I just came across this old WFMU blog post about Van Morrison's Bang Records Contractual Obligation Session.In order to fulfill his obligation to his early solo label Bang Records,Van Morrison sat down in 1967 or so and cranked out 31 songs on the spot, on topics ranging from ringworm to wanting a danish, to hating his record label and a guy named George. Make sure you get past the first few tu...
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Van Morrison is a man with one foot in the mystic. His relationship to the music he creates stands quite apart from most rockers. On a good night, or on a good cd, the music he makes transports him , and us, to a place where whats vocalized is secondary to the act of vocalizing. This is not the same as Scat Singing in Jazz.... ..No, this is something different. Van's inarticulate languag...
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Holy Crap! Van Morrison actually sat down with media and gave an interview today, March 10th. He never does this! My life long dream of possibly interviewing the Irish man behind one of my most favorite albums of all times (Astral Weeks) is one step closer.Van the Man gave a little chat with The Today Programme about his 35th album Keep It Simple on BBC Radio 4. (Damn! Along with the whole Hell...
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Van Morrison will be performing his 1968 album Astral Weeks in its entirty during a two night run at the famed Hollywood Bowl in California. The November 7th and 8th shows will also feature some original players from the classic album and will be taped for a future DVD dubbed Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl. Tickets hit the streets on October 5th.
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in my current re-obsession with van morrison's achingly beautiful "astral weeks", due to it's vinyl re-release, i stumbled upon this beautifully written piece by THE lester bangs, rock critique, life liver, extraordinaire....http://personal.cis.strath.ac.uk/~murray/astral.htmli must go to madison square garden in feb where van the man will play the album live.
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OK, so if the first track is good, generally you're going to keep listening. And a strong track two can't disappoint. It has to expand on the mood of the first track while solidifying the theme of the entire album. It has to make you want to _keep_ listening to said album. It needs to make you wonder what could come next to continue the strong beginnings and thematic scheme presented by th...
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I have been fixated on the old school lately. Its just nice to go back and listen to some of these classic records. The stuff that set the table for everything that i am loving now...Today's album was Van Morrison's 'Astral Weeks'....so, so, so good.Enjoy
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The critics have all come to a unanimous and bipartisan agreement on Van's latest, the envelope please, and the verdict is "BRILLIANT", simply f'in' brilliant. Thanks Van, for the many years of soothingly reflective rock n' roll at it's finest.The vid is "Sweet Thing" from the soon to be released dvd.yeah Mog, I'm still lurking, mostly in rss stealth mode,.. how's that blender thingy working ou...
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Astral Weeks....probably one of the 20 finest albums, from start to finish, ever recorded.
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I was reading fairportfan's post on the Fairport Convention contractual obligation album (http://mog.com/fairportfan/blog_post/3851) and it got me thinking about my favorite contractual obligation album. In 1967, Van Morrison had to fulfill his contract with Bang records, and his frustrated response was to record a sincere sounding yet completely hilarious album. Most of the songs are under a...
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~~ "When the Saints Go Marching In" Is a slightly modified version of the original song written and published in 1896 called "When the Saints ARE Marchiing In." The original was written by Katherine Purvis, the daughter of a Methodist minister and music teacher at the seminary of a Methodist Episcopal Church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.Virgil Stamps wrote the music and Luther G. Presley adjus...
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I like harmony. Who doesn't? It's natural to our senses to enjoy when music is done right, and to cringe when it's not. I used to think that for harmony to be correct, those participating in producing it would all have to be able to sing on key, and be doing Bass, Alto, Baritone, etc. The same with instruments.I ilke a great voice. Pavarotti had a great voice. Most artists today have a good voi...
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Here's one of my favorite songs of all time, which you may find strange considering the kind of tunes I usually post.But I do have a soft side, and I really can't express just how deeply this song moves me. For some reason I can feel the mist of the moors, even though he sings of Coney Island. My heritage is Welsh, and I spent a lot of time on the east coast by the ocean. This takes me there.Anywa
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Black Guy Asks Nation For ChangeCHICAGO—According to witnesses, a loud black man approached a crowd of some 4,000 strangers in downtown Chicago Tuesday and made repeated demands for change. (the Onion)
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It's four full decades since Van Morrison released his first post-Them set of songs, during which time he has rarely had as long as two years between solo album releases. That's a prolific output by anyone's standards, but it inevitably means there have been periods when his material has been more impressive because of its volume, as opposed to its execution. Over the next 12 months or so, Van'...
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