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

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.

i'ma sail i'ma sail i'ma sail i'ma sail

"contacting my angel" is a+ drifting spiritual van

super true and I now regret that it didn't make my songs list. it is better than some of the ones that did.

I suggest you all go away and listen to all four volumes of Too Late... and have a jolly good think about what' you've done.

🖼

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

I forgot about this!

I fortuitously heard Veedon Fleece at exactly the right time, during a particularly low point in my life when my plans were all falling apart. I hear it as a deeply lonely, guilt-ridden album.

That top 5 matches mine exactly! Although I'm wondering now if I've underrated Saint Dominic's Preview

yeah for me VF, that's the one that a friend & I used to stroke our chins about whether it's a better record than AW. precisely for that reason. it's so down inside itself, it almost sounds like a secret.

"william blake and the eternals, standing with the sisters of mercy, looking for the veedon fleece" def feels like a lyric van pulled from the edge of sleeping and waking

alien sex fiend or gtfo

Although I'm wondering now if I've underrated Saint Dominic's Preview

For me, Saint Dominic's Preview just takes what's best about Astral Weeks and Moondance and fuses them together. I wish I had a more profound insight than that, but I gotta be me.

alien sex fiend or gtfo

playing "ignore the machine" right now...I have to say this music has not aged especially well

sadly otm

22 ballots is impressive, wish i Knew Van Morrison better so i could have voted. looking forward to watching this unfold. great start kornrulez6969.

Thanks! This has been a lot of fun. Van Morrison is a near-perfect act for an ILM poll. 50 years active, tons of albums, all different styles of music.

I finally compiled all the song ballots. We're going to do a Top 52 for reasons that will become clear when rollout begins.

yeah ultimately it had to be astral weeks for me
i remember reading about that album in a rolling stone "best albums of all time" special double issue and thinking about what it must sound like for years before i finally found it on CD.

it's one of those "classic albums" that can't seem to lose its magic to me, i still marvel and what they all accomplished

my only album not in the top 5 was Angry Young Them. I freakin' love that stuff.

Same Top 5 but in different order

in an ordered song-to-song match up, Into the Music takes Moondance by a 7-3 score

Cleaning Windows sounds like Dire Straits and is awesome. We should have delayed this poll by 1 year.

in ballerina, sounds like van's imploring you to try his ketchup <- I am sorry that you are seeing this garbage post instead of track #52

Just a few...

My team has been hard at work analyzing the data. We are ready to begin. The plan was to do the Top 50, but 51 and 52 both recieved #1 votes, so it felt right to include them. It's what Van would want.