Van Morrison: your views please

I knew he was a curmudgeonly asshole, but didn't realize he was such a moron.

yeah it blows

If I ventured in the slipstream
Between the ventilator of your dreams
Where unworn mask rules retract
And the ditch into which I drop'd
Could you find me?
Would you close-a my eyes?
To lay me down
In silence easy
To be buried in
To be buried in

No more celebrities telling us, telling us what we are supposed to feel

Take your own fucking hint, Ivan.

Fuck me, those lyrics.

The new normal, is not normal

If memory serves, he complained about the plaque attached to the house he was born in, in Hyndford Street in Belfast. I've walked past it many times. A tiny plaque. Such a massive dick.

as i said itt or some other van thread, it boggles the mind how such a dick could have made such incredibly joyous music.

i'm pretty sure van was into scientology at one point so this anti-science stupidity is maybe par for the course

He was born a Jehovah's Witness.

He gave thanks to L Ron Hubbard on the liner notes of Inarticulate Speech of the Heart

No more celebrities telling us, telling us what we are supposed to feel

Van Morrison was ever thus:

Did you ever hear about the rock and roll singers
Got three or four Cadillacs
Saying power to the people, dance to the music
Want you to pat 'em on the back

greil marcus has a story about a dude who saw van morrison in a bar and got up the nerve to approach him to tell him how much his music had meant to him, and van's response was "why do people feel they have to tell me these things?"

Well, I want to make love to you tonight
I can’t wait ’til the morning has come
but i can't cos you've got a facemask on
And that means you're a fake science drone

I can't remember if this was suggested in Clinton Heylin's bio or some other book, but does Morrison actually have a clinical psychological disorder?

Anyway, going back to his days in Them, he was known to turn into a complete asshole, and I got the impression it wasn't consistent - he would just enter these moods. You can kind of see this in his interviews of the past decade, where he becomes inexplicably hostile to some and very cheery open to others (for example, his last newspaper interview with an Irish reporter, where he's not only in good spirits, but is dutifully following social distancing and thorough handwashing).

For what it's worth (nothing), my friend heard from someone who worked with him that he's on the autism spectrum.

Oh yeah just picked up Hot Press last week cos it's a Van special.
Not looked at it much so had probably missed reference to the new material.
I love Them and think at least the early solo stuff is great.
Does this colour that stuff any more than any previous behaviour from him?

I thought he was brought up as Christian Scientist in a Prod area of Belfast. So probably head wrecked already.

I had a dream last night that I was escorting Van around an identified British city (I think it was Winchester). He was dressed in the classic Dexy's dungarees and pheasant feathers get up and had a guitar slung across his back. He was most genial. That is my Van dream.

He didn't mention vaccines once, thankfully.

A hip genial Van is alas only a dream

Let's discuss his album closers.

Man, I absolutely love "Purple Heather."

Feeling like Almost Independence Day as we wait

Starting to think ‘ No Guru No Method...’ is amongst his best albums...the 80’s new agey production has aged beautifully

There's a good mix of heavy statements and lighter envois here. Lewis Merenstein made a good choice clipping the "Amen" coda off of Slim Slow Slider; if they had kept it, it would have been one of the worst endings to a great album ever. I would definitely have Street Choir and Midnight Special flip places on this list.

I don't know if your exploration of Van has come to an end at 1995, but 97's The Healing Game is definitely worth your time, even Greil Marcus thinks so.

I love how "Glad Tidings" starts off almost like a Krautrock song.

ICYMI this long series of posts from One Band One Week was a good read about Van, Belfast and a bit of Irish history.

https://oneweekoneband.tumblr.com/tagged/van+morrison/chrono

He's got a new album out in May. It's called "Latest Record Project Volume 1." A double-CD album of all-new material.

And here's the tracklist.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81adIR0IprL._SL1500_.jpg

And here's where I get off. Adios Van.

Jesus, that thing's two hours long.

When you get to "Stop Bitching, Do Something," "They Own the Media" and "Why Are You on Facebook?," I'm sure those previous 100 minutes will seem worth it.

Should pair nicely with the 80-minute Sun Kil Moon album that quietly dropped last week

Well I'm caught
One more time
Up on Facebook Avenue

they own the media

...

Slippery slope is supposed to be a logical fallacy, yet it ends up going there almost every single fucking time.

Are sure the Onion aren't behind this?

Anyway, you could have powered all of Texas during the winter storm with the pure, unadulterated boomer energy on display here.

goddamnit

Are sure the Onion isn't behind this?

This SHOULD be a prank...but it isn't. It's already appearing in retail stock inventories everywhere. Distributed by BMG (Van already had a contract with Sony, which now owns BMG). UPC code 4050538666250, release date set for May 7. If it's a prank, it's one of the great pranks in rock history, on par with David Bowie's great "Nat Tate" hoax.

And as mentioned, this has been designated Volume ONE.

I'm seeing music posters on twitter babbling almost excitedly about this shite, can't tell if they are trying to be ironic or not.

I actually thought some of his recent music was great before he got onto the Covidiot stuff. Getting harder and harder to defend him now though. Those song titles are shocking.

his view are repugnant but even if they were right on the last fucking thing i want van morrison to be is engaged with current events and the modern world

also this is the only thread on ILX that shows up as times new roman for me

I was long since strung-out on 70s Van (except still haven't heard Hard Nose The Highway or Veedon Fleece) when I got the 2-CD The Story of Then Featuring Van Morrison, which made alll the other stuff I'd stanned for go away from my headbox for a while---now it's back, but damn get that twofer if you can, also liked The Bang Masters, early solo stuff unfucked-with by suits at last. Some good stuff on The Common One and Beautiful Vision, but that's where I stopped keeping up. Would like to check the set of Mose Allison covers.

Is this what happens when you run everyone out of your life that is willing to tell you, "no, Van, that's a terrible idea"?

I think those people left Van Morrison's life by the end of 1970.

When you get to "Stop Bitching, Do Something"

Thought this was Bobby McFerrin?

also this is the only thread on ILX that shows up as times new roman for me

Same here. Did something happen on October 15, 2001, that re-formatted this thread?

Should pair nicely with the 80-minute Sun Kil Moon album that quietly dropped last week

Where, in a toilet?

I wonder if he's had his jab yet? Peter Hitchens caught a bit a of flack from the various idiot constituencies of his after reluctantly surrendering his freedom to big pharma

I actually thought some of his recent music was great before he got onto the Covidiot stuff.

Except for the Astral Weeks tour, I pretty much gave up on anything worthwhile after he sabotaged and diluted the Choppin' Wood album, but Greil Marcus raved about Roll with the Punches and to my surprise it was really good - a casual, hour-plus program of Van and some friends doing his longtime favorites and some worthy originals of like mind. It seemed like an anomaly because pre-Covidiocy I didn't think his other new albums were that good, but I went to see him a few years ago and he put on an awesome show. He even had Jay Berliner on guitar, and the Astral Weeks material came off better than they did in 2008. He's always been a moody jackass, so for all I know this could pass and he'll come to his senses. But it could be a long wait.