Linden Arden POLL the Highlights--ILM Van Morrison Poll Results

22 ballots.
16 albums.
154 songs.

Albums first.

http://i.imgur.com/shqtYOI.jpg

Hard Nose the Highway
Tied for 12th place
One vote, 28 points

http://i.imgur.com/5D0TB7C.jpg

T.B. Sheets
Tied for 12th place
One vote, 28 points

just a guy with a guitar in his apartment feelin mad about the music business

Here's a surprise...

http://i.imgur.com/zvoTE3k.jpg

Tupelo Honey
Tied for 12th place
One vote, 28 points

just a lady on a horse goin for a walk with a guy who's mad at the music business

Is there a worse Van lyric than this bit from Old Old Woodstock?

And my woman's waiting
By the kitchen door
I'm driving along
In my old beat up car

Ford, Van. Ford rhymes so much better with door!

http://i.imgur.com/ymToaOq.jpg

Enlightenment
Tied for 11th place
One vote, 30 points

whoa!

great record

a surprise

Next one was the biggest revelation for me. I hadn't heard it until this poll, and it's fantastic.

gotta be Common One

http://i.imgur.com/XfjptVi.jpg

No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
Tied for 11th place
One vote, 30 points

i guess i was the only one vote for no guru. like an older, wiser, gentler veedon fleece

Yes. I'm not sure it would have cracked my top 5, but I do really love this record now.

http://i.imgur.com/J3Xp1PP.jpg

Avalon Sunset
Tied for 11th place
One vote, 30 points

a much better record than i remembered, really enjoyed revisiting it for the poll

"contacting my angel" is a+ drifting spiritual van

Oh man I messed that up already. That will be the first of many...

Correction

http://i.imgur.com/uMURN99.jpg

Avalon Sunset
Tied for 10th place
One vote, 33 points

http://i.imgur.com/YQ67HKd.jpg

The Angry Young Them
Tied for 10th place
One vote, 33 points

That was the last of the ties, and albums with just one vote.

oh i did not know them was eligible! not sure it would have changed my albums ballot tho

i think common one is gonna place way higher on ilm than it would anywhere else

http://i.imgur.com/abJjJAX.jpg

Irish Heartbeat
9th place
Two votes, 71 points

unbelievably gorgeous album that i didn't vote for no. 1

I nearly voted no guru. the title track live in 1990-ish was IMMENSE for me.

i think common one is gonna place way higher on ilm than it would anywhere else

not sure if true but I don't know one Van Morrison head who doesn't rank it high

http://i.imgur.com/KwJ0Lnb.jpg

His Band and the Street Choir
8th place
Six votes, 191 points

whoa

When an album as strong as Street Choir is only considered your 8th best, you know you're good.

going to enjoy this rollout, I'm a Van fan but i admit that i don't know much of his music beyond some early cuts and Astral Weeks/Moondance/Tupelo Honey -- the latter of which is the one i listen to the most, kinda surprised and intrigued by its low placement here.

really love Irish Heartbeat too

i was weirded out by the low placement of tupelo honey as well, but i didn't vote for it so lol

yeah i almost feel bad but you can only pick 5!

Yes. If it was a top ten albums, I think Tupelo would have fared better. It's safe to say that domesticated Woodstock lover man Van is not ILM's favorite.

Mild shocker ahead...

http://i.imgur.com/EZ6lLEI.jpg

Into the Music
7th place
7 votes, 200 points

big vote jump with the last two

into the music is perfect from start to finish

Yes. I included every album that got votes.

I figured Into The Music would be higher.

yeah, figured top 5 for sure

Without giving too much away, Into The Music is probably not weird enough for ILM Van voters.

idk man those last two tracks are p weird

i almost voted "steppin' out queen" as my no. 1 track bc it's just a perfectly-arranged, everything-in-its-right-place van song

yeah "you know" is v weird

http://i.imgur.com/iZXgDPh.jpg

It's Too Late To Stop Now
6th place
8 votes, one #1
277 points

way too low, best live album i've ever heard

was my #2, has grown even more in my estimation after the recent expanded version

I'm so glad everyone enjoyed this. Like the best ILM polls, I discovered a ton of great new music here, like the No Guru album and the absolutely fantastic song Goin Down To Monte Carlo (Thanks Joan Crawford Loves Chachi)

I can't believe I'm the only one who voted for Satisfied. It sticks out on Common One, but it's really incredible.

My ballot:

Saint Dominic’s Preview
Astral Weeks
Almost Independence Day
And It Stoned Me
Sweet Thing
Wild Night
Domino
Wonderful Remark
Cyprus Avenue
And the Healing Has Begun
Gloria
Into the Mystic
Slim Slow Slider
Ballerina
Listen to the Lion
Linden Arden Stole the Highlights
Real Real Gone
TB Sheets
Celtic Ray
Moonshine Whiskey
Brown-Eyed Girl
Caravan
I’ve Been Working
Streets of Arklow
Full Force Gale
Jackie Wilson Said
Satisfied
Goin Down To Monte Carlo
You Know What They’re Writing About
Moondance

Albums:
Dominic
Astral
Moondance
Into the Music
Band Street Choir

the poll results spotify thread is a really enjoyable listen

I want to think this thread for getting me to listen to Van again. Im high af right now and Astral Weeks is kicking my ass. Years since Ive heard it as a teen and I did not get it then at all. It took intervening years of listening to jazz, now it makes sense. Some of the songs have an almost symphonic structure as well. Veedon Fleece also rules. You ppl rule. Thanks for this thread.

I hadn't listened to Astral Weeks in many years either and... yeah, it is overwhelming.

Got my hands on the Glastonbury set. Holy shit what a band. I've mostly avoided boots, and now I'm wondering at my stupidity. Are there any other obvious Van ones I should get?

Is there a 'best boots of evah!' thread somewhere?

this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y-CsUw_-AY

(hat tip to tylerw)

Definitely get the Pacific High Studio set. And if you haven't gotten volumes 2, 3 and 4 from It's Too Late, by all means, pick that up as well.

xps to Chinaski

Your favourite bootleg -as in 'Unofficial Live Recording-

Watching this 74 Van Morrison show and he covers Dylan's "Just Like A Woman" and after "please don't let on that you knew me when" instead of "I was hungry and it was your world" he mutters "I was weird.... everybody was....." Van the Man #1

In the '71 Pacific High Studio version of "Just Like A Woman" (which, after a slow first 3 minutes, really gets intense) on the second time the "please don't..." line comes up he says "I was weird... and you were weird, too." Van must have liked that spin.

an odd thing I noticed a while back is how "St Dominic's Preview" kinda borrows the tune of "The Wind Cries Mary," and "Bulbs" swipes the line about the streetlights turning blue.

― JoeStork, Monday, August 7, 2017 9:47 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

will never unhear this now

lol yeah the verse chords are the same in wind cries mary and st. dominic.

I can't be the only person who thinks of Wish You Were Here when listening to Almost Independence Day (of course in this case, van's version came first)

In the '71 Pacific High Studio version of "Just Like A Woman" (which, after a slow first 3 minutes, really gets intense) on the second time the "please don't..." line comes up he says "I was weird... and you were weird, too." Van must have liked that spin.

― that's not my post, Monday, August 14, 2017 11:35 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha that's funny, it seemed so off the cuff

there's really a great amount of well shot full Van concerts on YouTube

yeah, it's nice -- for a while there his people were super vigilant about scrubbing any/all vids ...

via Midnight Bootlegs, a 1990 set in FLAC: https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/bf6mkTXx4Oyx2bb4rfBro1As2R9yHsF9l7f88drsUcY?_encoding=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0&mgh=1

Man, just listened to Into the Music properly for the first ever, probably. Dexys entire career for a start, but more.
I saw Van maybe 20 times, work related, between 1988-2000ish. I know most of those 80s records from seeing him live, must pick up No Guru, Poetic Champs etc.

born to sing: no plan b is just the loveliest record. the horns are so wonderful

but does no plan b refer to born, sing, or both

who knows, at least a third of the record is a critique of capitalism so

because of this poll back on top and the healing game are now two of my absolute favorite van records

you check out magic time?
that was one that grew on me when I was listening to them all on Spotify

yeah magic time is great, especially "just like greta" which is overwhelming

less a definitive ranking than maybe a potentially useful order for people trying to get into van's '90s records:

the healing game
enlightenment
back on top
hymns to the silence
days like this
too long in exile

the first five are basically all variously great, days like this ends with two of van's best songs ever. too long in exile is a real mess though, maybe my least favorite van record ever, and yet the title track is still so awesome

i always feel like i underrate keep me singing when i'm listening to it bc the first five tracks are all so gorgeous

Let me step in for some fair play...to you.

Excellent. But I will always remember this poll for introducing me to No Guru...my god what an album.

you inspire me to check the wavelength album more closely (i am sold on the song).

Not a great album, but with Morrison it's especially hard to distinguish mediocre from good or good from great

wavelength has a great title track

oh which has been covered, lol

alfred have you heard all of common one

shhh I'm about to exercise while listening to "Got to Go Back."

Yes! Good work with ranking Saint Dominic number one. That's my favorite.

I need to hear Veedon Fleece. I like the rest of the top 4. Probably would have ranked Tupelo higher.

Maybe you've addressed this elsewhere but no Moondance?

I thought, stupidly, he released it in 1969, but it worked out because I prefer every album on my list.

preferring wavelength to moondance is absolute nonsense

Alfred preferring synthy outlier to canonized classic shocker

:P

Veedon Fleece is so good, one of my faves by Van.

^agree about Veedon Fleece. Anyway, here's a great version of Bulbs from a German TV show in the mid 70s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFc7uVEYAsw

Jesus, I just got cut nearly in half by Tir Na Nog. I've been reading Peter Matthiesen's The Snow Leopard, which is partly a travelogue of a trek in the Himalaya to study bharal, partly a discourse on the origins of Buddhism, and partly a gentle prayer of devotion for his wife who had died the year before, and it's an incredibly moving book, full of the white light of understanding and humility. The song dovetails so neatly with those themes of finding solace in eternity (albeit from a different mythological viewpoint) and the possibilities inherent in the idea of reincarnation - let alone Van's open, enveloping deliver - it reduced me to tears. Ach.

Regard as one, this life, the next life, and the life between - Milarepa.

^Beautiful post. I read The Snow Leopard many years ago - this is making me want to revisit it. One of the great things about ILM.

I would like to thank this poll for turning me on to Veedon Fleece, what an album

^^^ what sleeve said, this thread made me discover veedon fleece which by now i prefer to astral weeks.

^^^ what sleeve said, this thread made me discover veedon fleece which by now i prefer to astral weeks.

^^^Though I would say a lot of it may be that Veedon Fleece is fresher, whereas I’ve had 20+ years with Astral Weeks.

You came into my life
And you filled me and you filled me
Oh, so joyous by the clear cool crystal streams
Where the roads were quiet and still
And we walked all the way to Tir Na Nog

http://i.imgur.com/5gHutpK.jpg

51. Coney Island
2 votes, 48 points
One #1 vote

One voter otm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn2CeHlKrTw

After all the Covid nonsense, I couldn't really stand to listen to Van any more, but then a few days ago this came up on my YouTube feed and I was conquered one more time. There's actually lots of awesome live Van footage on YT, from loads of different eras, and I've begun to see certain similarities between Van and Miles Davis, especially their brilliance at putting together and leading bands (and of course their wary, guarded, unsmiling public personas). Anyway what a group he's got here - and doesn't this version completely SMOKE the studio recording - and I've never seen a clearer view of his osmotic tongue pressure in full effect, especially on the 'Voice of America' line - he's a master at making the deliberate seem spontaneous. Love the moment when he catches a cameraman moving around behind him and gives him a brief but deadly stare:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6oZK004AWM

I don't know this chap Glen Hansard's music (might be for the best) but this is an incredible story, worth sticking to the end to hear Van's final kiss-off:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29abxJgCyOI