Is he touring all the time and getting bored with the more familiar stuff or something?THough I guess he will ahve been playing the hits for years which might be boring anyway.
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 3 October 2018 13:39 (five years ago) link
x-post-- It was good overall but a bit uneven. He also didn't talk to the crowd at all between songs. Decided to see a bunch of old legends recently and saw Smoky Robinson the night before I saw Van. Smokey sounded great, chatted to the crowd about old days at the Howard Theatre between songs, and was stunning on what he called the "b-sides" part of his set. He raced through a few hits though too. Van was busy directing his orchestra but other than naming off band members once, didn't bother with talking.
I saw that Boston author who has the book on Astral Weeks out, and he said Van refused to talk to him for the book. He spoke with folks who played on the album and who helped on the songs before they were recorded, but not Van himself.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 3 October 2018 14:09 (five years ago) link
He took him time more on less-known numbers.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, October 3, 2018 6:19 AM (fifty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
same here (it was a festival set). i was thrilled when he really dug into "carrying a torch"
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Wednesday, 3 October 2018 14:16 (five years ago) link
(xp) You sound surprised that legendary ray-of-sunshine Sir Van Morrison is a curmudgeon, curmudgeon?
― Zach Same (Tom D.), Wednesday, 3 October 2018 14:33 (five years ago) link
haha yeah, van has been refusing to talk to biographers for decades now
― tylerw, Wednesday, 3 October 2018 14:54 (five years ago) link
Think Van is especially unforthcoming about Astral Weeks because he doesn't (or didn't) get any royalties on it.
New alb cover does offer a rare glimpse of his 'zany' sense of humour, last evidenced when he asked Spike Milligan to 'interview' him for Q magazine.
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 3 October 2018 14:59 (five years ago) link
looking forward to a bit of ray charles in the style of lord charles
― Herb Achelors (NickB), Wednesday, 3 October 2018 15:16 (five years ago) link
^^^^
― Zach Same (Tom D.), Wednesday, 3 October 2018 15:44 (five years ago) link
ICYMI:
This is totally bananas. Today, @vanmorrison unceremoniously released the '68 "Catacombs Tapes" as a live album on iTunes UK. This is the legendary recording I spend the whole #AstralWeeks1968 book trying to track down & hear...and, uh, now YOU can too! https://t.co/AKvyJw3xnE pic.twitter.com/rFg4jYqfYD— Ryan H. Walsh (@JahHills) November 8, 2018
― that's not my post, Thursday, 8 November 2018 05:00 (five years ago) link
looks like it's gone already :(
if anyone has leads please let me know :)
― Greta Van Fleek (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 8 November 2018 15:33 (five years ago) link
Don't know how long it will be up:
https://youtu.be/rQUCv9PkPSg
― that's not my post, Friday, 9 November 2018 18:59 (five years ago) link
hell yeah
haven't read ryan's book yet but i'm glad these tapes are out there now
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 9 November 2018 19:02 (five years ago) link
catacombs tape is great! seems like Van had a fairly clear idea of the Astral Weeks sound at this point ... not a perfect recording, but pretty damn fantastic for a 50 year old audience tape.
― tylerw, Friday, 9 November 2018 19:18 (five years ago) link
yeah i'm at "brown eyed girl" and this rules a lot
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 9 November 2018 19:21 (five years ago) link
not a perfect recording
lol yeah the tape speeding up during "one two brown eyes" freaked me out at work
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 9 November 2018 19:34 (five years ago) link
yeah this is gorgeous, definitely interesting to hear a little hint of what brown eyed girl would have sounded like on astral weeks
― Greta Van Fleek (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 9 November 2018 19:59 (five years ago) link
damn this version of beside you is revelatory
― fred-a van vleet (voodoo chili), Friday, 9 November 2018 19:59 (five years ago) link
holy shit this catacombs tape
― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Friday, 9 November 2018 21:43 (five years ago) link
like holy holy holy holy
― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Friday, 9 November 2018 22:13 (five years ago) link
Balls, it's already been taken down!
― Have the Rams stopped screaming yet, Lloris? (Chinaski), Saturday, 10 November 2018 11:18 (five years ago) link
I managed to grab a copy, my ilxmail works fine
― niels, Saturday, 10 November 2018 12:09 (five years ago) link
Magic, cheers! You have mail.
― Have the Rams stopped screaming yet, Lloris? (Chinaski), Saturday, 10 November 2018 12:58 (five years ago) link
Missed this before it was pulled but I love that it was Peter Wolf of all people who had this tape.
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 11 November 2018 00:34 (five years ago) link
Peter Wolf knew Van back then. Apparently Morrison would make drunken phone requests to radio station Wolf DJ'd for.
BTW, Wolf was college roomies w/David Lynch!
― The Greta Van Gerwig (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 11 November 2018 00:43 (five years ago) link
WBCN!Didn’t know that about Van’s requests. Hilarious.
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 11 November 2018 04:06 (five years ago) link
xp chinaski didn't get your email, weird... try kern.cooper at gmail dot com
I could also just post a direct link here but I get the feeling it wouldn't be in the spirit of ilx?
― niels, Sunday, 11 November 2018 12:12 (five years ago) link
I'm surprised how much I like the version of Virgo Clown from the Catacombs set. It's not a song I've been into before.
― that's not my post, Sunday, 11 November 2018 21:34 (five years ago) link
Read through the Astral Weeks book very quickly yesterday and was happy to see tyler get an acknowledgement at the very end.
― Buckaroo Can't Fail (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 12 November 2018 15:15 (five years ago) link
90s (?) 2-CD The Story of Them Featuring Van Morrison is incredible, The Bang Masters, the unscrewed-with originals of tracks that showed up on early solo LPs, is good barefoot pop, get most 70s except maybe Hard Nose The Highway, but I think I stopped buying new stuff after Beautiful Vision, in the early 80s. Clearly need to check out some more, is what I think after hearing bluesy coountry duets with the evervescent Linda Gail Lewis, during one of the wildest (far beyond in-character) American Routes shows ever, THE KILLER, THE THRILLER & THE CHILLER: JERRY LEE LEWIS WITH SISTERS LINDA GAIL AND FRANKIE JEAN---scroll down this page a little for links to hours 1 & 2 (Van shows up in hour 2)(playlists for both hours are also linked)http://americanroutes.wwno.org/archives/show/1088/The-Killer-the-Thriller-the-Chiller-Jerry-Lee-Lewis-with-sisters-Linda-Gail-and-Frankie-JeanWould like to check his album of Mose Allison songs too.
― dow, Monday, 12 November 2018 21:18 (five years ago) link
Albums That Should Exist has it:https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2018/11/van-morrison-live-in-boston-1968.html
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 12 November 2018 23:59 (five years ago) link
So, that was purely to keep the copyright alive: Make it available for one day in an obscure part of the world (the UK)
― Mark G, Tuesday, 13 November 2018 00:38 (five years ago) link
The TV was playing (in the background) a Saturday Night Live episode from Nov. 4, 1978 — I snapped to attention when the Van Morrison performance, “Wavelength,” came on... the band is super tight, lithe, springy, fluid!
Anyone know who was in that particular band? Was it basically the crew from the Wavelength album?
I searched around but can’t find much info... the clip doesn’t even seem to be YouTube, where people usually lost that stuff.
― my guitar friend wants his money (morrisp), Sunday, 18 November 2018 06:45 (five years ago) link
*list
― my guitar friend wants his money (morrisp), Sunday, 18 November 2018 06:46 (five years ago) link
This one is from a few months later (Feb 79). Someone listed the musicians in the comments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsEdUH3j1KU
― that's not my post, Sunday, 18 November 2018 18:42 (five years ago) link
Thanks!
― my guitar friend wants his money (morrisp), Sunday, 18 November 2018 18:57 (five years ago) link
The new Prophet Speaks is Van's fourth album in 18 months, he again is with Joey DeFrancesco's quartet doing a mixture of originals and blues covers.
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 8 December 2018 21:07 (five years ago) link
"The Prophet Speaks"
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 8 December 2018 21:08 (five years ago) link
Almost Independence Day sounded even better than usual as I drove through Marin this morning. For a ten minute tune with a fair bit of repetition and sparse instrumentation, the groove and atmosphere pull you in and hold your attention. Beautiful way to start the day.
― that's not my post, Wednesday, 22 May 2019 00:19 (five years ago) link
Van rules in a similar way to how Pink Floyd rules. Like, when I sit down and try to isolate why they are great, it evaporates completely and I’m left with “aw, geez, I guess I’m wrong — I guess they suck after all.” But then I hear just about anything by them and I’m like, “What am I talking about? [Pink Floyd/Van Morrison] RULES.”
― Una Palooka Dronka (hardcore dilettante), Wednesday, 22 May 2019 00:26 (five years ago) link
speaking of pink floyd and van morrison. doesn't wish you were here sound like the guitar intro of almost independence day? and the guitar tone is very similar, those are both fenders?
― je est un autre, l'enfer c'est les autres (alex in mainhattan), Wednesday, 22 May 2019 21:08 (five years ago) link
yes, i've always thought so too.
― i think ur a controp (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 22 May 2019 21:40 (five years ago) link
Van rules in a similar way to how Pink Floyd rules. Like, when I sit down and try to isolate why they are great, it evaporates completely and I’m left with “aw, geez, I guess I’m wrong — I guess they suck after all.” But then I hear just about anything by them and I’m like, “What am I talking about? [Pink Floyd/Van Morrison] RULES."
Oddly enough, not so much when they're together tho...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpFo_E9Fq2k
― a large tuna called “Justice” (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 22 May 2019 21:44 (five years ago) link
I recently spent a commute trying to figure out which live version of "Wavelength" is most joyous.
The answer is Bottom Line 78. But the exercise was instructive, partly because he so rarely does anything the same way.
And I have def come to the conclusion that the trait that I am calling "joy" is most of what I seek from van. It's different from quality or chops or happiness or energy or intensity or soul or whatever. It's the incantatory Dionysian abandon.
― mitt the hoopla (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 22 May 2019 23:31 (five years ago) link
It’s always amazes me that so many joyous tunes can come from such a surly, grumpy guy.
― that's not my post, Thursday, 23 May 2019 04:13 (five years ago) link
Xpost, I like that version of Comfortably Numb. It’s not particularly joyous of course.
― that's not my post, Thursday, 23 May 2019 04:18 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GqszEwXPlc
new album three chords and the truth out 10/25. first album of all original compositions since keep me singing
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 18 September 2019 15:09 (four years ago) link
new song is gorgeous
speaking of pink floyd and van morrison. doesn't wish you were here sound like the guitar intro of almost independence day?
And they both sound like Moonlight Mile.
― Lily Dale, Wednesday, 18 September 2019 15:13 (four years ago) link
New song is lovely - the gentle huff and wheeze of a pair of bellows returning to rest.
― Life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering...save string (Chinaski), Wednesday, 18 September 2019 18:03 (four years ago) link
Interview with Ted Templeman about co-producing Van in the mid-70s. Van being a mentor?
https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/8531986/ted-templeman-interview
― that's not my post, Tuesday, 15 October 2019 05:05 (four years ago) link