I'm a big fan of his especially his early stuff. Did you know his show at Pacific studios 71 is the most bootlegged.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-01-24 07:56 by tipps.

Fan here since 1975. No I didn't know that and I don't got any bootlegs of Van.

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I have been a fan since 1982,and I do have many of the great bootlegs.

you gotta love early albums, Moondance especially!

I am starting to get into his work. Listening to his Tupelo Honey album now. Not sure why his live boots would be better than his studio work.

My favorite song is Cleaning Windows.

Like his work with Hooker too.

Van didn't work w/ Canned Heat did he?

van didn't work with the heat...but the naming possibilities were there...vanned heat....canned van....van's canned dance...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-01-24 14:12 by StonesTod.

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mitchflorida1
I am starting to get into his work. Listening to his Tupelo Honey album now. Not sure why his live boots would be better than his studio work.

'Astral Weeks' is on my Top 3 list of all albums ever been made from any artist...

...2 other albums on that list is 'Beggar's Banquet' and 'Highway 61 Revisited'..

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"Too Late To Stop Now" is one of the best live albums of the 70's- even if youre not a fan, well worth checking out- it will change your mind.

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mitchflorida1
I am starting to get into his work. Listening to his Tupelo Honey album now. Not sure why his live boots would be better than his studio work.

Actually, they are different. Sometimes I like to listen to a live recording, sometimes I prefer the studio albums for their arrangements. It depends on my mood.

Same goes for the Stones, by the way.

Got Astral Weeks and find it just about okay. Bought Moondance but haven't play it.

Was looking forward to his set opening for the Stones at Nijemegan in 07 but he soon put a stop to that.

Never really got in to him that much I'm afraid.

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The GR
Got Astral Weeks and find it just about okay. Bought Moondance but haven't play it.

Was looking forward to his set opening for the Stones at Nijemegan in 07 but he soon put a stop to that.

Never really got in to him that much I'm afraid.

Astral Weeks is a great album, but is not really an easy album to get into, especially for someone who really isn't familiar with his work. I'd start with Tupelo Honey, Moondance, His Band and the Street Chior or St. Dominic's. That's really his classic period, but his comeback period in the late 70s around the time he put out Wavelength and his early work with Them are also great. I even enjoy his cranky old crooner phase that he is still in.

I have that bottom line show from 1978 also, and it smokes.

My guess is that if you don't like MoonDance or Tupelo Honey , you will not like anything Van does.


I have not really gotten beyond those two albums.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-01-24 16:30 by mitchflorida1.

I'm not a big fan but I like a song like Wonderful Remark.

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jpasc95
I'm not a big fan but I like a song like Wonderful Remark.

not a big fan of yours but that was a wonderful post

Love the 'No Guru..." album.

wavelength in my opinion was a very patchy album: I like Take It Where You Find It, and Checkin It Out, but other than that, no great shakes.

Van has released lots of great albums over the years, ploughing a solitary furrow, but every album, however, has something of quality on it.

My first Van album was the album he did with the Chieftains back in 1988 - Irish Heartbeat. I saw a televised concert in 1988, supporting this album, and it was amazing, transcendental almost. In 1989 I saw Van backing Jerry Lee Lewis at Hammersmith Odeon in an amazing concert: he sang Goodnight Irene and You Win Again with Jerry Lee.

Album wise: I think Astral Weeks and Astral Weeks Live are amazing. Moondance is good, Band & Street Choir good, Tupelo Honey excellent. What else ? St Dominic's Preview is outstanding. Hard Nose The Highway is good.

Too Late To Stop is one of the greatest live albums ever: Veedon Fleece is utter genius, better than Astral Weeks. Period of Transition does what it says on the tin. Into The Music and Common One are outstandingly brilliant spiritual albums. Beautiful Vision is also great, Sense of Wonder patchy. No Guru No Method is brilliant. Poetic Champions' Compose has too many instrumentals. Avalon Sunset is great, ditto Enlightenment and Hymns to The Silence. I love his version of Be Thou My Vision as it shows an Ulster protestant doing an amazing job on what is normally associated as a Catholic hymn. Alone it could create a united Ireland without bigotry.

Too Long In Exile has too many covers, though I like Gloria with John Lee Hooker. Days Like This has one outstanding track, namely Ancient Highway, but by then, 1994, Van was overly reliant on Brian Kennedy's poor man's echo. I saw him at Oxford Apollo in 1994, and felt a sense of disappointment as Van watched from the wings while Kennedy sang Sweet Thing.

The Healing Game was a good album, albeit ruined by Kennedy. Sometimes We Cry, Healing Game, Piper At The Gates of Dawn, are all very good tracks. However, Back On Top also does what it says on the tin, and is a corker of a latter day Van album.

Down The Road - I love this one: it has a great cover on it of old vinyl, and the album itself is excellent. What's Wrong With This Picture is not too bad, and Magic Time has the outstanding Just Like Greta on it.

Pay The Devil isn't too bad a country covers album, but this leads me to the absolute stinkers - Van's vanity projects. How Long Has This Been Going On and Tell Me Something are average beyond belief. I think Chet Baker was of the opinion that Van had no subtlety as a jazz singer, and that is true of these albums. The skiffle album with Lonnie Donegan should have remained unreleased: ditto the Lets Talk About Us album with Linda Gail Lewis.

However, I saw Van live with Linda Gail at Reading Hexagon and he totally banished my awful memory of that cold night at the Oxford Apollo. He sang loads of his old stuff, but also did a wonderful version of Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On, and returned to The Them standby It's All Over Now, Baby Blue.

I also saw Van once after that occasion at Reading Hexagon again: he was brilliant again that night. I think it was on the back of Magic Time, and he was in great form, even doing Brown Eyed Girl.

However, some of the best Van is as a guest artist. I refer you to the Last Waltz soundtrack, ditto Cahoots by the Band. 4% Pantomime is amazingly great, probably the best thing on that album. Likewise, Van's guest appearance on The Wall Live, cutting loose on Comfortably Numb makes you even forget Dave Gilmour is not there. Van also turned up on The Chieftain's Long Black Veil, redoing Have I Told You Lately to good effect. He also appeared on an Irish artists album called Sult, redoing Saint Dominic's Preview title track, again excellently.

I would also recommend not the authorised tribute album, No Prima Donna as it is rubbish, but rather a blues/deep soul tribute album entitled Vanthology. William Bell reinvents Have I Told You Lately, but Ellis Hooke doing Bulbs from Veedon Fleece is the cream of the crop.

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Koen
Love the 'No Guru..." album.

one of my faves, too. i have all of van's albums and there's not really a dog in the bunch...even the weaker ones are very enjoyable...the man's incredibly prolific and consistent....he IS the man, after all...

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tomcasagranda
wavelength in my opinion was a very patchy album: I like Take It Where You Find It, and Checkin It Out, but other than that, no great shakes.

I agree with you to an extent, but I think that the Wavelength songs are much better in the live context. I enjoyed the performance on the Montreaux DVD that was put out a couple years back.

How could WE forget people???











Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-01-24 18:15 by steel driving hammer.

Please wait till 10:00 for the goose bumps to start...

Love this song to death,







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-01-24 18:33 by steel driving hammer.

Sure, I'm a fan. The good thing with Van was that he continued to make great albums through the 80s and a bit into the 90s when another group, known on this forum, basically ceased to deliver the goods. Kind of lost interest for him in the late 90s though. Heard he was involved in a scandal recently.

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Stoneage
Sure, I'm a fan. The good thing with Van was that he continued to make great albums through the 80s and a bit into the 90s when another group, known on this forum, basically ceased to deliver the goods. Kind of lost interest for him in the late 90s though. Heard he was involved in a scandal recently.

Not really. His ex-girlfriend died a couple of months ago and their infant son died a year or so back - and he chose to not publicise it. Hardly a scandal.

Coincidentally, I just strolled past his childhood home less than half an hour ago....

The scandal bit may have been the fact that the woman, Gigi Lee, was one of his employees and that he didn't acknowledge their relationship or his fatherhood to the baby born to begin with. At least according to the two big Swedish tabloids, Aftonbladet and Expressen. By the way: Have a good stay in Belfast, Gazza! (Or maybe you live there, I don't know...).

In this day and age, the easiest thing in the world is to prove or disprove paternity.

You simply file a lawsuit and get the DNA tests.

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Stoneage
The scandal bit may have been the fact that the woman, Gigi Lee, was one of his employees and that he didn't acknowledge their relationship or his fatherhood to the baby born to begin with. At least according to the two big Swedish tabloids, Aftonbladet and Expressen. By the way: Have a good stay in Belfast, Gazza! (Or maybe you live there, I don't know...).

I live there...lol. We grew up in the same neighbourhood and went to the same school.

The thing about him not publicly acknowledging their relationship was a couple of years ago now. Privately - he did.

He's an incredibly private individual who wants nothing regarding his personal life to be in the public domain.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-01-24 21:27 by Gazza.

The album he did with The Chieftans "Irish heartbeat" is fantastic.

I see. And I always thought you were a Londoner. There you go...

His version of Shenandoah with the Chieftains on the Long Journey Home soundtrack is even better.