Van Morrison - Album by Album discussion - PART THREE

How pagan, Summer Solstice=Magic Time. I like it!

Funny you've been on a prog kick, I've been spinning Paul Weller, the Jam and Style Council. Must be the power of suggestion, looking at your avatar.

 

Hmm, I wonder whether Paul Weller has ever covered a Van song. That would definitely pique William's interest.

 

I listened to magic time this past three dayer, in prep, and a proper student (who failed his essay on Down The Road..) and i dug it, but not as much as I remembered... The first two tracks are stonkers... Stranded just kicks... and Celtic New Year is THEE Van classic off it.. essential to any comprehensive comp on the man...

It does see a proppos to have until the summer solstice to do this one up right... after all it is avery busy time of the year, with those in school related messes... This week is my worst of the year... but I'll chime in as the mood suits and time permates...

I'm a little van fatigues as well, and I only came in on Too Long in Exile!!! I cannot imagine three threads and three years on this *****... just kidding...

So rest up sweet william and dance with the moonlit knights sir wilbur...

and well be dancing round the ring of stones come the sun rising day of days.

cheers,

and see ya round the forums...

 

I'll be there when we continue!
So is this what we have left?:

Magic Time
Pay The Devil
Live In Austin (Van site only album)
Keep It Simple

and then back to:
Bang Sessions
original Them releases

 

Good, I'm very glad. I hope all of our regular posters come back after the holiday.

 

Drew always get the girl... and I'm left waiting at the altar... of my ego....

 

Rest assured you were meant to be included in the catch-all phrase "all of our regular posters", Mr. Bill.

 

oh i'll be right with you the moment his new one comes along....it just a momentary lapse of reason....hahaha, not to slag ELP or Yes, the latter I adore the other, well, i tend to need them in my head a few days a year....so that'll be over soon...only so many times I can listen to Tarkus in one year....

then I"ll be all weller all the time, then back to our regularly scheduled vandom

 

I know I know, I was just teasing ya... call me johnny teasle weasle...

Drew and I Go WAY BACK!!!

 

oh I might have to sell england too...good call that....aisle of ;plenty and all that...will go nice with the Anthony Phillips I'm enjoying now as well...with my squirrel friend....

 

yes and yes....all then the various comps too...might as well cover those tooo....the three best of's, the movie one, anything else I'm not thinking of.....

 

then I"ll be all weller all the time, then back to our regularly scheduled vandom


well we wee willies cant wait for when weller's wisdom wings our way and we willingly wing out way away out where ever the weller wisdom would wisk we wee willies.... wes?

 

On a side note, here is the latest info on the next series of Van's catalog reissues:

http://vanmorrisonnews.blogspot.com/

 

thanks for this...

I'll be buying Common One, No Guru, and Veedon Fleece for sure, just to hear the remasters to compare, and just to hear the bonus tracks, and just cause they are three killer albums, and some of his finest offerings...

 

New Van Morrison Tour dates for N. America

Tom, the man is coming to you


https://tix.concertmaps.com/vanmorrison/

July 7 Massey Hall Toronto
July 8 Chicago - Rosemont Theatre
July 10, 11 Tower Theatre, Philly
July 12 - Atlantic City

presales for toronto and chicago happening now....

 

how odd, i just realized all these shows have 6pm start times....does the man go to bed at 9pm these days??? are they serving dinner at these shows??? hahaha....never have I seen 6pm start times.....

i'm ready to continue with Magic Time...anyone with me, or shall we let it be a bit longer?

 

Two tickets going for either $295 or $300? There is no way in hell I could afford these prices. Van is nuts.

 

well thats his pre-sale, but i think you're looking at the presale with t-shirt option...i'm seeing 185 and 195...still no bargain, but i'm sure the theatre will have cheaper sections with the cheapest seats being $95, still not cheap, but thought you should know. Public sale starts June 7th....

Van Morrison
Massey Hall
$195.00 - $95.00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 7, 2008 7:00 PM

FriendsFirst Ticket Sales Begin:
June 4, 2008 10:00 AM Buy Friends Tickets
What's FriendsFirst?

Public Ticket Sales Begin:
June 7, 2008 12:00 PM
This concert will begin at 7pm sharp.

A limited number of Gold Circle tickets are available in person or by phone at 416-872-4255.


http://roythomson.com/eventInfo.cfm?E=2183&YearMonth=2008,6


FILMING, RECORDING AND PHOTOGRAPHY ARE PROHIBITED AND VIOLATORS WILL BE SUBJECT TO EJECTION AND ALL FILM / RECORDING MEDIA WILL BE PERMANENTLY ERASED BY SECURITY STAFF. THIS INCLUDES DIGITAL CAMERAS, VOICE RECORDERS, CELLULAR PHONES, ETC.

Alcohol will not be served at this event.

 

No, I very much appreciate the heads-up, William. Just a little frustrated with the costs. I'm going to have to think fast and hard about this.

 

ha, Van is never cheap these days. your tix are much cheaper than the NY shows which top out around the $250 US Dollars mark....

the best and last Van bargan was his Jones Beach show which I sat up top for $20, now that was a good deal just 2 summers ago...or maybe 3...whenever Pay the Devil came out....I passed on the last show due to cost myself as I'd seen him 3x the past couple of years...

still he's not often in Toronto.....then the gamble, is it a classic amazing show or a total bummer of a show...ya never know til that 90 minutes are up...

 

So you guys made no progress while I was gone, eh? I can understand the need to take a break I just saw Magic Time at ye old used cd shoppe today and took a pass. May be I should snag it so I can participate. I think the 'z' key on my keyboard is working

 

well i'm gonna need a counterpoint to my Magic Time post, cause I'm a big fan of that one....I was hoping I could count on you....besides we need you for the sillly off-topic banter too.....

i'm gonna fire Magic Time up tomorrow I think....I'm back in a Van head after a few weeks of vancation, and I need you to help me work on Tom, get him to spend hard earned dollars on his 90 minutes with Van in Toronto...not easy squeezing that man's dough outta his wallet....sometimes I think he's scottish....

 

MAGIC TIME 2005

1. Stranded (5:34)
2. Celtic New Year (6:10)
3. Keep Mediocrity At Bay (3:44)
4. Evening Train (2:48)
5. This Love of Mine (2:42)
6. I'm Confessin (4:29)
7. Just Like Greta (6:25)
8. Gypsy In My Soul (4:04)
9. Lonely And Blue (3:41)
10. The Lion This Time (4:56)
11. Magic Time (5:06)
12. They Sold Me Out (3:11)
13. Carry On Regardless (5:54)

From the first time I heard the opening strain of “Stranded”, I was hooked on that tune in a big way. It’s probably my favorite opening album track in more than a decade. Yes, it’s a touch MOR, but if being Stranded sounds like this then I’m not waving at any passing planes to escape this island.

One of my very favorite 21st century Vans….”Stranded” is just a stunner, from the first strains of that sax, oh man, I love this one….I’m sure it’s the song the dancers on the cover are dancing to…might be my very favorite Van Morrison slow dance, that I never slow danced to. I’m also a sucker for anything he records where he’s doing some of that 50s style background vocals dealio. ..And when the piano/keyboards on a tune are this lovely and tinkly… well I’m sold, the rest of the album coulda sucked, it was worth this one tune alone for me. What I wouldn’t give to have heard Ray Charles sing this one….almost feels like a song Van would have written for Ray to sing.

Who would have thought he would have something to better it, yet he segues’s another monster van track right after it. “Celtic New Year” is a beautiful ode to a lost lover, again it’s a tad MOR, but the man has been recording for 40 years now, how could he not have mellowed out? I love that penny whistle at the end of this one, always such a great sound on a Van track; it’s a perfect closing accompaniment to this tune.

Well after song two I’m really sold on this one, the rest of the album coulda sucked, cause it was worth it for these two alone…two classic Morrison classics back to back and they are magic time indeed for me.

“Keep Mediocrity at Bay”, well he needed to pick up the tempo and he does, a decent blues track, great harmonica but I’m moving on to the next tune….I’m taking the “Evening Train”….whoa…this is a groovy rocking blues track, very cool, balls to the wall bass playing on this, it cooks…its great, vantastic blues dynamo vanhum…I love it…

Magic Time slams into a couple of tunes Mr. Sinatra sang, including one he co-wrote…I had no friggin clue Sinatra wrote lyrics until writing this up but he co-penned this cover tune of “This Love of Mine”. It’s swinging, rat-packish, maybe not a perfect fit here, but for once I can’t knock the Van Jazz bits here, because it works in the mix on this album, he’s tipping his hat to frank and that’s Magic Time for this Sinatra fan.

Really I could go on and on with descriptions of these songs, but you get the idea. It’s a terrific later day Van even with the “They Sold Me Out” lyrics…man I wish he’d give that subject a rest already. After 40 years shuddup already….

The title track “Magic Time”; another “Have I Told You Lately"…Mr. Morrison can pen the most poignant love song. he’s written the best here in a decade and this is another wedding song classic, almost Proustian in its reminiscences of things past…

You can call it nostalgia, I don't mind
Standing on that windswept hillside
Listenin' to the church bells chime
Listen to the church bells chime
In that magic time
Oh the road it never ends
Good to see you my old friend
Once again we sit right down and share the wine
Shivers up and down my spine
It's a feeling so divine
Let me go back for a while
Got to back for a while
To that magic time

The finale, “Carry On Regardless”, is another chugging blues jaunt. I love the sound of the drums on this one especially. Just a great album closer, maybe a bit of a Van by the numbers bit here, but this album is a great listen, a couple of downright classics, nary a dud….its pure Magic.

 

The Rolling Stone review 3 1/2* review

When Van Morrison visits a recording studio, you can bet your worn-out vinyl copy of Hard Nose the Highway he will not leave until he has recorded some seriously astral Irish blues poetry ("Celtic New Year"), tributes to his pop-culture heroes ("Just Like Greta") and a lot of mellow, easy-rolling folk-jazz numbers about the evils of the modern world and the struggle of the poet. On Magic Time, Morrison vows to "Keep Mediocrity at Bay," even though "They Sold Me Out," because they couldn't kill the "Gypsy in My Soul." "The Lion This Time" is a lilting lullaby, hearkening back to the 1970s Morrison classic "Listen to the Lion," with gentle violins and vocals, and "Lonely and Blue" is a gorgeous R&B torch ballad worthy of Little Willie John.

 

Ok, Mr. DJ, you've sold me. I'll pick up that used copy today. I'm an open-minded sort.

I picked up Days Like This a few weeks back and instantly loved "Perfect Fit" with its great horn chart, but most of the rest of the album hasn't really clicked with me. I'm also thinking that may be that web reviewer complaining about Van's vox on The Healing Game was confused and meant Days Like This. His voice actually does sound a little nasally and congested to me on this one (I've only listened in the car so far, so it may be due to some odd acoustics there--it's not like I'm driving a dead quiet luxury car).