What's with Van Morrison?

Good post.

I have a friend who shells out to go see Van all the time, and he, too, has often remarked on Van's humorous side on stage. (I said, "shells out" 'cause his NYC appearances are often very expensive tickets.)

I saw Van one time in 1986 when he was touring NO GURU, NO METHOD, NO TEACHER and his bass player missed a cue. Van turned his back on him for the rest of the evening. It was pretty funny, actually, to watch Van the Man almost spinning around so he could keep his back to the poor guy. Van finished the set off with a vulgar version of "Send In The Clowns." He sang" "Don't bother, they're already f***in' here." Nice.

 

I gave up on him after "Wavelength."

 

Really? Into the Music, which immediately followed Wavelength, is one of his best albums. It's, IMO, better than Moondance, Tupelo Honey, St Dominic's Preview, &c.

 

You've missed quite a lot then. . .

 

Most of my favorite songs and albums from him came after Wavelength!

 

I saw him on both tours. He was in good spirits and giving great shows at that time especially with Pee Wee Ellis on tenor.

To be fair on the No Guru, No Method, No Teacher tour he closed almost every show with Send In The Clowns. I think that was his sense of humor.

 

That's too bad ... but I can understand, I think. I kinda miss Van's jumpin' to the horn section uptempo shouters, too, sometimes. Those days are long gone.

 

I miss the Mystical Workouts. He's kind of abandoned that style it seems.

 

I saw him on this tour too. He was on fine form, great humour and banter on the stage, Van being on the end of most of it. He enjoyed every second. Sounds like he was on fine form for the tour, unless we went to the same gig?

 

I saw him at Leicester De Montfort Hall. I'm guessing you saw an Empire/Royal Court gig?

I stopped listening to his 'current output' round about 1993: he seemed to be turning out an album every year and a lot of the stuff sounded very samey and plodding. Would still be in hte market for archival releases from him, but reading this thread, that would seem a remote prospect.

Actually, reading this thread has been an eye-opener: I'm amazed that people are willing to pay a lot of money for a gig that may well be bad/indifferent and may only last an hour....

 

Another Amen on Into the Music too. It's one of his best. Side two of Into the Music is in my top five sides of Van. Especially When the Healing Has Begun on vinyl very loud.

If you were no longer on his wavelength after Wavelength, you've missed a lot of history and mystery.

 

What he said.

 

For all the latest & greatest on the one & only Van Morrison:

Van Morrison News Blog

 

Yeah; enough bitterness in the room to brew their own lager.

 

Actually, I've heard RW is surprsingly down to earth and approachable when you meet him in a non-work, non-PF context: it's only when you get him on the subject of his old band that he tends to get hot under the collar. Though even that may have changed, of late.

 

+1

After Astral Weeks, it's his best album. That four song run on side 2 is pretty breathtaking.

 

That side is some of my most favorite music ever, been for many years. It sounds wonderful on vinyl, and that violin playing by Toni Marcus is incredible.

 

I always regretted Van not employing her on his subsequent albums. He retained most of the band for Common One, Beautiful Vision, and Inarticulate Speech (losing a player or two with each record), but she's such a lyrical and intuitive player that she elevates every song.

Obviously he got the idea from Dylan's Desire, but, as Christgau said, feh on Scarlet Rivera.

 

Apparently, according to Rog himself, it has.

He credits therapy over the past decade with bringing him out of his bitter funk and the fact that he and Gilmour are seen performing together, with a few smiles, even, attest to that.

 

Toni Marcus is in the Morrison band in this concert film from 1979 which I have not seen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Morrison_in_Ireland

She is also playing on the bonus track of the 2008 release of "Common One" as well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_One

 

I definitely believe that Van could use some therapy. I've seen him perform a number of times and he seems to work best in an ensemble setting with other performers alternating because the "pressure" of being "Van Morrison" is taken off of him.

 

>Toni Marcus is in the Morrison band in this concert film from 1979 which I have not seen.

Here's Cyprus Avenue from that film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCilaU3mmyo

 

Um ... Yeah.