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Too Late To Stop Now…but goddam, I wish he would!

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He’s at it again with his sense of blunder, and he’s gonna take it to the judge!
I’m just a bit nonplussed as to why he thinks he’s speaking on behalf of other artists. Most of those I’ve seen and heard are naturally frustrated but have adapted and tried to make the best of things by promoting safety above all and finding new ways of performing and generating income. This coming on top of his ridiculous ‘protest songs’ with the likes of that other great humanitarian Eric Clapton make me despair. it’s increasingly hard to reconcile the often sublime music to the obnoxious individual.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/20/van-morrison-to-start-legal-action-over-northern-ireland-covid-ban-on-live-music?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

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  3. It can’t be because he needs the money. As the quality of his records and live shows has got worse and worse, he’s paradoxically got more and more popular

    • He’s never been good at acting in his own interests. He’s always been paranoid, resentful, and egotistical. He’s not very bright. He hasn’t made a decent album in decades. His grasp of the real world has always been slight. His default/reset mode is aggressive disrespect. But we still hope for that return to form, we still say “good gig” when he’s just on auto-pilot, because we love what he did all those years ago, as we should.

      But yes, shut your fat gob and fuck off, Van Morrison.

      • I wonder about childhood trauma in his life. Possibly hinted at it in songs like Cyprus Avenue. I don’t think he has ever been particularly happy, perhaps he came closest when living in California with Janet Planet in the early 70s.

        • The impression I get is that he was isolated. His parents were a bit out of the ordinary and didn’t fit in. He seems to prize ordinariness and I think has a bit of a chip on his shoulder about being working class in what, let’s face it, is a pretty middle class business. He doesn’t trust success or take it for granted – this is the source of both his abrasiveness and his (lost) genius.

          These are my theories, you’re welcome. Fetch me down my walking shoes.

    • I honestly believe that he’s one of those people who simply has no other outlet – doesn’t know what to do with himself if his diary isn’t peppered with weekends playing to/at people. I doubt there’s much affection towards his fans, but he *needs* to be in a live performing environment and, annoyingly perhaps for him, that means people have to be there.

          • Has anyone of you people with a sideline in psychology actually read any interview with Van Morrison from the last ten or fifteen years? There are a couple of in-depth conversations with him where he comes across as someone who’s certainly not prepared to play the pop star game – but he talks inspiringly (and with a lot of humor and affection) about music (not just his own) and he is definitely able to look at himself with irony.
            He’s certainly not a Mr. Mean-To-Journalists-Because-I-Can like Uncle Lou.

            • I once heard him doing a Radio 2 interview with Johnnie Walker (cue jingle), he obviously likes Johnnie and he was unbelievably friendly and affable. I was surprised.

              • The best radio interview I heard with him in 1990-something was with the late, great George Melly, introducing his favourite jazz records. He was in his element and George was audibly charmed.

                He’s at his best, reputedly, doing spots at small-scale charity gigs (see Mystic below). Paul Jones ropes him into stuff like that and speaks very highly of him.

            • So, a couple of decent interviews in a decade and a half…even Laughing Lou has that sort of average. But also during that time – and even before – Van has written a litany of sour songs about his ‘suffering’ as an artist in ‘the game’, whingeing about the industry itself, other artists etc. As I said earlier, I was a huge fan, still enjoy much of his music and have been to some transcendent live shows. But I think his generally accepted ‘curmudgeon’ reputation isn’t gonna be easily shifted by a couple of latter-day shafts of a lighter approach.

            • He’s like Dylan – at his best as an interviewee when talking about the musicians and music he loves. Conversely they both hate talking about their own stuff; definitely both of the ‘it speaks for itself and if you don’t get it I ain’t going to help you’ school of artists.

          • Sound reasoning, elegantly phrased, persuasively argued. Hymns To The Silence is from this point forward to be acclaimed as his best album by all free-thinking and reasonable men, and anyone who dares to say he hasn’t made a decent album in decades is talking bullshit.
            (Do you write for The Quietus, Steve?)

            • @H-P-Saucecraft you have actually contradicted yourself I believe. Before your last hiatus you sang the praises of his album (I think) Born to sing, no plan B. Yet here you say ‘he hasn’t made a decent album in decades’.
              I am not sure in which period we would class Hymns to the Silence – middle maybe? Nor do I understand where the cut off is between brilliance and dross. Of his later period I consider Too long in Exile, The Healing game and Magic time to be excellent additions to his considerable canon. Irish Heartbeat and Hymns to the Silence are possibly my favourites in the period when most commentators think he was past his best. Much of his other latter day releases are below par.
              I will leave all of the eloquence to professional writers and clever bastards. I am just on here for fun and to shoot the breeze with others
              that love music.
              I don’t understand the vehemence to his opposition to a blanket ban on live performance. I don’t agree with it either – ‘blanket ban’ unfairly puts every venue in the same category and I do not think that is justified. There are many venues that have taken the time to ensure proper social distancing and put measures in place to ensure they are properly implemented. When the lockdown ends, those venues who have made the effort to do things properly should be allowed to operate. Like everything else Covid related not everything is as it seems yet we seem content with allowing our lives to be totally controlled by liars and dictators.

  6. Van being an arsehole is probably the least surprising thing of the century. But he never murdered or maimed anybody as far as I am aware and when I see things like this I can still forgive him just about anything:

      • I saw him supporting the Allmans at Knebworth in 1974 and despite the huge crowd and small band, he was indeed brilliant. It was just a few days after the Montreux show and he must have been recording or finishing VF at that time. . While no DT on drums (pretty sure if was Peter van Hooke) he did have Pete Wingfield (the bloke who did 18 with a bullet) on the Joanna and the same bassist (Fuzzy Samuels?) as Montreux..

          • It was Mahavishnu Mark II with Jean Luc Ponty in place of Jerry Goodman on violin and some 17-year old playing prodigy taking over from Ric Laird on bass. Can’t honestly remember very much about them. The other acts on the bill were Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Tim Buckley and the Insuferrable Doobie Brothers (back in the UK a few months after getting blown off stage by Little Feat at the Rainbow six months before. Happy days!

            Did see the classic Mahavishnu line up with JM, RL, JG and Billy Cobham and Jan Hammer at Birmingham Town Hall a couple of years before. It was not long after Birds of Fire came out and they were great

  8. I think he’s right. Most venues would be prepared to provide safety measures (distancing etc.), and as studies at big concerts in the summer (in German cities like Bremen and Leipzig) showed those measures work quite good (perfectly well indeed, when you compare it with other situations like big offices or schools). In Berlin more than 40% of the arts and entertainment business has gone bankrupt and will never be re-opened again.

      • I’d love to be able to go out and see live music.
        Sadly, I don’t think UK audiences can be trusted to behave responsibly at gigs. As noted by many outside these shores, Brits tend towards the idiotic when boozed-up.
        It only takes a few arseholes who won’t socially-distance. And the proportion of people who are anti-vax here is surprisingly high. The figures are certainly high enough to be a genuine worry. The partner of one of my nephews is anti-vax, despite working in (private) health care admin.

  9. The best live Van set ever is the one in my head, constructed from the best bits of the dozen or so times that I’ve seen him over the years. It never fades, it’s always transcendent, and what’s most remarkable is that it isn’t polluted by my disappointment at any of the arrant nonsense he’s come out with in more recent tears. Van, old son, it ain’t why, it just is. Put up and shut up for all our sakes.

  11. I don`t understand why adults argue which album is better/worse by this artist/band.

    Is it not down to personal taste?

    I know lots of Van M. fans who quite enjoy his later albums and some who can`t listen to them.

    This is as it is and always will be when it comes to personal taste in music.

    I appreciate this here `Forum` is for the exchange of views so let`s keep it feckin` civil. 💩

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