VAN MORRISON Album by Album Discussion: Part 2 (Wavelength 1978 - Enlightenment 1990)

sorry ?

Can u repeat that in plain english please - have no clue what that is supposed to mean..

 

I haven't heard this one yet, but if it represents a successful Yanniectomy, all I have to say is THANK GOD!!!

Tim

 

you mean FUNNY_FI_CATION of Vanity in reprocessed merits of past vanglorious foot-steps along the ladder to never ending Enlightenment as opposed to a Common One with his own Sense Of Purpose, but without any Astral Weeks left in Vedon Fleece ? Gimme some Tupelo Honey for this period of Transition

 

Did you read the reference to "Yannification" in the post I was responding to? That oughtta clear it right up for the easily confused.

 

Baron, jpmosu was simply responding to my post in which I attempted to humourously employ a neologism, or coinage--in this case involving the musician Yanni (see below)--to describe Van's musical direction during the Inarticulate Speech of the Heart period.

 

We'll be moving on to A Sense of Wonder very shortly. William is in the process of getting the info together. However, he and I are both tore down a la the guy below, so while we aren't ready to proceed, everyone can start yakking about it.

 

A SENSE OF WONDER

Tracks

1 Tore Down a la Rimbaud
2 Ancient of Days
3 Evening Meditation (instrumental)
4 The Master's Eyes
5 What Would I Do Without You
6 A Sense of Wonder
7 Boffyflow and Spike [instrumental]
8 If You Only Knew
9 Let The Slave
10 A New Kind of Man

time to change records, but I'm so not ready to write about this one, but that doesnt mean you all arent ready to move on from the Opera Hose. So it was my birthday weekend and i got a stack of trax and so didnt get to listen to this one at all....so I'll chime in when work calms by thursday or so....

here is the All music review to get some thoughts flowing...
Review by William Ruhlmann
Van Morrison's U.S. label debut with Polygram (which had issued his Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast album in England earlier) is a strong effort, mixing some of his familiar influences — R&B, poetry, mysticism — on such characteristic tracks as "Tore Down a la Rimbaud." It might be fair to say that, by now, Morrison's fans had heard what he had to say and the rest was just repetition, but he continued to write and perform at a high level at this mature stage in his career.


the Rolling Stone Review....

'A Sense Of Wonder' is a plateau for Van Morrison: his first record for his new label, it draws upon and summarizes the last four albums he made for Warner Bros., which documented a period of spiritual awakening. Each of those records focused upon a different aspect of Morrison's religiosity – rebirth (Into the Music); deep contemplation and meditation (Common One); ecstasy and humility (Beautiful Vision); and blissful, mantralike languor (Inarticulate Speech of the Heart). A Sense of Wonder is a grand act of synthesis and overview, affirming the artist's sense of place and self in terms of his Celtic roots.

Over the years, Morrison has gathered around him a band that plays, like the best jazz ensembles, with effortless empathy. The group follows him through all his moods and meanderings, from the lilting cadences of "Tore Down à la Rimbaud" and "Ancient of Days" to the stately auguring of "Let the Slave" (set to a text by William Blake) and the airy, triumphal shimmer of "A New Kind of Man." On two other songs, Morrison is accompanied by an ensemble called Moving Hearts, which plays in a more traditional Irish vein. In "A Sense of Wonder" Morrison calls out a jumble of street names, colors, characters and raw, unintellectualized feelings in the free-associative style of James Joyce and Morrison's own Astral Weeks.

As usual, Morrison offers praise to his literary idols, invoking Arthur Rimbaud and William Blake, and honors his jazz-soul mentors as well, covering both Ray Charles' "What Would I Do without You" and Mose Allison's "If You Only Knew." In Morrison's hands, the former composition becomes a hymn of gratitude and confession. "If You Only Knew," unfortunately, is a petulant complaint sung in a manner too derivative of Allison's bohemian-jazzbo style; it sours, for a moment, the exquisite grace of the record. As it happens, the song was a last-minute replacement for "Crazy Jane on God" (based on the poem by William Butler Yeats), which was dropped when Yeats' estate denied Morrison permission to use the text (the estate gives permission only to classical musicians). It's a shame, since the deleted song's refrain – "All things remain in God" – and Morrison's extraordinary musical setting evoked the revelatory wonder and mystery at the heart of the LP. But "The Master's Eyes," which counterpoints a beatific affirmation of belief ("How the light shone from the master's eyes") with a sepulchral brooding ("Why didn't they leave us to wander through buttercup summers?"), is ample compensation. Overall, A Sense of Wonder is serenely uplifting. With astonishing commitment and profound belief, Van Morrison continues to push forward into the mystic. (RS 447) PARKE PUTERBAUGH

so lets get the sense of wonder started.....

 

"I heartily endorse this album."
--William Blake

 

Van, as brooding bard:

 

The cover for A Sense of Wonder features another one of the 10 known photographs of Van Morrison smiling.

 

Or demonic grimace...hard to tell with that lighting....

 

It stands to reason that the acute case of writer's block lamented in "Tore Down a la Rimbaud" resulted in the unprecedented number of covers (three) on A Sense of Wonder, along with two rather unimpressive instrumentals. However, this does not indicate any diminution of Van's proven ability to interpret other people's songs. The Mose Allison and Ray Charles covers are well chosen, entirely successful dips into Van's wellspring of musical influences. The instrumentals are harmless enough, but there's something about "Evening Meditation" that always makes me think of the hook in Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour"; "Boffyflow and Spike" is brief but incongruous filler.
"Let the Slave" is the pick of the covers, and it is one of the two towering Sensachievements of this record (the other being the title track). Van may not have written this song, but his soul is evident in every second of it.
The"For every thing that lives is holy" section is stunning; as close to sacred music as you're going to find in secular music. It's one of those moments where words like "spiritual" "ethereal" and "otherworldly" come to mind, yet seem laughably impotent in capturing what's going on here.

The originals (except for the instrumentals) are all bulletproof Van compositions; not a dog among them. "A New Kind of Man", "The Master's Eyes" and "A Sense of Wonder" are all moving performances.
"The Master's Eyes" is a comforting affirmation of faith which, upon discovering this album, I had first assumed was a centuries-old hymn. This is, of course, further testament to the timelessness of Van's best work: the ability to seem in touch with the ancients while firmly rooted in the present...yet still able to sound fresh, vital and inspirational 24 years later.


"Tore Down a la Rimbaud": http://youtube.com/watch?v=wv2T8CnFgao&feature=related

"A Sense of Wonder"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3Uny6XSyC9w
(watch them before they get removed)

 

This is not a neologism.

This is a typo.

 

This album took me by surprise when I first heard it in 1989. Until then I'd only been familiar with his earlier years, up to around ITLTSN. My first impression was how mellow this album was compared to what I'd been used to. The second thing that struck me was how deep Van's voice was by this time. I admit it took awhile to grow into this album but I find it very enjoyable whenever I play it, which is not nearly enough.

 

I was tempted to say something similar BUT Van the Man actually looks like he's smiling.Very cool cover.Could he have been happy with the results of this album?Remember this picture was taken before "Crazy Jane on God" was pulled from the album!I wonder what his reaction was when that happened?

 

"You did what?"

 

In case anyone missed it, the new reissue of this (as well as many others) is due out tomorrow, and will include as bonus tracks alternate takes of "Crazy Jane on God" and "Sense of Wonder".

 

Tomorrow, you say? So that's a different version of "Crazy Jane" from the version on Philosopher's Stone? Looks like I'll be picking this one up.
Thanks for the reminder.

 

oh good, we'll hear about the mastering on these remasters then...let us know what you hear....

 

I'm fearful of any remastering of Sense Of Wonder. The original U.S. Mercury cd is already a little bright for my taste. . .

 

So...is this where the funny hats began?

Tim

 

That title song is a classic. The cover is strange, but in a way cool.

More on the remasterings and Van Morrisons new album "Keep it Simple" in Mojo:

http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2008/01/van_morrison_keeps_it_simple.html

 

Thanks. I'm thinking Into the Music, A Sense of Wonder and Back on Top are no-brainers; maybe Tupelo Honey as well.

Yes: this is the beginning of HatVan (TM Exile Productions) . Seems to coincide nicely with the disappearance of Van's hair.

Now, does anyone know when our Echo-nomics major arrives on the scene, arrives on scene (Brian Kennedy)?

 

I first noticed him on "A Night In San Franscisco".