1. I’ve wanted to write something major about Van Morrison since I started this blog. In early 2009, I saw Morrison’s Astral Weeks concert… twice. Once he was great and the other time (at the Beacon) he was simply ineffably brilliant. You had to be there. But a) I don’t wanna write large posts. People don’t want to read em. and b) I HAVE NO TIME.
2. There was a short period (of transition!) in the mid-70s when Morrison went quiet but other than that he has not stopped recording from the 60s to today.
3. The start, the one two, three punch to begin his solo career was the eponymous first (get your hands and the Complete Bang Sessions – I do mean now, if only for the demo version of “The Smile You Smile”), followed by Astral Weeks, “a mystic document” as Lester Bangs dubbed it -the Jesus and Mary Chain told me it was a big influence on them), and finally Moondance -a pop move with still one foot in the mystic.
4. What can you say about albums like Tupelo Honey or His Holy Choir? In the late 80s Mellencamp gained a hit from “Wild Night”. Why? BECAUSE IT WAS “WILD NIGHT”.
5.By the late 70s early 80s, Morrison’s songwriting hadn’t missed a beat though he was certainly earing his reputation as an eccentric. A Period Of Transition might have been a little on the weak side but Wavelength??? And “Kingdom Hall”????
6. Then he got into ambient mood music and still killed Poetic Champions Compose featuring stunningly beautiful songs like “Queen Of The Slipstream” and “I Forgot That Love Existed”.,
6. Then he found God and even his Avalon Sunset and Hymns To The Silence didn’t see a break in quality. “Whenever God Shines His Light On Me” and the first song I’ve mentioned he didn’t write “Quality Street”.
7. From here on he was everywhere: a skiffle album here, a Georgie Fame album there, a collab with Jerry Lee’s sister Jenny Lewis everywhere. Jazz, blues, rock, the lot.
8. And yeah, he lost some consistency, The Healing Game for instance wasn’t his finest moment. Still it had stuff like “Burning Ground” .
9. And, while I’ve heard that maybe I’ve been lucky, I’ve never seen him put ona bad show (I know his material so well, I don’t care if he doesn’t play the hits).
10. OK, obviously this ain’t the last word on Van The Man. But I just wanted to go on the record.