Legacy Recordings Acquires Catalog of Music Legend Van Morrison

Big news!

http://www.legacyrecordings.com/a/#...eviously-unavailable-live-performances/334/1/

Legacy Recordings Acquires Catalog of Music Legend Van Morrison, Spanning More than 50 Years of Music

Most Complete Van Morrison Archive Ever Assembled Encompasses 50 Albums, Videos and Compilations, including Van's Solo Recordings from 1971-Present and Early Work with Seminal '60s Rock Band Them

Planned New Releases include Compilations, Deluxe Legacy Editions and a Full Catalog Digital Rollout

33 Van Morrison Album Titles to Be Available Digitally & Through All Streaming Services Beginning, Friday, August 28

"Essential Van Morrison" Collection Available as Digital and 2 CD Physical Releases on Friday, August 28

August 25, 2015 – New York, NY - Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, has acquired the rights to the most complete discography of contemporary music legend Van Morrison ever assembled under one label imprint.

The Van Morrison musical acquisition spans more than 50 years of music, encompassing some 50 album, video and compilation titles from 1964 to the present. The new Legacy Van Morrison archive includes all of Morrison's solo works from 1971 to the present as well as the recordings made with the groundbreaking rock band Them from 1964 through 1966.

33 Van Morrison album titles will be made available as digital releases and through all streaming services beginning Friday, August 28.

That same day, Friday, August 28, Legacy Recordings will release the Essential Van Morrison, a 37-track career-spanning anthology, available digitally and as a 2CD physical album.

Later this year, Van Morrison's early recordings as the singer, frontman and principal songwriter for the seminal band Them will be available on Legacy Recordings.

In the upcoming months, Legacy will launch the label's ongoing Van Morrison library release project with new compilations, deluxe Legacy Editions of classic album titles and a digital roll-out of the full Van Morrison catalog.

Most of the titles in the Van Morrison catalog have never been available for streaming and the catalog has been long unavailable online through iTunes or other DSPs. The Morrison catalog has been long out-of-print, with some titles being unavailable for as long as 15 years.

Forthcoming new Van Morrison releases on the Legacy label will include a new career-spanning single CD compilation and deluxe Legacy Editions of classic Van Morrison solo albums: Saint Dominic's Preview, It's Too Late to Stop Now, Hard Nose the Highway andEnlightenment.

A half century's worth of recordings, endlessly innovative and unique in the annals of rock and pop music, Van Morrison's discography incorporates elements of blues, jazz, folk, gospel, skif-fle, pop, soul and R&B to create a sound and sensibility immediately identifiable as Van the Man's. One of the most fascinating and uncompromising artists of the rock and roll era, Van Morrison brought Northern Irish soul to the world as one of the most transcendent singers, writers and performers to ever grace a stage or recording studio.

"Van Morrison is one of the great singers, performers and musical artists in the history of recorded music," said Adam Block, President, Legacy Recordings. "He continues to touch the hearts and souls of millions with the emotional power and spiritual truths of his songs. Legacy Recordings is proud to partner with Van to help him protect and curate his astounding catalog and to be given the opportunity to bring his music to whole new generations of fans around the world."

Inspired at an early age by Muddy Waters, Ray Charles, Lead Belly and Solomon Burke, the Belfast-born Morrison was just 18 when he joined the R&B combo Them in 1964. Known for spontaneous, energetic performances, Them represented the Northern Irish element of the 1960s British Invasion, breaking into the pantheon with the indelible "Gloria," presaging punk with an anthem subsequently covered by The Doors, Patti Smith and many others.

Van began his solo career with a Top 10 pop smash, the radio perennial "Brown Eyed Girl," but soon moved in compelling new directions. He boldly crossed numerous musical genres in the decades that followed, investigating country music (Pay The Devil, 2006), jazz (What's Wrong with This Picture?, 2003), New Orleans R&B (Into The Music, 1979), traditional Celtic folk (Irish Heartbeat, with The Chieftains, 1988) and straight-ahead rock (Days Like This, 1995), among many others.

Morrison's first recording for RCA Records, 2015's Duets: Re-Working The Cataloguefeatured collaborations with Steve Winwood, Mark Knopfler, Mavis Staples, Taj Mahal, Michael Bublé and others on new versions of hidden gems from his multi-faceted discography.

Tracks from Van Morrison's discography have been consistently licensed for film and television with notable examples including"Into The Mystic" in the film Patch Adams, "Days Like This" in As Good As It Gets and Them's "Gloria" in The Outsiders.

Legacy Recording's new Van Morrison deal covers studio and live recordings released from 1971 to the present, as well as all his recordings with Them. Combined with Morrison's solo debut Blowin' Your Mind, which features "Brown Eyed Girl," Legacy's holdings encompass the largest Van Morrison musical archive ever assembled.

Van Morrison has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1993) and the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2003) and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010.

Winner of a BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music (1994), Van Morrison holds six Grammy Awards (1996-2007) and an Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement (1995).

He was named one of Rolling Stone's Greatest Artists of All Time (2004, #42) and Greatest Singers of All Time (2008, #24). Van the Man has two albums on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and four songs on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, including "Brown Eyed Girl" (#109) and "Gloria" (with Them) (#208).

On Friday, June 12, 2015, Van Morrison was awarded an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II during her annual Birthday Honours celebration. Newly-titled Sir George Ivan Morrison, the artist received the United Kingdom's highest individual honor for his "services to the music industry and to tourism in Northern Ireland."

"Throughout my career I have always preferred to let my music speak for me, and it is a huge honor to now have that body of work recognized in this way," said Van Morrison in a statement given in response to the news, reported the BBC.

On June 18, Morrison received the Johnny Mercer Award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala in New York City.

Van Morrison will celebrate his 70th birthday on August 31, 2015 with "Van Morrison: Live on Cyprus Avenue," two concert performances serving as part of the closing event of the Belfast EastSide Arts Festival 2015.

Van Morrison has earned six gold and three platinum/multiplatinum certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America.

Van Morrison Material included under Legacy Recordings Auspices

Them
The Angry Young Them / Them (1965)
Them Again (1966)
Them featuring Van Morrison (compilation, 1972)
The Story of Them featuring Van Morrison (compilation, 1997)

Van Morrison
Available Digitally and Streaming on Friday, August 28

St. Dominic's Preview (1972)
Hard Nose the Highway (1973)
It's Too Late to Stop Now (Live) (1974)
Veedon Fleece (1974)
A Period of Transition (1977)
Wavelength (1978)
Into the Music (1979)
Common One (1980)
Beautiful Vision (1982)
Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (1983)
Live at the Grand Opera House, Belfast (Live) (1984)
A Sense of Wonder (1984)
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1984)
Poetic Champions Compose (1987)
Irish Heartbeat (w/the Chieftains) (1988)
Avalon Sunset (1989)
Enlightenment (1990)
Hymns to the Silence (1991)
Too Long in Exile (1993)
A Night in San Francisco (Live) (1994)
Days Like This (1995)
How Long Has This Been Going On? (1995)
Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison (1996)
The Healing Game (1997)
The Philosopher's Stone (2CD outtakes compilation, 1998)
Back on Top (1999)
The Skiffle Sessions: Live in Belfast (Live) (2000)
Down the Road (2002)
What's Wrong with This Picture? (2003)
Magic Time (2005)
Pay the Devil (2006)
Keep it Simple (2008)
Astral Weeks "Live at the Hollywood Bowl" (Live) (2009)

All albums credited to Exile Productions, Ltd. under exclusive license to Sony Music Entertainment.

 

I'm particularly interested in hearing hi-res versions of St. Dominic's Preview and It's Too Late to Stop Now. The remaster of the latter is stunning on CD. Am hoping they do the former justice.

 

No Tupelo Honey?
Odd.

 

Couldn't care less about the streaming or downloads...but sure hope they do

VEEDON FLEECE

and do it with JUSTICE on CD.

Please keep the dynamics etc. intact !!!

 

Astral Weeks, Moondance, His Band & St Choir and Tupelo Honey are still owned by Warners.

 

Not Tupelo Honey...

 

It does say all of his solo recordings from 1971, so I hope Tupelo Honey (1971) will be included later on

 

Big news indeed. Thanks for posting!

Edit: Would love to attend those Belfast concerts!

 

I think it would have been on that list. You don't leave out one album when you are promoting an entire catalogue. But seriously Warners brothers still owns those first few. That's one reason why the multi disc Moondance came out. Warners didn't have to get Van's permission. Maybe with this new deal he is lightening up...

 

Yes, WMG controls Astral Weeks, Moondance, and His Band And The Street Choir worldwide, in perpetuity.
Also Common One, Into The Music, Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart, and Beautiful Vision for North America & Canada only.

 

You had to figure a deal like this was in the works,
and was the reason for the catalog being mostly out of print for a while now.
I own everything Van on vinyl, and most on CD, so i have no need to buy any of it.
Interesting perhaps, the word "vinyl" doesn't appear anywhere in their plans.

 

Who's mastering? Vic Anesini please!
Great news.

 

Its so funny to me how only three or four names ever come up here.

 

Steve, Hoffman, Vic and Anesini.

 

The original CD of It's Too Late to Srop Now sounds even better.

 

News of the day!!!

 

Just listening to him. Great news indeed.

 

Hi Res?

 

True, but he's good and he has had an association with Sony/Legacy. There are lots of bad masterings still coming out so this could go downhill fast.

Dynamics are essential to Van's music (to all music really).

 

VAN IS HUNGRY FOR MY MONEY.

Although you've gotta love that classic Van perversity shining through, with four (on the face of it) randomly selected albums getting the special edition treatment. Although I understand why Hard Nose and Too Late are among the candidates for deluxe editions (each has a full LP+ of finished unreleased stuff associated with it).

 

That's certainly odd about Tupelo Honey being missing. It should be on the list since he owns the rights.

My favorite Van album. I only have three CD versions and I need a fourth.

 

Did you ever compare the re-master to the WB or initial Polydor release of It's Too Late to Stop Now? I find them both hard to listen too. I don't know, a very unusual brittleness to the sound at times. I was thinking of investing in the latest Polydor re-master but might choose to wait to see what Legacy does with it.

 

Can they say "astounding" one more time? Great news, but the hyperbole...

 

'I dub thee Sir Van...'
Hope the honoree smiled but I wouldn't bet on it. Unreleased material from Them (if such exists) finally seeing the light of day would put a big smile on my face though.

 

I love this period of Van's career and a deluxe edition of 'Common One' would make me a very happy camper.