Van Morrison: your views please

Irish Heartbeat is one of his best albums for sure. "Raglan Road" is incredible.

here is the stream

i was listening to these songs a LOT in 1987. and doing lots of drugs. people forget how psychedelic the 80's were. unless they were psychedelic in the 80's. a lotta 80's revivalists miss that part of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8Cnh7uD0b4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijIPY-MTClI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oISucGq5dsk

(also i just love that van album a lot. very inspiring to me.)

A lot of his eighties are sharp! "Cleaning Windows," "Did Ya Get Healed," "Someone Like You" -- lovely.

"dweller on the threshold" is another great 80's Van track

one irish rover from no guru is another great one. the production on the album track is a little cheese-o, this version kinda improves on it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC14pZQ2nyA

So glad to see No Guru, No Method, No Teacher is getting some love! I saw Van on the tour for this album and was floored by several of the then-new songs, which I'd never heard at that point. The album's midsection - "Foreign Window", "A Town Called Paradise", "In The Garden", "Tir Na Nog" - is an amazing, trancelike four-song sequence.

I was going to ask for guidance into eighties Van. I own Beautiful Vision ("Cleaning Windows" is one of his best imo) but dat's dat.

listening to the new one - so smooth and pleasant, which I think is probably a mark against it in a lot of people's books but not in mine. Relaxed little horn section, Van with his grumpy observations...it's like...kind of boring, that can't be denied, it doesn't grab you, but I really really like it. I don't know, I expect to play it a lot more than more exciting stuff

Pretty good too;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderful_Remark

^ easily my fave van morrison track of the past 30 years and reading that i apparently really need to get the philosopher's stone.

Philosopher's Stone has a fair amount of good stuff on it but don't go looking for higher peaks than "Wonderful Remark" - "Wonderful Remark" is an all-time jam. "Bright Side of the Road" is great but isn't there a version of that on Into the Music too?

this thing from philosopher's stone is all time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkAT7muk5Ec

and this!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrSn1QhN1lE

yeah yr right esp re steppin out queen, God damn

yeah i've always wondered if that song is just straight up improv on van's part or what. barely a song but holy shit!

yeah 'bright side of the road' was on into the music, pretty easily the best post-peak run van album (xgau says best post-moondance, and he may be right). apparently shakira performed it at the obama inauguration!

Into The Music a fine piece of work but hardly the best since Moondance

I prefer it to Moondance. I prefer St Dominic's Preview to Moondance. I prefer Tupelo Honey to Moondance.

see a trend?

"Full Force Gale" is mighty

holy shit steppin' out queen - i just went fucking ham

how did i not know about this philosopher's stone thing??????

fuckin' a

YOU GONNA PROMENADE!
A LITTLE HIP ACTION!

seems like that release was kinda under the radar (at least I didn't really pay attention to it when it came out). but it's essential imo. van really needs like a comprehensive box set, but maybe he's been on too many different labels for that to happen?

yeah label thing is a huge obstacle, even the comps, as solid as they are, are hurt by this i think. really wish his 80s onward stuff was on spotify, totally the kind of thing that service is best for.

yeah, i just went over there to listen to some stuff but no dice! vannnnnnnn!

it used to be, must've been taken down

van really needs like a comprehensive box set, but maybe he's been on too many different labels for that to happen?

I have a good 2-disc NRBQ comp (on Rhino) and they've been on like seven different labels, so it's doable.

yeah, i mean now that all major labels are one major label (or three, i can't keep track) it seems like it should happen. might even be van's fault, i feel like he might own his masters or something?

holy shit steppin' out queen!

soto do you actually not like moondance or are you just tired of it or do you just prefer some others to it? totally understand the latter two and always kinda amazed at how many ppl i've met who own and LOVE moondance, go to a weird place when they hear 'into the mystic' like it's 'desperado' or something and yet somehow have zero interest in listening or owning any other van morrison album.

I gotta rep for "inarticulate speech of the heart" as far as 80s van goes. immense album.

soto do you actually not like moondance or are you just tired of it or do you just prefer some others to it? totally understand the latter two and always kinda amazed at how many ppl i've met who own and LOVE moondance, go to a weird place when they hear 'into the mystic' like it's 'desperado' or something and yet somehow have zero interest in listening or owning any other van morrison album.

The second side is a bore and I never want to listen to it whereas every other album I mentioned has goodies.

but the first side is so awesome it makes up for it. but yeah, this is one of those albums where i only listen to one side.

also, why does Allmusic show "Crazy Love" as having been written by Paul Anka? That can't be right!

yeah, i mean now that all major labels are one major label (or three, i can't keep track) it seems like it should happen. might even be van's fault, i feel like he might own his masters or something?

Van owns most of his masters, and that's part of the problem. He had a nice reissue campaign going a few years ago, but stopped it (depending on who you ask) either because he got pissed at his label, or he got caught up in new projects, including the Astral Weeks concert series. The latter also came about because of another problem: most of his solo catalog that he doesn't own is controled by Warner Bros. Morrison has been trying to get them back for years to no avail, complaining that those albums haven't been treated properly (and hence no reissues other than audiophile vinyl outside of the still in print original cd editions). The live AW album was done so he could own versions of the all the songs on that set.

I listened to ASTRAL WEEKS about a year ago and was sorely disappointed. Not even sure how it can be considered a classic album...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWmAez71uMY

I'm really into ponderous Van. "Keep It Simple" is a hugely funny Van album title to me.

really wish his 80s onward stuff was on spotify, totally the kind of thing that service is best for.

i was bummed to discover this fact today

what are some good early-ish mark isham albums? I like his soundtrack for "never cry wolf"

Not Supposed To Break Down off Philosopher's Stone is just amazing.

Some other gems from the 80s that I don't think have been mentioned
- Wild Honey from Common One
- Rave On, John Donne from Inarticulate Speech
- So Quiet in Here and Real Real Gone from Enlightenment
- Tore Down a la Rimbaud from A Sense of Wonder

Rave On, John Donne is such a quintessential Van title. Hard to think of anyone else who'd merge Buddy Holly and 17th C English poetry.

"Celtic Ray" off Beautiful Vision quite nice too

i guess it's obvious that common one is totally killer but common one is totally killer

"Give Me My Rapture" from Poetic Champions Compose is a good 'un.

Yep, love that whole album.

I've been enjoying Into The Music quite a bit lately. Warm and comfy like an old sweater.

i don't think i've ever heard poetic champions.
this long outtake from the early 70s is worth hearing, if you haven't checked it out. http://ow.ly/fOwOm

Van The Man Don't Give A Fuck About Artwork (#20? In A Continuing Series...)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81deahJtc5L._SY450_.jpg

hope there's a posthumous biggie track on there

btw that's basically the concept for the elevator music that would play during the extremely long ride to my personal hell