Van Morrison: your views please

kover konnections:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/714jpf%2BHufL._SX466_.jpg

yeah I usually roll my eyes at the "I'm just channeling these songs from the universe" but it might be true in his case, cuz he's such an oarfish little dickhead

I do believe in that, sort of, but I think of it as meaning "I'm channeling these songs from a part of me that I cannot access in any other way and often cannot access at all."

The thing about Van is that the two sides of him aren't really at odds with each other, even though they're so different. It's not like Astral Weeks and the rest of the great albums contradict anything we know about Van Morrison's actual personality; there's joy and communion and transcendence in them, even love and friendship, but do I get a sense of "this is a fundamentally generous and decent person" from them? Was I in any way surprised or disappointed when I figured out that Van Morrison was a querulous, self-involved little prick? Not really. He's great at making me feel what he feels, down to the tiniest details and gradations of emotion; he's never claimed to care how anyone else feels.

But those songs were genuinely beautiful, and joyful, and hopeful, and for a while that artistic vision was strong enough and compelling enough that it didn't matter what the rest of Van Morrison was like. Now it's like the tide's gone out for good, and there's stuff left behind that was always there, but everything that gave it life is gone. And that isn't going to hurt Astral Weeks any - the gulf between Current Van and Early Van is too great for anything he does now to touch his early work - but it's terribly depressing.

A Woodstock rambler, a bluesy balladeer, a Celtic soul singer, a country crooner

He plays his music in the sun

There are artists whose work does nothing for me, but I wish it did, for one reason or another, so I have tried over and over again. I spent years trying to like Lou Reed, for example, because people I thought were smarter than me and knew more about music than me loved him, so I figured he was a course I needed to pass in order to be a for-real music writer. I was wrong. I've given the Grateful Dead far more chances than they deserved, and Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen too. Then there are artists whose work does nothing for me, but I feel no obligation to keep trying. Van Morrison is in the latter category, and always has been. I first heard his music when I was a child, on the radio, and there was just never anything there, to my ear. Every time I've heard a new song it's been even less interesting than "Domino" or "Moondance" or whatever else. So this new record doesn't even diminish him slightly in my eyes. People who've decided they hate him now that he's lost his mind can get to the back of the line. I've been here for 40 years.

People surprised by the new Van Morrison must have never spent time with this bootleg of his live outtakes called, Who’s Grumpy, featuring the classic track, “For Those On The Internet - Fuck You.” pic.twitter.com/SCHfwYe8B5

— Ben Chasny (@6organs) May 7, 2021

Townsend must be pissed that one’s taken.

lol that art, incredible. feel like "FW:FW:re:FUNNY!fwd:RE:HILRIOUSFWD:fwd:" should be included somewhere on it

After being strictly a listener of his Veedon Fleece and earlier work, I finally dipped a toe into current Van Morrison with Three Chords & the Truth, which I was really surprised to enjoy as much as I did. But with that I'm gonna nope right back into the comfort of his old stuff.

Commmon One from 1980 is the one I'd most suggest checking out after the post-peak years

I pretty much nope out after Wavelength

but I love Wavelength

pic.twitter.com/vZMjY0a6A4

— Iain Montgomery (@H0raceWimp) May 7, 2021

why did the font in this thread change(?)

for mysterious astral reasons this thread has always had a different font

ah – guess I only viewed it in Zing previously

The “targeted individual” thing is really weirding me out - I have only seen that phrase in the context of deeply delusional paranoia.

Yeah, that's pretty disturbing, though he's always been paranoid to some degree, right? I mean, The Great Deception is from almost 50 years ago, and that's got a pretty strong "the world is out to get me" vibe.

Inarticulate Speech of the Heart is a top 3 van album for me, fight me

no guru, poetic champions, he still had it in the80s!

xxp its weird because for all of his internet & social media hate a lot of the terms like that hes throwing around are right out of the right wing conspiracist social media brainworm echo chamber

What's extra frustrating is that he could just keep doing his gardens-wet-with-rain, falling leaves/transcendence/healing bit and it would be so welcome after a year of lockdown.

Poetic Champions Compose is my favorite mellow music by anyone, as peaceful as it comes. Even had it on last night.

the title track to Latest Record Project is a hilarious fuck you to the audience

Here's hoping his audience says fuck you back.

Fuck what I did was your fault somehow
Fuck the presents, I threw all that shit out
Fuck all the cryin', it didn't mean Jack
Well guess what yo, fuck you right back

forgot he got divorced a few years a back, taking it well I see

Play "No Good Deed Goes …"
on Amazon Music Unlimited (ad)
No good deed goes unpunished
When it starts to unravel on you
You think the person is gonna be sorry
And they’re gonna take the time to say thank you

Booked her to the top restaurant table
But she said she didn’t like the meal
I got her tickets for the opera
But she complained about the VIP seats

Gave her a million Euro
Said that it wasn’t enough
How come when she’s still fit and able
She’s still too lazy to go out and work

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that "Play 'No Good Deed Goes...' on Amazon Music Unlimited" was the actual opening line from a song on this record.

hahahaha totally

i'm howling at this whole revive. everything about it is perfect. this is my album of the year and i have not heard a single note, nor do i intend to.

If anyone hears the track ‘They Control The Media’ please be kind and let us know who Mr Morrison suspects...it’s been bugging me for ages and would love a definitive answer cos I can’t think for the life of me who it could be...

They tell us that ignorance is bliss
I guess by those that control the media, it is
They own the media, they control the stories we are told
If you ever try to go against them, you will be ignored

'Cause they control
They control
They control

They control the narrative, they perpetuate the myth
Keep on telling you lies, tell you ignorance is bliss
Believe it all and you'll never get, nеver get wise
To thе truth, 'cause they control everything you do

Everything you do
Everything you do
Everything you do

They control the narrative, they perpetuate the myth
Keep on telling you lies, tell you ignorance is bliss
Believe it all and you'll never get the truth
Never get wise, wise through their lies

Through their lies
Through their lies
They control the media
They control the media
They control the media

Wow. Add a turkey, alcohol, and conversations about various medications one is on, and I'm having holiday flashbacks.

Former Them frontman takes aim at They.

Curious that Van rhymes "wise/do" and "truth/lies" instead of "wise/lies" and "truth/do", his craftsmanship is slipping.

Tempted to poll Morrissey vs Van Morrison.

Thanks Tom for putting to bed any fears I might of had about ‘who’ controls the media...thought he was going to blame the bloody Swedes....here’s Van being interviewed on the BBC about the new album...apparently it’s all ‘satire’...

https://bbc.in/3nXinGD

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that "Play 'No Good Deed Goes...' on Amazon Music Unlimited" was the actual opening line from a song on this record.

Play 'No Good Deed Goes...'
Play it on Amazon Music Unlimited
Play it for the fat washed up paranoid that wrote it.

this thing is so fucking long

oddly, "Why Are You on Facebook" is the most sprightly number here, kinda catchy

Tempted to poll Morrissey vs Van Morrison.

Was thinking of Morrissey too. For some reason.

I can't stop picturing him hand-writing those lyrics out in a stained notebook, chewing the tip of his pen and adding a new line every so often with a gleeful flourish.

funniest thing to me is "volume 1"

I picture the band vamping and he just riffs and riffs, hours on end.

I saw somewhere that he's already got Volume 2 done and it's supposed to be out before Christmas.

van morrison & (((them)))

If anyone hears the track ‘They Control The Media’ please be kind and let us know who Mr Morrison suspects...

It's the Jews.
It's always the Jews.

Revisiting past glories like the hopefully contract ending stuff he did in the late 60s. Though I think duration of tracks there may have been a bit shorter.

yeah his most concise work

2021, A Year In Rock: Greta Van Morrisey

Made it through, tough sledding

TS: Contractual obligations sessions of '67 vs this record? Anyone?

honestly have had no desire to listen to his music in many many years, but this seems like it would be hilarious… I used to intern for a big shot rock journalist who's devotion to Van (alongside Dylan, Springsteen, Bono) is so total that I would imagine him saying "y'know, he has a point… they DO control the media! I worked for the jews! It's true!!!" and I briefly had the stomach to tune into the Dave Marsh show on Sirius, one of two not devoted to kissing up to the artist who's manager his wife works for, and he played shit tons of Van and would go on and on and on about him… I know that a couple posters here are marsh apologists and may listen to his show, so please let us know if he talks about the record tomorrow…

one thing that is kinda weird about Van is he seems like the kind of singer where he voice should be totally shot but it's actually held up better than almost any of his contemporaries