Van Morrison - Best 60s/70s Album Poll!!

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Aar Gal, Feb 11, 2020.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. profholt82

    profholt82 Resident Blowhard

    Location:
    West Michigan
    That stretch from Astral through St. Dom's is perfection. Voted for 'His Band,' but honestly, that could change on any given day. I like most of his catalogue, but that 5 album stretch is some of my favorite recorded music of all time.
     
  2. newelectricmuse

    newelectricmuse charm, strangeness and quark

    Location:
    London
    Any kind of reissue for Van's catalogue would be welcome - it's insane that some of these albums are out of print in physical form!
     
    Billy 1957 and Blank Frank like this.
  3. Astral Weeks but I wanted to choose St Dom too.

    On another note I'm seeing Van live tonight at Yoshis in Oakland. A small jazz club... :tiphat:
     
  4. newelectricmuse

    newelectricmuse charm, strangeness and quark

    Location:
    London
    I've gone for It's Too Late To Stop Now in the end, because it covers songs from several albums, it's live (Van's natural environment), and it's got the Caledonia Soul Orchestra arrangements.

    But the other albums on the list all have something to recommend them to a greater or lesser extent - there are quite a few I couldn't live without, especially Into The Music.
     
  5. newelectricmuse

    newelectricmuse charm, strangeness and quark

    Location:
    London
    Enjoy! :righton:
     
  6. bostonscoots

    bostonscoots Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    Couldn't agree more about It's Too Late To Stop Now - a live album so great, it swore me off seeing Van Morrison in concert because the gig - even if Van had a crack band and was in a good mood - would never be like this. It's unfair, I know - but it's just that good. By comparison, the studio versions of "St. Dominick's Preview" "These Dreams Of You" and "Caravan" seem restrained...
     
  7. Lightworker

    Lightworker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Deep Texas
    You know what they say:
    Q: How do you kill a hipster?
    A: Drown 'em in the mainstream.
     
  8. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    Veedon Fleece has risen in popularity a great deal the last ten years. Would only call it the hipsters choise if the album's fans haven't heard the rest of Van's catalogue. Which is always possible.
     
    MetalGuruMessiah likes this.
  9. astro70

    astro70 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southern Illinois
    Can't say I like his stuff outside of Them, so I went with the first option. Some of the best garage rock around.
     
    hallucalation likes this.
  10. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Restrained but fantastic nonetheless.
     
  11. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Worked with this woman a few years back who claimed to love Van Morrison. She didn't seem too knowledgeable about individual albums but cited a few songs of his she loved.
    I burned her a copy of ' Astral Weeks '. She hated it and said the songs were boring.
     
    MetalGuruMessiah likes this.
  12. gkella

    gkella Glen Kellaway From The Basement

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    This is going to be a two horse race.
    I chose Astral Weeks.
     
    MetalGuruMessiah likes this.
  13. thxphotog

    thxphotog Camera Nerd Cycling Nerd Guitar Nerd Dietary Nerd

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA

    Is it possible that Van Morrison is Ed Sheeran's dad?
     
    notesofachord and Lightworker like this.
  14. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    I love Into the Music. Love it.

    I picked Moondance...but it’s so hard to pick a favourite from amongst your musical children.
     
    linklinc and MetalGuruMessiah like this.
  15. mwheelerk

    mwheelerk Sorry, I can't talk now, I'm listening to music...

    Location:
    Gilbert Arizona
    For me Moondance by a wide margin. It took me years to like Astral Weeks and though it has finally grown on me it stills ranks down the list of several other albums for my taste.
     
  16. MetalGuruMessiah

    MetalGuruMessiah Forum Resident

    Location:
    Texas
    What a horrible thing to ask?! ;-) Literally an impossible choice, for me at least (and surely many others) this is probably more difficult to contemplate for Van than any other artist. If pressed, I guess the best I could do is say it would have to be between Astral Weeks and Veedon Fleece...then a big clump of 8 or 10 other albums RIGHT THERE! ***Edit - 8 or 10 was including all his albums....for 60s - 70s it would be more like 5 or 6.

    Somebody do the polls where we choose top 3 or 4 from each album....something we have a reasonable chance of answering, unlike this stumper?
    From Saint Dominic’s Preview. This song. OMG.
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2020
    willy and jwoverho like this.
  17. chervokas

    chervokas Senior Member

    I like a lot of them, but if I have to pick just one it's Astral Weeks, which is thaeMorrison album I've listened to most, have the deepest emotional connection with and still return to. I also think it's Morrison's most singular and original work and a work of music that transcends genre.
     
  18. MetalGuruMessiah

    MetalGuruMessiah Forum Resident

    Location:
    Texas
    Lemme guess, one was Have I Told You Lately, and Moondance, Tupelo Honey, Crazy Love, Days Like This and finally Have I Told You Lately again? LOL! I think I knew her as well! Anyone hating Astral Weeks cannot be a Van Morrison fan, just can’t be.
     
  19. lucan_g

    lucan_g Forum Resident

    Astral Weeks

    That album is unique. Van was was clearly channeling something very special.
     
  20. wellhamsrus

    wellhamsrus Surrender to the sound

    Location:
    Canberra
    It is an acquired taste. I loved Moondance from the first, Astral Weeks took time.
     
  21. samthesham

    samthesham Forum Resident

    Location:
    Moorhead MN
    In order of preference...

    1960s

    1.Them featuring Here Come The Night (1965)...1 of the very first record albums I bought during the 1960s...

    I have always liked my rock with a element of danger & this US version of Thems debut had it all, from a singer that confers anger in almost every performance & a guitarist that wielded his instrument like a weapon backed by a rhythm section that was every bit the raging momentum of the Stones...

    The Stones with their fraility were to me about as frightening as my Grandma, but Them & The Animals were the kind of cats that you wouldn't want to get in squabble with, Van even proved he was a bit of a tussler when he showed up with a black eye on the cover of Them Again...

    I saw Them perform during mid 60s & they were a band beyond comparabilty...

    Them has always been my preferred band of the British (Irish) Invasion

    2.Astral Weeks (1968)...this is the record where Van really did ascend into the mystic, his guitar playing throughout the entire record was not only transcendent but mythic as well...

    Songs like Cyprus Avenue & Madame George convey a deep pain from the story teller that at times it was hard to listen to, a profound listening experience indeed...

    In my 60 years of serious musical enjoyment I have never experienced a record that conveys so much pain & does it in such a brilliant way as Astral Weeks does...

    There is nothing in rocks long history that sounds quite like AW, it continues to stand all alone in the pantheon of rock...

    The 2 records that spent more time than others on my TT during 1968 were Astral Weeks & VU / WLWH & both records continue to get adequate time now as well


    1970s

    1.Moondance (1970)...the internationally acclaimed masterpiece & side 1 (excluding Moondance) might be Vans greatest side of commercially acceptable music

    2.Into The Music (1979)...after years in the wilderness with desultory albums he came roaring back with ITM, once again it had become impossible to get out of the way of Vans performances & side 2 was his most flowing & transcendent music since Astral Weeks
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2020
    MetalGuruMessiah likes this.
  22. Evethingandnothing

    Evethingandnothing Forum Resident

    Location:
    Devon
    Would normally vote for Astral Weeks, but chose A Period Of Transition, 'cos it had no votes and is a really great record that in my observational experience many Van fans haven't even heard.
     
  23. fallbreaks

    fallbreaks Forum Resident

    One vote? That’s cruel. But mine goes to Astral Weeks.
     
    Blank Frank likes this.
  24. samthesham

    samthesham Forum Resident

    Location:
    Moorhead MN
    Anybody that says they don't get it needs to go back to Van 101.Period.
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2020
    MetalGuruMessiah likes this.
  25. notesofachord

    notesofachord Riding down the river in an old canoe

    Location:
    Mojave Desert
    His Band & The Street Choir is my favorite.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine