What's with Van Morrison?

First, he shuts down all "unofficial" Van info websites, proclaims his official site the only true source of info on our man, and promptly shuts down his official site. Then, he starts a new reissue campaign only to cancel midway through due to, I suppose, disagreements with the distributor thus leaving a big chunk of his back catalog out of print. As of today, even his recent Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl has seemingly fallen out of print (on CD at least) and no word at all on the To Be Born Again documentary that was going to be released early this year.

I know that he's had his issues with the business in the past, but this is the first time (at least since the mid-70s) that he's cut himself off so abruptly. Any thoughts on what gives?

 

moody isn't even the word for him. i gave up trying to figure him out a long time ago. i'm amazed he still has a fan base the way he does things these days.

 

I once had a blog entry removed blogger.com, due to a complaint from his (then) record company. All I did was write a paragraph about a record of his, and posted a picture of the cover (which was also deleted from the hosting site, due to a complaint of copyright infringement).

 

Just out of curiosity, was it a positive or negative paragraph? I find it amazing that Van (or his record company) would go out of his way to squash any online discussion of his recent work while at the same time bemoaning the fact that nobody pays attention to his recent work.

There's a really telling scene in the preview for To Be Born Again where there's a Van fan standing on the street holding a copy of one of his classic albums (can't remember which one) as Van drives by. Van makes a comment to the effect of "why don't you f***ing listen to my new stuff?" as he drives away.

Maybe if he would be a little more willing to promote his new stuff, more people would listen to it. I for one think he's been on a hot streak for over a decade....

 

please don't misunderstand or misinterpret what i'm about to say.

van morrison is a wonderful artist, but "a night in san francisco" van has been phoning it in as far as i'm concerned.

sure there are some great tunes on some of those albums, but the skiffle crap, the duet album with linda gail lewis (?????) and letting his daughter sing lead vocals all convey to me that it was basically a money grab from dedicated fans.

you might get one good album out of all those CD's, as they all sound the same, and are produced and mastered the same.

another "hymns to the silence" would be very very welcome.

and yes i agree, none of his albums should ever be OOP.

 

Yes, Van seems to have gone off the rails again. I think he is angry because his "offical website" was hacked into and a fake story was posted there, saying his manager had just given birth to a child fathered by Van. The phony story was picked up and widely reported in the news. I even heard it on NPR here in NY.

I think that was enough to sour Van on the virtual world for a while. Ironically he is only punishing himself in lost sales.

 

Ahh, that makes me want to give the big ol' sociopath a bearhug.

Seriously, I suspect Van has some pretty serious mental health issues--which is too bad--I'm a huge fan, and I hate to see someone so tortured.

 

It was an entry in my 45s blog - a comment (very positive) about a rare B-side of his, and a mention of an upcoming release of his.

 

He certainly seems willing to alienate his fans, doesn't he? I've been hearing about his cantankerous demeanor for years, so it's not surprising. I'm in agreement about his recent output too. His releases have been very uneven. It's as if he turned off the quality control button.

 

Anyone see Van Morrison's 'BBC Four Sessions' concert from St. Luke's Church in London? Now there's a DVD that I would buy, if only they'd release it. There's a couple of clips from it here. Wonderful stuff but frustratingly unavailable to purchase.

 

The guy has alchohol banned from shows for the reason he doesn't like people getting in and out of their seats. He then gives performances that has the audience getting up and leaving before the shows over.

 

In my own personal experience, Van's show ended before some people even had a chance to sit down in their seats. We paid 70 bucks to see him (from the nosebleed section) at the Nokia Theater in Grand Prairie a couple of years ago right before he released Pay the Devil. He was off the stage in just under an hour. Ironically enough, my wife told me immediately afterward that she would pay money to see him again.

 

He has some mental problems, this has been going on for years.

 

Never been to a bad Van performace ever. That said not been to see him for a decade. That's due to his more recent releases being not all to my liking. Still that should not alter the fact that he has always been on top of his game when I have attended any of his concerts here in Liverpool.

 

Aren't most musical artists a little!

 

The hour we saw him perform was simply incredible. It's just....well.....it's just that it was only an hour....

 

This is interesting. If you are in a hurry, read the para beginning "It was typical" - the story from Portland.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jun/05/listening-van-morrison-greil-marcus

 

Not like Van. He takes "curmudgeonly" to new heights, and he's much more eager to alienate fans than most...

 

A friend of mine went to the "Astral Weeks" show last summer. I warned her in advance that Van had a bad reputation - she believed me, but she still wanted to go.

She's never going to see VM again...

 

I've never seen him giva a bad show either. Sometimes he is really on, and other times he just gives a standard good professional show.

 

This from a guy who stages a tour dedicated to one decades old album...

 

Thanks for passing this along. Van's response to his fans reveals his utter self-absorbtion. Which strikes me as the ultimate artistic double-edged sword. Van's ability to be so "interior" (for lack of a better word)--that quality that makes him such a spellbinding performer at times--is the very thing that seems to make him unable to relate to people. Because he is so solipsistic, it's prefectly reasonable that he can't step outside of himself enough to understand why his songs touch other people, and then why people feel compelled to share this with the man who wrote those songs.

Sad, but reasonable.

 

Van is an a-hole.

I understand why he does the things he does but can't understand the people who give him their money only to be let down.