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

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.

http://i.imgur.com/yNa1Ugb.jpg

52. Country Fair
2 votes, 47 points
One #1 vote

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

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

Country Fair was my #1! I wasn't sure that anyone else liked this song. I suppose it may be too straightforwardly sentimental, but that mode is devastating after the long trip through outer space, if I may borrow from another's post. Or maybe people don't like the flute. I love that fucking flute. I also love how the bass riffs off Van's vocal rather than the other way around.

"contacting my angel" is a+ drifting spiritual van

Could we get a top 10 drifting spiritual van list at some point? would love to have more of that in my life.

Love the roll out so far. As noted above, allowing only top 5 albums might have led to lower placement of Common One, Into the Music and Tupelo Honey. If we could have turned it up to 6 albums I would have added Irish Heartbeat.

I wasn't the 2nd vote but Country Fair is great. I hear the flute as linking to traditional Irish music. Might even make it onto the drifting spiritual Van list.

would it be possible to note the album these tracks are originally on? asking cuz I am not super familiar with the discography

Yes good idea!

52. Country Fair
from Veedon Fleece
2 votes, 47 points
One #1 vote

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

http://i.imgur.com/N8iGlC3.jpg

50. I'll Be Your Lover Too
from His Band and the Street Choir
3 votes, 53 points

http://i.imgur.com/xp3xYNz.jpg

49. Gypsy
from Saint Dominic's Preview
3 votes, 57 points

to be continued...

WKIW Van's 1970 band.

I voted for County Fair at 25 I think. sentimental Van is my favorite.

My Van Poll team is refreshed after some heavy rest and ready to resume...

http://i.imgur.com/sACX9TA.jpg

48. Glad Tidings
from Moondance
5 votes, 58 points

Nice.

http://i.imgur.com/tMEKm0T.jpg

47. Raglan Road
from Irish Heartbeat
4 votes, 62 points

way too low for glad tidings, had it in my top ten

And they'll lay you down TOO LOOOOOOOW in the easy

la la la la

This next one may be a surprise...

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

46. Bright Side of the Road
from Into the Music
5 votes, 65 points

let's enjoy it while we can

I've started a Spotify playlist- it's collaborative, so fill your boots if I'm not around:

https://open.spotify.com/user/thepoacher/playlist/5DPeJd4pUzQMIQMBvzvU9M?si=aUl4MH8S

(Glad Tidings too low!)

Sweet, thanks for making that!

http://i.imgur.com/e9I9qNn.jpg

45. He Ain't Give You None
from Blowin' Your Mind
3 votes, 67 points

bright side of the road is van's "oh yoko"

If I'd voted, the take from the '90s Bang Masters comp would've been in my top 10, easily. I love the instructions he gives to the band after the false start ("should be freer"), and his "keep it there, keep it there" near the end.

xp

lol he looks like mac demarco there

http://i.imgur.com/u8Mv2bG.jpg

44 (tie). Real Real Gone
from Enlightenment
4 votes, 70 points

This is one of my favorite late-period Van songs.

Real Real Gone, you deserved more discussion. But we have to move on.

Here is the first from Astral Weeks. Can anyone guess what it will be?

beside you or slim slow slider

What brad said. I didn't vote for either.

http://i.imgur.com/cfA52zY.jpg

44 (tie). Beside You
from Astral Weeks
4 votes, 70 points

I'm not a fan of Beside You. Putting it 2nd on Astral Weeks doesn't do the album any favors (in my humble opinion).

http://i.imgur.com/Tj9u8uI.jpg

43 (tie). These Dreams of You
from Moondance
5 votes, 72 points

didn't vote for beside you, but it's pretty key to setting up Astral Weeks' mystery in my opinion.

the title track is a sweeping two-chord epic that whisks you up into the slipstream, but beside you is so foreign and disorienting--no rhythm to speak of, strange swirling folk instruments. accepting beside you is surrendering yourself into van's cosmic whims.

I voted for These Dreams of You, the bridge is majestic.

well HUSH-A-BYYYYYYYE