Van Morrison Album by Album Discussion: Part 1 (1968-1977)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by DJ WILBUR, Sep 25, 2007.

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  1. DJ WILBUR

    DJ WILBUR The Cappuccino Kid Thread Starter

    we might all be ad idem about that period of transition :eek:
     
  2. dgstrat

    dgstrat Senior Member

    Location:
    West Islip, NY
    Can someone please Enlighten me as to what's going on in this thread? :eek:
     
  3. jason100x

    jason100x Forum Resident

    I had a feeling the pages would pile up when Van was finally tackled as an album by album thread.
    I, for one, will definiltely be around by the time of Beautiful Vision, as that era begins my personal favorite period of Van's career!
     
  4. Clarkophile

    Clarkophile Through the Morning, Through the Night

    Location:
    Oakville, ON
    Great!:righton:
     
  5. R. Totale

    R. Totale The Voice of Reason

    Now go back and listen to the version of "Cypress Avenue" on "Too Late to Stop Now" with new understanding.
     
  6. elborak

    elborak Forum Resident

    It's been a while since I listened to the "contract busters", but my favorite moments were the places Van would bust out laughing during the recording.
     
  7. Solaris

    Solaris a bullet in flight

    Location:
    New Orleans, LA
    *gets his bongoes*

    I'm on it man.
     
  8. Dan Halen

    Dan Halen Active Member

    Location:
    New York
    I hadn't heard Astral Weeks in years. So one day, some years ago, I put it in the cd player. When you experience it after a long absence in your life, you truly realize that this is a work of art that you absorb, and absorbs you. It certainly helped that since I'd last listened to AW, I had developed a love for Jazz. Richard Davis was all over some of the more adventurous Blue Note and Verve records of the 60's, and works magically with Van. I think the mixture of the sublime strings, jazzy backdrops and Van's voice at his blusiest (can you believe a 23 year old could actually write and sing like that?!) makes this record so unique. There's simply nothing else like it. "The Way Young Lovers Do" sounds like the love theme to an imaginary 60's movie.

    The evening I played it, I'd been going through some fairly trying times. Somehow this album became a cleansing experience. Often in the blues, you hear the phrase "lay your burden down." Thanks to AW, mine was laid down. For that evening at least.

    Also, you have to love Van's John Lee Hookerism's ("You breathe in, you breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, ... "). I've sometimes pictured what a mime would look like interpreting Van's material. :laugh:
     
  9. JA Fant

    JA Fant Well-Known Member

    Addendum,
    I was thinking that AW, is spiritual, deep.
     
  10. Clarkophile

    Clarkophile Through the Morning, Through the Night

    Location:
    Oakville, ON
    I'm going to start counting how many of Van's heroes, both poets and musicians, he name checks in his albums. So far we've got Huddie Ledbetter. On Moondance he mentions Ray Charles (and not for the last time, either!).
     
  11. Randy W

    Randy W Original Member

    That's gonna be a long list! :)
     
  12. DJ WILBUR

    DJ WILBUR The Cappuccino Kid Thread Starter

    ray and van run deep dont they, could almost be its own thread....
     
  13. Clarkophile

    Clarkophile Through the Morning, Through the Night

    Location:
    Oakville, ON
    Ray Charles, "The High Priest!"
     
  14. DJ WILBUR

    DJ WILBUR The Cappuccino Kid Thread Starter

    "Tell me something," Bruce Springsteen asked a while ago. "How come every year or so there's a new Van Morrison record, and every time it's great, and every time no one pays attention? Why is that?"

    found this online and thought, now that's a good point he's making and one we're sure to discuss in the coming months when we're past the famous few first ones...
     
  15. MikeP5877

    MikeP5877 V/VIII/MCMLXXVII

    Location:
    OH
    With very few exceptions, Van released a new studio album every year from 1967 to the present. And as you'll see, the years that had no new studio releases usually had two the preceding or following year. And though I like some albums more than others, the quality for each album is nothing less than excellent (IMHO).

    The years with no new releases were:

    1969 (he released two in 1970)
    1975-76 (his mid 70's "retirement")
    1981
    1984 (two in 1985, one being a live album)
    1992 (his 1991 album was a double)
    1994 (though he released a live album "A Night in San Francisco")
    1998
    2001 (two in 2000, one being a live album)
    2004
    2007 (not yet anyway)

    Personally, I'd love a contemporary live album. Not counting the "Skiffle Sessions" album, his last live album was 1994's "A Night In San Francisco".
     
  16. DJ WILBUR

    DJ WILBUR The Cappuccino Kid Thread Starter

    He released the Live in Austin cd on his website in 2006 and i love this touring band from Pay the Devil era...so he did release something this year and its live and contemporary!. he also sells that at shows, but you can grab it now on his website. folks seeing him in a few weeks can grab it there.

    buy it here

    http://www.recordstore.co.uk/vanmorrison/home.jsp?Search=exilecd1
     
  17. DJ WILBUR

    DJ WILBUR The Cappuccino Kid Thread Starter

  18. elborak

    elborak Forum Resident

    Would it be appropriate to comment or solicit opinions as to the best vinyl/digital copies of the albums as we go?

    We certainly wouldn't want such to dominate the thread; the music, not the medium, is king; but it might be helpful.
     
  19. Clarkophile

    Clarkophile Through the Morning, Through the Night

    Location:
    Oakville, ON
    I guess I don't have a problem wiith that, so long as the discussion doesn't get too clinical or too far removed from the soulfulness of Van the Man and his music.

    Allow me to consult with my esteemed colleague: What say you, DJWilbur?
     
  20. DJ WILBUR

    DJ WILBUR The Cappuccino Kid Thread Starter

    totally fine by me...there's not really much to discuss...but as people in here hopefully decide to go buy some of the titles they dont have, suffice it to say, they will need to know what to buy.

    I'm only aware of 1 mastering of Astral Weeks and its pretty good IMO what I have. Early vinyl trumps later vinyl, so green label copies are the way to go on Astral....

    As far as most of his cd output, I've got some of the early WB masterings and some of those titles on the latter polygram masterings. The WB work better for me especially on Veedon, which I have on 2 vinyls as well, but the WB sounds best to my ears....the WB remasters on Polygram are much brighter but not terrible by any means.

    also most of the Polygram stuff sounded great as they were released so seek those out as well many pressed in Germany too. I don think much of that was ever "remastered". I know the Best of they did was remastered and I prefer the original mastering.

    so thats what I know about the sonics, but anyone please let the people know if there is a better sounding copy of whatever we're discussing.
     
  21. elborak

    elborak Forum Resident

    There are a few specific cases, such as the expanded tracks on the CD reissue of It's Too Late To Stop Now, that skew in favor of Polygram over Warner, but I otherwise agree. And those special cases can be discussed in context as each album comes up for discussion.
     
  22. MikeP5877

    MikeP5877 V/VIII/MCMLXXVII

    Location:
    OH
    Can you elaborate on the "expanded tracks" on the It's Too Late To Stop Now CD? I only have the old WB CD. I wasn't aware that the Polygram was expanded.
     
  23. DJ WILBUR

    DJ WILBUR The Cappuccino Kid Thread Starter

    I'm not aware of an expanded edition of this one. I've got the Polygram one and its about 92 minutes both discs combined....18 songs total.
     
  24. Clarkophile

    Clarkophile Through the Morning, Through the Night

    Location:
    Oakville, ON
    I was scratchin' my head about that one too. My CD of ITLTSN is really old, from back when it was sold in two separate cases :laugh: .

    If it is expanded, I'd love to hear what the differences are.:thumbsup:
     
  25. elborak

    elborak Forum Resident

    We're getting pretty far ahead, so I'll try to keep this short.

    I can't find my WB version right now, so this is from memory... a few of the tracks on It's To Late... were partially restored for the Polydor remaster. They have some of the small edits undone, lengthening the tracks by 10-50 seconds or so. It's possible my memory is faulty and this was actually done for the WB release, but again I can't find it right now to confirm.

    Here are the track times for the Polydor release. If someone could compare to the WB release it would be helpful, but beyond that we should probably drop this discussion until ITLTSN comes up in the lineup.

    Ain't Nothin' You Can Do (3:44)
    Warm Love (3:04)
    Into the Mystic (4:33)
    These Dreams of You (3:37)
    I Believe To My Soul (4:09)
    I've Been Working (3:56)
    Help Me (3:25)
    Wild Children (5:04)
    Domino (4:48)
    I Just Want To Make Love to You (5:16)

    Bring it on Home To Me (4:42)
    Saint Dominic's Preview (6:18)
    Take Your Hands Out of My Pocket (4:04)
    Listen to the Lion (8:43)
    Here Comes the Night (3:14)
    Gloria (4:16)
    Caravan (9:20)
    Cyprus Avenue (10:20)

    Edit: There's a brief mention of this at the end of the ITLTSN discography entry at The Van Morrison Web Site (http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/~hayward/van/discography/toolate.html):
    "The track times listed above are for the original album release; the tracks were lengthened for the remaster reissue."
     
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