Van Morrison – Dark Night Of The Soul (Audio)

New Music from Van the man. A surprise to all his fans, Van is back to his soulful roots-which is the conventional interpretation. My thoughts are that he never left his soulful roots behind. A musician of his talent puts the fullness of his creation into all that he does.


 

A Van Morrison studio outtake of murky origins – it has to be the late 60s/early 70s, maybe from the Moondance sessions? Not sure if you could call this a “song,” exactly. It’s a vamp (a Van?), with Morrison cycling through two chords, coaxing his band along, singing a few stray phrases. Not much more happens over the course of 16+ minutes, but the whole thing is positively hypnotic. Van Morrison is notorious for being a bit of a grouch personally, but he’s filled with joy here. He doesn’t want to play this music, he wants to live in it. And for a little while, he wants you there, too.

 

 

 

Van Morrison – Interview – 7/29/1974 – Orphanage, San Francisco, CA (OFFICIAL)

Van Morrison – Just Like A Woman – 2/2/1974 – Winterland, San Francisco, CA (OFFICIAL)


 
Van Morrison documentary 1991 – Part 1 of 4

Superb documentary on VM – playing with Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker, the Chieftains, and a Danish big band. Part of a 4-part upload.

Transcendent Music from Van

 

This August 2018 article is coming up today the result of a Youtube recommendation.   This Edinburgh crime author, Ian Rankin interview of Van is the best I have watched, most likely due to the common Belfast connection and mutual Artistic respect of Mr. Rankin and Van Morrison.   Anyone who has followed the old curmudgeon interviews over the course of Van’s career witness how low he regards talking about his artistry and process.   Van is better enjoyed for his music than his treatment of the music press.   The music industry, including the music press,  for Artists like Van, doesn’t hold much in the way of positive regard.   Truth be told, many of us enjoy his ill-mannered ways.    Watch the interview below and you will either be unpleasantly or pleasantly surprised by his respectful and outright friendly demeanor towards interviewer Ian Rankin.

 

 

cur·mudg·eon
/kərˈməjən/
noun
  1. a bad-tempered person, especially an old one.

Van Morrison – Keep Me Singing (EPK)

We all have songs that bring us to a higher place than lust, passion or garden variety heart longing.  Recently I opened up a box of CDs, in storage for the last 3 years, including Van “Tupelo Honey”.   If you enjoy Van’s music, meaning you have a heart and decent hearing, there are seminal recordings with transcendent tracks like this one, “You’re my woman”,  from Tupelo Honey.
I recall this song from prior listenings yet it did not have quite the same affect in my early 20’s as it just did today, post age 50, with a few extra years of life experience under my belt.  “You’re my woman” has been a feature on more than a few first dances at wedding receptions since its release.  Listen with beginner’s ear even if you listened to this track 100,005 times before.

Today I truly heard, “and all our friends came thru..” with clarity.

Transcendent? A resounding YES for me. No song better captures “pure”  heart love than this one. Let me know what you think in the comments below this post.  How about the alchemy of musical genres in one composition (folk, r&b, jazz, gospel) alone?  For the uninitiated few, heretofore not introduced to the early works of Van , look next to Astral Weeks, then Into the Mystic.  Cds available for purchase in this post.  Astral Weeks is a graduate course in musical transcendence and it was recorded back in 1969.

Van the man on Amazon and ITunes