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

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 generally don't listen to live albums and have never listened to that one, though in the past year I've reversed course but I still only really listen to live albums by FM rock bands like UFO & Rainbow

(I do listen to live jazz albums tho)

i guess i should have referred to it as the best live rock album i've ever heard bc once you include jazz, yikes. but joan if you are ever feeling it it's too late is a master class in bandleading, and in also having the best band in the fucking world

The Cyprus Avenue on Too Late to Stop Now is so great I could plotz.

http://i.imgur.com/grD91Lh.jpg

Common One
5th place
10 votes, one #1
306 points

i was the no. 1, a few years ago i finally scored a copy of this record and it became sort of a ritual to zone out to it once a week; the bookends are so meditative that you feel like you're sinking into something incalculably vaster than yourself

also afaik van never got this fusion-y again so it's v singular in his catalog

It definitely represents the apex of weird Van. I'm usually OK with that but When Heart Is Open is where I get off.

I'm going to be curious to hear the Van fans' take on the last couple decades once this poll is complete. I'd only owned Days Like This (not sure why, and it was vv forgettable) and the Mose Allison tribute w/Georgie Famr and Ben Sidran, Tell Me Something.

nah man that's the deepest region of the mystic! xp

That one was pretty decent albeit probably too faithful to the source material.

ilm turned me onto Common One maybe a year ago, and I soon found a copy while stuck in san clemente for a few hours. I play it more than any other van album lately, and I am in love with harmonica Van on When Heart Is Open.

Van fans' take on the last couple decades once this poll is complete

Born To Sing No Plan B was a great discovery for me thanks to this poll.

Here's a surprise...

Magic Time is really good, Keep Me Singing is solid if not particularly notable

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

Moondance
4th place
13 votes, five #1
452 points

great album that probably suffers from "led zeppelin IV" disease a bit

Yes. Plus side 2 is nowhere near as good as side 1. But not much is.

Moondance, you deserve more discussion but we need to move on.

http://i.imgur.com/u9tAJyL.jpg

Saint Dominic's Preview
3rd place
15 votes, one #1
474 points

straight fire beautiful album

This was my #1. Even though I Will Be There, Gypsy and Redwood Tree are minor Van, the others are about as major as he gets.

Yes. Plus side 2 is nowhere near as good as side 1. But not much is.

― kornrulez6969, Thursday, August 3, 2017 1:10 PM (fourteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

idk i think side 2 is nearly as good and the tracks don't suffer from the same overexposure. it's a classic album and earned a deserving #1 vote from me

side 2 of moondance could be blank and that record would still be a masterpiece

I'm a St. Dominic's dissenter, it never seemed in the same class as the others of that period

WILL VEEDON FLEECE BEAT ASTRAL WEEKS

Redwood Tree > Jackie Wilson Said

excuse me "gypsy" is NOT minor van

side 2 of Saint Dominic's is amazing. I learned from this poll that I don't like Moondance very much anymore.

side 2 of moondance could be blank and that record would still be a masterpiece

otm

Everyone is one of the best tracks!

But Glad Tidings!

Great rollout already.

Everyone is one of the best tracks!

― Gaspard de la Nuit: III. ScarJost (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, August 3, 2017 1:31 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

But Glad Tidings!

― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Thursday, August 3, 2017 1:33 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm x2

van's records tend to open so strongly that i think i've unconsciously attached their initial notes and lyrics with specific times and places in my life. "half a mile from the county fair and the rain came pouring down" takes me right back to hearing moondance through my headphones while hanging out in my dad's office when i was 15; it was my first van record and it was one of the first times i had encountered a song that seemed to be conveying much more than the simplicity of its text implied. the "doo doo doo do do" in "jackie wilson said" also immediately converts me back into a 24-year-old who was pretty head-over-heels in love, which, even though it backfired p quickly afterward, is a v nice feeling to have preserved

You can probably guess the last 2. They were thisclose until the last day when one pulled ahead.

http://i.imgur.com/ZNL6h2J.jpg

Veedon Fleece
2nd place
17 votes, three #1
602 points

http://i.imgur.com/l2f4iFI.jpg

Astral Weeks
1st place
19 votes, 9 #1
696 points

696 points

nice/ecin

Recap:

12 Hard Nose the Highway--28 points
12 T.B. Sheets--28 points
12 Tupelo Honey--28 points
11 Enlightenment--30 points
11 No Guru, No Method, No Teacher--30 points
10 Avalon Sunset--33 points
10 Angry Young Them--33 points
9. Irish Heartbeat--71 points
8. His Band and the Street Choir--191 points
7. Into the Music--200 points
6. It's Too Late To Stop Now--277 points
5. Common One--306 points
4. Moondance--452 points
3. Saint Dominic's Preview--474 points
2. Veedon Fleece--602 points
1. Astral Weeks--696 points

Taking a break while I compile all the songs. Thanks for voting everyone, this has been more fun than a trip to Caledonia.

^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