he done anything worth hearing recently...or in the last couple decades?
― farte blanche (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 1 October 2012 22:12 (eleven years ago) link
see the last several posts....
― the ones that I'm near most: fellow outcasts and ilxors (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 October 2012 22:42 (eleven years ago) link
nah it was in this thread Van Morrison: your views please
― tylerw, Monday, 1 October 2012 22:44 (eleven years ago) link
Wavelength is about where I start to get off the wagon, with a temporary rally for Into the Music
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Monday, 1 October 2012 23:07 (eleven years ago) link
man I love No Guru and Irish Heartbeat and The Waiting Game and Pay the Devil....Van is just awesome to me & I love that just keeps going
― Inconceivable (to the entire world) (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Monday, 1 October 2012 23:45 (eleven years ago) link
for kornrulz. listen to the lion, live from '74.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY8T35WsQfU
― that's not my post, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 06:53 (nine years ago) link
So Van recorded an interesting outtake in 1970 called "Coming Down to Joy" that didn't really work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abjYPKvgkv4
It was never given an official release and remains in the vault to this day. BUT, turns out he reworked the song for Kenneth Branagh's new film Belfast, and it was just nominated for an Oscar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHc5i1eenAM
I can't say I'm a fan of the movie - the shallow and syrupy depiction of growing up during the Troubles feels like Branagh's crowd-pleasing tendencies at their worst - but Morrison's new rendition of an old song is pretty decent. Too bad he's been a complete ass for the past year.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 8 February 2022 20:01 (two years ago) link