Backstreet JellyPOLL: ILM Van Morrison Poll Discussion Thread

Zappa & Van had history: The Mothers (and The Doors, and Beefheart!) opened for Them on their only US tour w/Morrison in '66.

Ballerina is amazing. All of the album closers seem to be.

man avalon sunset's better than I remembered, huh

xp lol immediately started crying when van sang "my tongue gets.... t-t-t-t-tied"

otm

Avalon Sunset was a tape belonging to my older brother that I used to listen to a lot when I was 13. I felt I had to dislike it since then, cos yknow, Cliff Richard, but its a lovely album

Hey Born To Sing No Plan B is really good.

I got addicted to Ballerina through his live sets. Particularly this one ....

https://youtu.be/mRpLokqyQF0

^formatting fail. That leads to the Pacific High Studio version from 1971. Hard not to hit repeat after listening.

gonna take full advantage of the 1-day extension, 4-5 spots left on my ballot

ok here's a great them song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or_-J0wKpSw

i had also never heard "friday's child" before this poll and wow

anyway i submitted my ballot

Zappa & Van had history: The Mothers (and The Doors, and Beefheart!) opened for Them on their only US tour w/Morrison in '66.

― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, July 31, 2017 5:30 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Jim Morrison was a huge fan of Them (a band I get the sense that any recorded material can't really convey what they were as a force of nature during a small club date in the mid-60s) and also is said to have studied Van's stage moves in Them very carefully and adopted them for his Lizard King dramatics

OK, so tomorrow is the last full day of voting. Please have your ballots in by 12 AM, August 3. Rollout starts on Thursday and we'll finish up on Friday.

the "friday's child" from that pacific high 71 bootleg is unbelievable (as is most of the rest of that show)

http://www.thatericalper.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Van-and-Jim-Morrison.jpg
jim van morrison

(plus sherlock holmes on the sax!)

not enough deerstalkers in music nowadays imo

i regret not voting for "fire in the belly"

Let me tell you, the results of this are pretty surprising thus far.

that is the greatest photo

listening to Enlightenment right now. Dude is so weird, "Cleaning Windows" he goes "I'm a workin' man in my prime (lol you haven't worked a day in yr life Van), CLEANIN' WINDOWS!" then, oddly he just speaks, matter of factly "Number 36" before a sax solo

also really regret not voting for "dweller on the threshold," specifically the faster live version from 1984

"van is a saxophone" theory falls apart on "Almost Independence Day" where he is a guitar and "When Heart is Open" where he is a harmonica

Can't see cleaning windows on my copy of /enlightenment/ but man is it a ropey album

also really regret not voting for "dweller on the threshold," specifically the faster live version from 1984

Will probably make my ballot because of the Glastonbury recording. Such a great set. Most of my post 74 picks will be as a result of that gig

rave on

holy shit that glastonbury 87 setlist is incredible

Sorry summertime in England. The vocal interplay with one of the backing singers towards the end is phenomenal. And the line about Avalon strikes a local chord...

It was a revelatory experience.

I was trying to find time at the weekend to put the tracks somewhere for you all to hear but I ran out of time

i found a bootleg and i'm def gonna listen to it after i finish live at the grand opera house

btw is there a definitive Van Morrison biography/history book?

It's weird for how much I love him I don't really KNOW that much about him.

One thing that I'm curious about as I work through his discography is what occurs from 1974 (Veedon Fleece) to 1977 (A Period of Transition)...like from 68 to 74 he's basically dropping a classic to really good album a year, and while they all have a differences, they all seem of a piece somehow...then there's an uncharacteristic (esp for those days in the industry) gap of 3 years between albums, and then A Period of Transition definitely feels like we're in a different place now, the "classic" era is done or we're evolving into some other era, I guess an aptly named album (if pretty mediocre itself)

does anyone know what was going on w/Van at that point? Or was it just like coming off a historic run like that and being out of gas/worn out?

he became a scientologist for a while in the early 80s: i have a friend who saw him proselytising outside their shopfront in tottenham court road, offering personality tests to passersby

(so he has worked a day in his life)

maybe when he says "136" in "cleaning windows" he's referencing axiom 136 of dianetics: "the mind is plastically capable of recording all efforts and counter-efforts"

There was a scrapped post-Veedon Fleece album that would have used the cover that became The Royal Scam.

this unreleased 75 session popped up a little while ago -- though I don't think any of it has leaked. if you've got 10 grand to spare ...
https://recordmecca.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IMG_3379.jpg
https://recordmecca.com/products-page/museum-quality-collectibles/van-morrison-master-tape-of-unreleased-1975-studio-album-9-completely-uncirculated-studio-tracks/
would love to hear "Grits Ain't Groceries" lol

well that explains some of the '75 recordings on philosopher's stone

i found a bootleg and i'm def gonna listen to it after i finish /live at the grand opera house/

Cool. It was fm quality so should sound good. Would be interested in your verdict.

maybe when he says "136" in "cleaning windows" he's referencing axiom 136 of dianetics: "the mind is plastically capable of recording all efforts and counter-efforts"

You're probably right. Nothing is off the table with van.

i'll def need to download a new bootleg bc there's a lot of weird problems with this one, but the audio quality itself is still v good. his band sounds so buoyant in this era, or maybe i'm projecting onto how fun "dweller" and "cleaning windows" sound to play xp

fair amount of van boots yonder: http://www.ousterhout.net/mp3/vm.html

Speaking of unreleased Van, would be nice if he signed off on the live 1968 Astral Weeks tape currently collecting dust at Peter Wolf's house.

the version I knew of "Grits Ain't Groceries" was an ooooold country tune but I'm guessing this was Van's jam in '75

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vel5wqOURMo

Update: Tomorrow is the last day to vote. Right now this thing is a tossup, there is a handful of songs that could easily win, and albums is wide open as well.

XP Also a career-making hit (under the title "All Around The World") for Little Willie John in the mid-'50s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XHC-qZXOyI

working my way through the discography

Wavelength is pretty bad

i disagree!!!

i couldn't find room for it on my ballot but i really love "take it where you find it" and how it slowly loosens into this enormous gospel song

I'm to the title track now and it's my fav so far. It's funny I was like "Is Garth Hudson on this?" and it turns out he was, he's so distinctive, esp once he gets into synths, in fact this is a good song

Venice USA was such a pastiche of late period Band it turned me off tho