Out of print Van Morrison titles

Does anyone know whats up with the Van Morrison catalog? On cd universe,no less than 16 titles are on backorder, and on amazon, lots of popular titles are only available from marketplace sellers at inflated prices.

 

Van Morrison owns the rights to that part of the catalog – Tupelo Honey-now. He’s probably moving his catalog under a different record company. He did this when he moved his WB titles under Polydor in the last 90's. Tupelo Honey and other titles were out of print in the US for almost 2 years and then they got reissued/remastered under Polydor. Polydor’s deal probably ran out. I’m sure they will be reissued soon at some point.

 

Wonder if there's a move to EMI/Blue Note pending?

 

Geez almost want to sell some of my Morison CD's off for some $$ but I'm worried about a potiential remastering job.

 

Right now even his bestselling BEST OF is out-of-print, which sucks for retailers. That's a catalog staple.

I thought the Warner Brothers discs sounded fine; the Polygram discs different but still good. The remasters were more detailed and corrected a couple minor errors, but overall I prefered the Warner discs for their tonal balance. Still, I wouldn't recommend spending a lot of time worrying about one or the other.

 

Likewise. For what it's worth, though, I think he tends to keep the work pretty close to him; Metropolis did the last round IIRC, and they seemed okay. (I had the Warner and Polydor versions of Veedon Fleece, Tupelo Honey, and It's Too Late to Stop Now, and the worst I could say was that the Polydor versions were a little brighter in the treble; less "earthy" sounding, but not shrill by a long shot. Could be interesting to hear a Blue Note take on all three of those, though.)

 

What were some of the "minor errors" that needed correcting?

 

Please don't suggest that we have a "Rudy Van Gelder" series, however. The mere idea would give some people 'round here a hemorrhage.

 

Van Morrison is back with Polydor in Europe (both Magic Time and Pay The Devil are on Polydor over here) but on checking it seems most of his back catalogue is currently not in print here either.

 

I just wish they would remaster them. Properly. I have a couple of the old WB and they dont sound bad. But Van desperatey needs the Dylan sacd treatment.

 

Can you imagine Astral Weeks in dts?? <sigh>

 

I picked up an old vinyl copy of His Band and the Street Choir a couple of months ago and although it's a very quiet, good sounding pressing (old green label), it's also pretty scratched up to the point where the quiet parts of I'll Be Your Lover Too sound terrible even after several cleanings. I ordered a M- copy from a online used vendor. Although it's in much better shape (still not really what I'd call near mint), the tape hiss is noticeably louder, as if it were some re-issue done from a high-gen source. The label is a newer white WB and it's a much thinner LP. I really like this album so I wish I could find a better LP.

By the way, I'm just discovering Morrison's music. I've always known he was around and was familiar with the hits, but I never really took the time to get into his music. Which are the best vinyl pressings, the old green label WBs?

 

Van's definitely more interested in pursuing new music rather than dealing with his catalog, so I'd pick up whatever titles you're missing before they all go MIA for a while.

 

It will be a Peter Mew Series!

 

Okay, now I am gonna throw up.

 

he's recently signed a deal with EMI and he and his owned catalog goin with him. I'm sure it'll be back in print soon enough.

he owns everything but the first 3 i think...

 

No wonder I couldn't find it! Thanks for the clarification!


Evan

 

...*gulp*...
I'm hanging on to my old WBs for dear life

 

Hard to remember now without both versions in front of me. Things like the first note being snipped off a track, stuff like that.

 

Dunno if do Them-Featuring Van Morrison in the japanese issue count? I barely ever saw that title on sale.

 

The whole thing will undoubtedly be the source for Van's one music industry rant requirement per album....

Ain't going to let the music business push me around/
Going to take my catalog and go underground/
No way the music moneyman can make a mint/
When all my albums are out of print...

(Cue the Candy Dulfer sax solo, Brian Kennedy answering on "around" and "mint", and Van scatting on "print"...)

 

Awesome! Needs a title though, let's see...

How about

"Reissue THIS!"

 

CM, you really need to listen to more early Van

Not a Dulfer or Kennedy in sight (er....earshot)!

 

One error was the first note of Listen To The Lion which was very slightly snipped.