Foolishly suggested doing this on the New Van album thread.
FWIW, having bought too many lazy, half-baked releases and seen one too many let’s-wind-the-show up-in-time-for-last-orders-at-the-pub in about 2015, I used to be a massive Van fan. Believe me when I say that nothing would give me more pleasure than to see him do something that would persuade me to become one again.
My love for the Man and his output began waning with 2001’s What’s Wrong with This Picture, the first of a now sizeable pile of Van releases I refused to fork out for. While I continued to cherry-pick albums up to 2015’s Duets, I slavishly perserved with him live until seeing him do a couldn’t-give-a -shit show in Cork about five years back.
Below is the list of the 15 (count em!) albums the Vanster has released between between 1998 and 2019 – An astonishing seven of those records have come out in the last five years – and that does not include the tripe (sic) album he’s releasing in May.
Don’t think even the hardiest Vanatic amongst the ATM would argue that Van’s quality control standards have plummeted off a cliff since his release schedule has sped up. Given our huge collective reservoir of discernment surely us Van fans here – past and present – must be able to salvage sufficient goodish tracks to structure a halfway decent album or two or three from all the dreck?
Back on Top (1999)
You Win Again (2000)
Down the Road (2002)
What’s Wrong with This Picture? (2003)
Magic Time (2005)
Pay the Devil (2006)
Keep It Simple (2008)
Born to Sing: No Plan B (2012)
Duets: Re-working the Catalogue (2015)
Keep Me Singing (2016)
Roll with the Punches (2017)
Versatile (2017)
You’re Driving Me Crazy (2018)
The Prophet Speaks (2018)
Three Chords & the Truth (2019)
Please give me a couple of days to make my suggestions as have just got a copy of Neil Young’s Archives II, As a result it might take me a few days to re-discover the seven Van albums (surprised it’s that many tbh) from above list that I do own.
My last purchase was Days Like This in 1995. So if you’d like to, ahem, ‘curate’ the following, I’d be happy:
How Long has this Been Going On (1995)
Tell Me Something (1996)
The Healing Game (1997)
Healing Game is essential. Get the recently released extended version also including a live album.
Now that I look at that list, set out cheerfully and with no insignificant level of cheek in it’s naked form before me, I realise with something approaching alarm that I have bought the majority of these, and yet I don’t believe I’ve listened to any one of them more than once. In all honesty, I don’t think I can bring myself to consider the process of winnowing that lot; it would be too depressing.
Like @fentonsteve, my last engagement with a Van album that has rewarded me with repeat listenings was now a young lifetime ago. Even longer a time than that which has passed since I last saw the old scrote perform, in the hope that another transcendent moment might materialise, something to match the earlier live triumphs that I witnessed in earlier days.
I wish he’d take a couple of years off, get lost somewhere remote across the globe, have a fling or two, dabble with psychedelics, live anonymously on an island for a while, paint things yellow, grow a beard and learn to hunt and cook for himself, race motorcycles across the tundra, and finally come back to us with a profound distillation of wisdom and poetry across a couple of sides of Joycean brilliance.
He’s still got it in him, I’m sure. He needs to find it again. The question is whether or not he has any reason or desire to do so.
Alternatively he could just buy a pub and install himself as the resident supper artist. “Chef tells me the potted herrings are good this evening. If you don’t like herrings you can fuck off.”
Good idea – Van’s Supper Club – lounge jazz, potted herrings and pasty suppers, a real break from anything he’s done before. Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr………………….. 😀
I know he deserves it, but do you have to make a snide comment on every Van Morrison thread?
Leave Colin ALOOOOONE!!!
My wife is a big Van fan, so we probably have most of those.
I will have heard them, but I can’t think of any songs that ever stood out, leading me to think Hmm that sounds like it warrants further investigation, so I can’t really help other than to say I think you’re on a fruitless quest.
I’d also like to nominate (I may have done this already) Born to Sing: No Plan B as one of the worst album titles ever.
Take either part and it could work as an album title, though No Plan B would be extremely weak. Join them together and you end up with an unbelievably clunky misnomer that simply fails.
@Carl I remember a conversation with Angela about Van and we both agreed Too long in Exile was a great album and I am somewhat surprised it doesn’t fit in this time frame. Could have sworn it was a 90’s album and so too A night in San Francisco which is ample proof that he can be great live.
Of the list shown I would rate Back on Top and Magic Time as great albums and possibly Born to Sing. Most of the others not.
Sorry, S, clearly says 15 post-Healing Game albums in the thread title.
As HG seems to be generally accepted as being his last essential album, seemed to be a good place to start.
FWIW, Too Long was a 90s album – IIRC was the one before Days Like This
A three-track EP with all three tracks dating before our Healing Game cut off.
Our Best of Van Morrison 1998 to 2020 is not off to a great start here guys.
You didnt include the anti-lockdown singles!
Celtic New Year is good from Magic Time.
The first 3 albums on the list are all listenable. I have lost touch in the last decade though, but very excited about the new one 😉
Duets is fine
Celtic New Year off Magic Time. Saw him perform it on Later…and thought “Yes, at last – the long-awaited return to form”. Alas, not to be; the rest of the album was once again mediocre.
I suppose Back On Top – The Greatest Hits is a post- Healing Game album…you can construct a very decent album with that 😏
I have them all, and will get on it. Plenty of material there, trust me…..
When The Leaves Come Falling Down from Back on Top is a good one. Even Brian (Brian!) Kennedy (Kenedee,eee,eee!) is under control on that. It sounds like he might have written it and taught the band how to play it before recording it, which is something that gradually goes out of the window as the years progress past this point.
“It sounds like he might have written it and taught the band how to play it before recording it” – this seems like a radical approach to making records. Are you sure you’ve got this right?
It’s radical for this guy. I think he normally just counts the band in, and barks the occasional instruction at them, whilst wibbling on about potted herrings, Radio Luxemborg, Mez Mezzrow and Caledonia.
I’ve got the majority of these up to Duets and would say I rate Back on Top in his top 10 albums- a relaxing quality listen and think Duets is solid and interesting and give Magic Time, Down the Road (too long) and Pay the Devil occasional spins.
Contrary to popular opinion I reckon live he’s still got it in spades. I’ve seen him sporadically since 1987 and saw breathtaking shows in Bristol 2010/11 and Green Man 2012. I saw him in Cardiff in October 2018 and regarded it as £70 quid well spent. In fact he reminded me a bit of the Ramones in starting with 4 or 5 short muscular bluesy/ rock n roll numbers before stretching it out.
I last saw him in 2015 which was 6 years after the absolutely sensational Astral Weeks shows, the last one I had seen.
It was a big outdoor festival and it was perfectly fine. Main problem seemed to be it was too quiet (in here?) at the back of the large crowd. I was much further forward. Some of it was rather perfunctory (Moondance, Brown Eyed Girl as usual), but he delivered a “hits” set and it went down very well. And as (nearly) always there were some sensational moments (In the afternoon etc ,Sometimes We Cry, Help Me …)
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/van-morrison/2015/the-great-lawn-at-lansdowne-park-ottawa-on-canada-13f499a9.html
That’s a very good setlist. Sometimes we cry is one of my favourite songs of his.
Wish he wouldnt do Moondance as I havent heard any live version that matches the original.
Just as a matter of interest, does any one here have So You Win Again?
It seems to have been unceremoniously air brushed out of Van’s history after Linda Gail Lewis sued him.
It remains one of only two albums (the other being Tupelo Honey which I think is a terrific record) that isn’t listed on his website.
I have it, also saw a few shows with LGL and Merthyr’s own The Red Hot Pokers as the backing band. One of them (Cheltenham?) was an absolutely rip roaring concert.
Qutie obvious why Van wants to pretend it doesn’t exist, nothing to do with the music.
I’ve got it and to be honest it probably deserves to be deleted (unlike Tupelo Honey). It’s ok – bog standard rockabilly stuff but pretty unmemorable and I haven’t played it in an age. I did see him on that tour with that band and it was the worst show I’ve ever seen him do – the atmosphere between him and Linda Gail Lewis could be cut with the knife and the band looked like they just couldn’t wait for it to be over.
Must have been a later show from the one I saw 😉
I’ve checked, and bizarrely, its the other way round. I saw him in Reading, three weeks earlier than Cheltenham. However looks like Cheltenham was the last date of the tour so maybe festive joy and relief that it was almost all over contributed to a stonking set.
https://www.setlist.fm/stats/concert-map/van-morrison-1bd6adc4.html?year=2000
Which month? Looks like he finished in Cheltenham in Dec, but I saw him in April there, twice on the same night. He only repeated one track (Moondance) so it felt like a 3hr show. And in those days he wasn’t charging a lot, maybe 25 to 30 quid per show.
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/van-morrison/2000/cheltenham-town-hall-cheltenham-england-63f4f6f7.html
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/van-morrison/2000/cheltenham-town-hall-cheltenham-england-63f4f6e3.html
Actually I just checked and I also saw the Zurich show at end of tour in Dec 2000. Think that one wasn’t as good, but my memory is fading 😉
Ah right, those look much more interesting setlists and don’t have any of the You Win Again material. Presumably they went into the studio after that and then came out on the road again in the Autumn to promote the album – but by then things had clearly turned sour.
Makes sense.
Wait… Tupelo Honey isn’t listed??
Van’s “doing a Kraftwerk”?
No he hates it for some reason. Was discussed on another thread a couple of months back which I am too bone idle to hunt down
Planetary eclipse..
What’s his problem with Tupelo Honey?
Dusty Springfield.
I remember Dusty S’s version as being on a Mojo or Uncut disc a few years back and sounding rather lovely
Yup. And he doesn’t much like covers of his songs.
His own are the worst.
(and the best, to be fair)
He doesn’t like the one-way system. And don’t call me honey. (Here.)
OK, I’ll get the ball rolling. Here’s a double album (20 or so minutes a side).
1
Precious Time
Celtic New Year
Down the Road
Holy Guardian Angel
2
Goin’ Down Geneva
If in Money We Trust
The Lion This Time
Fame Will Eat the Soul
3
Got to Go Where The Love is
Magic Time
Choppin’ Wood
Meet Me In The Indian Summer
In Tiburon
4
Open the Door (To Your Heart)
Dark Night of the Soul
Up on Broadway
Fast Train
That’s
2 From Back on Top
3 From Magic Time
4 from Down the Road
2 From Keep Me Singing
3 From Three Chords and the Truth
1 from The Prophet Speaks
2 From Born to Sing: No Plan B
I wouldn’t for one minute claim that this comes close to the best 80 minutes of his output between Astral Weeks and Into the Music, or his 80s records from Common One to Avalon Sunset. So to that extent, yes, of course there’s been a falling off. But, hey, that’s a high bar. I still reckon there is plenty here that sounds great, and is a long way from the lazy assumption that Morrison’s output over the last thirty years is all throwaway rip-off stuff made without care.
Excellent. I do recall most of these and there are indeed a few gems.
Agree it is a rather lovely list -“still dont buy the comments that his later output is worthless.
I’d also include Stranded from Magic Time.
Who’s going to do the Spotify playlist?
well done you. Now I’ll have to find the time to play the bloody thing – going to be a while as I am stuck on the first disc of Archives 2
Here you go. I’ve added ‘When the leaves come falling down’ and ‘Stranded’ which others have mentioned and have made it collaborative so please do add to it. I’m sure we can make this a triple, to balance the Latest Record Project…
They’re by no means my favourites, but with each Van release, there’s always something to add to my concise little 108-song Van best-of on Spotify. Looking at it, I believe the following are worth your consideration (although I’m not convinced I can whistle any of them).
Philosopher’s Stone (Back on Top)
High Summer (Back on Top)
Precious Time (Back on Top)
Little Village (What’s Wrong With This Picture)
Celtic New Year (Magic Time)
Just Like Greta (Magic Time)
Magic Time (Magic Time)
Soul (Keep It Simple)
Keep It Simple (Keep It Simple)
Let It Rhyme (Keep Me Singing)
I Forgot That Love Existed (Versatile)
Got To Go Where the Love Is (The Prophet Speaks)
Dark Night of the Soul (Three Chords and the Truth)
So, who’s looking forward to Why Are You Always on Facebook?
Look here sir, I Forgot That Love… originally went out on the properly glorious Poetic Champion Compose, so that’s cheating.
Some good songs there. I couldn’t think of anything that stood out on ‘What’s Wrong With This Picture? or ‘Keep It Simple’ so should have a listen again.
For my money ‘Down The Road’ is one of his best records of this period – I would add tracks like ‘Steal My Heart Away’, ‘What Makes the Irish Heartbeat’ and ‘The Beauty of Days Gone By’ to those I had in my original playlist.
Yeah, for some reason that one had passed me by, and listening to the Spotify playlist, they were among the best songs. Keep Me Singing, as well, has got a unique sound and general vibe. I actually think his last record, Three Chords and the Truth. is one of his strongest late-period works. But they all seem a little pedestrian and phoned-in, albeit with the occasional flash of brilliance.