Did Van Morrison ever make a bad album?

I'm buying up his back catalogue, still have a way to go but have more then a few now and all from different decades. I've noticed that all his albums seem to be at least 'good'. Some of his 80s albums are VERY good which is rare for an artist who started in the 1960s. Are there any albums from the man that people here don't consider decent?

 

I think that everything is good to excellent up until 1995's "Days Like This". (Then only the 2nd side of that one is good.)

Happily for Van, and sadly for us, he found love and it was musically all down hill from there...!

I stopped at "Days Like This" and bought "Best of Van - Volume 3 - The Marriage Years" to cover everything after 1995.

 

I'd also agree that "Days Like This" is his last really essential album. Every one before this is truly wonderful. If you skip the skiffle and blues albums from 1996 and then add "The Healing Game" and "Back on Top" you really wouldn't need another whole album IMHO as after that his quality of songs went downhill. Mind you every album has anywhere between 3 - 6 above average songs but there's also far too much of his bluesy heard it all before dross. "Astral Weeks Live" is also essential I think and you just can't live without his rarities collection "The Philosophers Stone". There's also some essential live concerts and outtake collections out and about that you would thoroughly enjoy too. Also his official Montreux DVD is a must have. Hope this helps. Enjoy your journey!

 

Very strong catalog,but some dogs here and there.
For me the weakest efforts are:A PERIOD OF TRANSITION,A SENSE OF WONDER,BORN TO SING and the one that's coming
But tastes differ.

 

The Skiffle Sessions is probably the only one I'd be tempted to skip. Other than that, even his worst albums have at least a handful of songs that a Van fan needs.

 

Got The Philosophers Stone a few days ago and I think it's great. How much of this stuff didn't make the grade the first time around is a head scratcher.

 

He's made several bad albums since 1980

A couple before 1980, too ...

Hard Nose the Highway, A Period of Transition, Wavelength

 

When I first got into Van, I thought they were all great

After the initial "This guy is awesome" phase is now far in the past, I think great Van albums are limited to ...

Astral Weeks
Moondance
Veedon Fleece

St. Dominic's Preview is almost great
Into the Music has one of the best album sides ever ... side two ... but side one is boring
and, Common One is very good.

 

Classic case of tastes differ, I thought Hard Nose The Highway was brilliant. A Period of Transition was a bit underwhelming on first listen but has grown on me since.

 

I pretty much agree with you, but I also consider No Guru No Method No Teacher one of his great albums.
And yeah.... Into The Music, side 2 is close to the best album side from anyone.

 

The dude made Moondance. As far as I'm concerned, he could make an album about hotel towels and I wouldn't care because HOLY CRAP this guy made Moondance.

 

You picked my ABSOLUTE VERY BEST list,i really dig Common One!,then there is the medium to very good stuff that sustained him for 30 years more,and of course we have the Live albums.
If you follow Van since the Them days there is Sooo many good stuff here and there.

 

I hadn't listened to much that Van has done since the 70's. Recently though I picked up "What's Wrong With This Picture?" and like it a lot. It involves a lot of very good players. So I'm hoping more members who think that Van has put out some (very good to excellent) albums over the past 25 years will post with some further specific recommendations.

 

I love Hard Nose the Highway. San Anselmo and Warm Love are fun tracks. The title track and The Great Deception are great songs. Purple Heather is absolutely beautiful.

Period of Transition has at least two great songs: Cold Wind and Heavy Connection. But it's not a great album overall.

And, to me, Wavelength is a classic. I love every song on it.

 

I know! And it's not even in his top 5 albums!

 

If you liked the jazzy relaxed vibe of WWWTP,get Back On Top.For me it's the best Van has done since 1999.

 

Shame on you! Into The Music may just be my favorite Van The Man album.

 

I've only heard 3 Van Morrison albums so far: Astral Weeks, Moondance and Veedon Fleece.

Moondance is my favorite by far - in fact, it's the only one of the three that I like.
I couldn't get into Astral Weeks and Veedon Fleece at all. Why the former is widely considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time has always been a major puzzler to me. To be honest, Van Morrison's vocal delivery always struck me as highly monotonous (and may I say pretentious?). Do I think the album's plain bad? Of course, not. Just not my cup of tea, I guess.

I'll be checking out more of his stuff soon - hopefully I can find something that clicks with me.

 

As albums:

St Dominic's Preview
Veedon Fleece

But my favourite songs of his are on Avalon Sunset.

 

Give Astral Weeks some time.
I have loved his music since the 70's and hated Astral Weeks for over 10 years, back in the day.
And then it clicked, for some strange reason.
It's a masterpiece.

 

Astral Weeks through Live at Belfast, plus Live in San Francisco

 

We have all different tastes. I got tired of "Big operator" and after that (save "A night in San Francisco), I haven´t followed him.

 

This chimes with my own view generally.

I like Van a lot and think he is one of the few artists to have made at least 10 or 12 great albums.

My own thoughts are as follows:

Everything in chronological order from Astral Weeks in 69 to Veedon Fleece in 74 is tremendous. Thus also Moondance, Band and Street Choir, Tupelo Honey, St Dominics Preview and Hard Nose the Highway. Within this period too, the live album It's too late to stop now is one of the best ever of its genre;

Period of Transition the first duffer, but followed by a return to form with Wavelength and Into the Music, both great examples of late 70s stuff;

A rather average period by his standards from Common One in 80 to A Sense of Wonder in 85, though all the albums in this period have their merits;

Another great period from No Guru No Method in 86 through Poetic Champions Compose, Irish Heartbeat (with the Chiftains), and Avalon Sunset in 89 (a great example of more electronics based music);

Enlightenment, Hymns to the Silence, and Too long in Exile have their moments but not great. A Night in San Francisco a decent live album, but doesn't match It's Too Late....

Days Like This in 95 another return to good form, arguably his last very decent one;

Nothing that really stands out since then, lots of what I would call 6/10.

In short, I would go for the late 60s to 74, the couple at the end of the 70s, and the 86 to 89 stuff.

I'm sure others will have a different slant, but that's what makes it interesting.

 

I have all of the studio albums now since I became a fan a year ago. (I had "fun" finding OOP CDs for decent prices.) Anyway, I realized that every album is at least good with many great. I was surprised to find how much I liked the ones released in the last several years, glad I didn't skip any of them.

 

other than side one of 'moondance", van, for me anyway, is very mccartneyesque with his albums.

a couple...two..three...really nice things, a couple more........OK.......the rest.....meh.