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The Essential Van Morrison
''The Essential Van Morrison'' is a two-disc compilation album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released on August 28, 2015. It is part of Sony BMG's ''Essential'' series of compilation albums and includes tracks from Morrison's solo output, as well as tracks from his days with Them. The tracks consist of some of Morrison's biggest hits and popular album tracks from 1964 as leader of the Northern Irish band Them through his 2009 release ''Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl''. The liner notes were contributed by David Fricke. Reception ''The Green Man Review'' says that the Northern Irish singer and songwriter has spent the past 50 years fusing American jazz, pop, blues, soul and rhythm & blues with Anglo-Irish folk music to create something that's been dubbed Celtic Soul. ''The Essential'' is a two-disc, 37-track collection from Sony Legacy celebrates that half-century of song, as part of a huge new reissue project. ''Vintage Rock'' says that with the E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Van Morrison
Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in the late 1950s, he played a variety of instruments such as guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone for several Irish showbands, covering the popular hits of that time. Known as "Van the Man" to his fans, Morrison rose to prominence in the mid 1960s as the lead singer of the Northern Irish R&B and rock band Them. With Them, he recorded the garage band classic " Gloria". Under the pop-oriented guidance of Bert Berns, Morrison's solo career began in 1967 with the release of the hit single "Brown Eyed Girl". After Berns's death, Warner Bros. Records bought out Morrison's contract and allowed him three sessions to record ''Astral Weeks'' (1968). While initially a poor seller, the album has become regarded as a classic. ''Moondance'' (1970) e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Angry Young Them
''The Angry Young Them'' is the first album by the Northern Irish rock and roll group Them. The album was released in the UK in June 1965. The band's lead singer and songwriter was Van Morrison. In the U.S., the album was released as ''Them'' with partly different tracks. Cover As with several Decca releases of the period, the name of the group was conspicuously absent from the front cover and on the back of the LP they were introduced as ''The Angry Young Them'' with an essay on this theme declaring: "These five young rebels are outrageously true to themselves. Defiant! Angry! Sad! They are honest to the point of insult!" Release history Six of the songs on the album were Morrison originals, including the famous garage band anthem "Gloria". Another song on the album, "Mystic Eyes", was a spontaneous creation that came out of the band just "busking around" in Morrison's words and after seven minutes of instrumental playing he impulsively threw in the words of a song he had b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Into The Mystic
"Into the Mystic" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and featured on his 1970 album ''Moondance''. It was also included on Morrison's 1974 live album, ''It's Too Late to Stop Now''. Recording and composition "Into the Mystic" was recorded during the ''Moondance'' sessions at A&R Recording Studios in New York City in September to November 1969. Elliott Scheiner was the engineer. The lyrics are about a spiritual quest, typical of Morrison's work. "Bass thrums like a boat in motion, and the song comes back to water as a means of magical transformation."Hinton, p.108 "At the very end Van sings: ''too late to stop now'', suggesting that the song also describes an act of love." (This phrase would become a key point of many live concerts.) Compared to " Yesterday" by The Beatles, it has been described as "another song where the music and the words seem to have been born together, at the same time, to make one perfectly formed, complete artistic elemen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
And It Stoned Me
"And It Stoned Me" is a song by Northern Ireland, Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It is the opening track on his 1970 solo album, ''Moondance''. Composition and recording "And It Stoned Me" was recorded in summer 1969 at Warner Publishing Studio in New York City. As Morrison biographer Ritchie Yorke described it, the song remembered "how it was when you were a kid and just got stoned from nature and you didn't need anything else". Morrison, in 1985, related the song to a quasi-mystical experience he had as a child: I suppose I was about 12 years old. We used to go to a place called Comber (civil parish), Ballystockart to fish. We stopped in the village on the way up to this place and I went to this little stone house, and there was an old man there with dark weather-beaten skin, and we asked him if he had any water. He gave us some water which he said he'd got from the stream. We drank some and everything seemed to stop for me. Time stood still. For five minutes ev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crazy Love (Van Morrison Song)
"Crazy Love" is a romantic ballad written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1970 album, ''Moondance''. The song was originally released as the B-side to "Come Running" in May 1970 before it was released as a single in the Netherlands, "Come Running" as the B-side. The cover of the single shows Morrison with his then-wife, Janet "Planet" Rigsbee. The photograph was taken by Elliot Landy, the official photographer of the 1969 Woodstock festival. Duets with Van Morrison Ray Charles introduced Van Morrison by starting the first verse before Van's appearance when he was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 2003. Morrison and Charles then finished with a duet of "Crazy Love". Ray Charles remarked about this performance: "It meant a lot to sing 'Crazy Love' on stage that evening." ''Genius Loves Company'', Ray Charles' 2004 album, includes this duet featuring the two singers. Van Morrison and Bob Dylan sang a duet of "Crazy Love" on the BB ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moondance
''Moondance'' is the third studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released on 27 January 1970 by Warner Bros. Records. After the commercial failure of his first Warner Bros. album ''Astral Weeks'' (1968), Morrison moved to upstate New York with his wife and began writing songs for ''Moondance''. There, he met the musicians that would record the album with him at New York City's A & R Studios in August and September 1969. The album found Morrison abandoning the abstract folk jazz compositions of ''Astral Weeks'' in favour of more formally composed songs, which he wrote and produced entirely himself. Its lively rhythm and blues/rock music was the style he would become most known for in his career. The music incorporated soul, jazz, pop, and Irish folk sounds into songs about finding spiritual renewal and redemption in worldly matters such as nature, music, romantic love, and self-affirmation. ''Moondance'' was an immediate critical and commercia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moondance (Van Morrison Song)
"Moondance" is a song recorded by Northern Irish singer and songwriter Van Morrison and is the title song on his third studio album ''Moondance'' (1970). It was written by Morrison, and produced by Morrison and Lewis Merenstein. Morrison did not release the song as a single until September 1977, seven and a half years after the album was released. It debuted two months later where it reached #92, on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #91 on the US ''Cash Box'' Top 100 The single's B-side, "Cold Wind in August", had been released in the same year, on his latest album at the time, '' A Period of Transition''. "Moondance" is the song that Van Morrison plays most frequently in concert. Composition and recording "Moondance" was recorded at the Mastertone Studio in New York City in August 1969, with Lewis Merenstein as producer. The song is played mostly acoustic, anchored by a walking bass line (played on electric bass by John Klingberg), with accompaniment by piano, guitar, saxo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Way Young Lovers Do
"The Way Young Lovers Do" is a song by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison from his second solo album, ''Astral Weeks''. It was recorded in 1968, at Century Sound Studios New York City, during September and October of that year. The song is in triple metre. The distinctive feel of the original recording emerges from the non-rock style of double-bass phrasing by veteran jazzman Richard Davis and additional jazz musician session players, which combined with Morrison's soulful vocals, creates a relatively unusual combination of stylistic elements. Brian Hinton believes that "The song is about growing up, an adolescent first kiss, and still conveys the same sweet mystery as 'Astral Weeks' but more upfront." In Ritchie Yorke's biography on Van Morrison he comments that Van Morrison told him, "On the second side 'Young Lovers Do' is just basically a song about young love" and that Morrison then laughed mysteriously. In a 1969 issue of ''Rolling Stone'' about ''Astral Weeks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astral Weeks
''Astral Weeks'' is the second studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was recorded at Century Sound Studios in New York during September and October 1968, and released in November of the same year by Warner Bros. Records. The album's music blends folk, blues, jazz, and classical styles, signalling a radical departure from the sound of Morrison's previous pop hits, such as "Brown Eyed Girl" (1967). The lyrics and cover art portray the symbolism equating earthly love and heaven that would often feature in the singer's subsequent records. His lyrics have been described as impressionistic, hypnotic, and modernist, while the record has been categorized as a song cycle or concept album. ''Astral Weeks'' did not originally receive promotion from Morrison's record label and was not an immediate success with consumers or critics. Its standing eventually improved greatly, with praise given to Morrison's singing, arrangements and songwriting, and the album has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astral Weeks (song)
"Astral Weeks" is the title song and opening track on the 1968 album ''Astral Weeks'' by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. Recording On the first recording session for the album on 25 September 1968, this song was the last of four recorded for that date. John Payne, the flautist who had been working with Morrison, said it was the first time he had ever heard it, and that although the song may sound rehearsed it was actually captured from the only take. Composition Morrison described the song "Astral Weeks" as being: "like transforming energy, or going from one source to another with it being born again like a rebirth. I remember reading about you having to die to be born. It's one of those songs where you can see the light at the end of the tunnel and that's basically what the song says."Hinton, Celtic Crossroads, p.95 Morrison told Steve Turner that he was working on the song back in Belfast in 1966 when he visited painter Cecil McCartney who had drawings on a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brown Eyed Girl
"Brown Eyed Girl" is a song by Northern Irish singer and songwriter Van Morrison. Written by Morrison and recorded in March 1967 for Bang Records owner and producer Bert Berns, it was released as a single in June of the same year on the Bang label, peaking at No. 10 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song spent a total of sixteen weeks on the chart. It featured the Sweet Inspirations singing back-up vocals and is considered to be Van Morrison's signature song. Recording and title After finishing his contract with Decca Records and the mid-1966 break-up of his band, Them, Morrison returned to Belfast seeking a new recording company. When he received a phone call from Bert Berns, owner of Bang Records, who had produced a number of recordings with Them, he flew to New York City and hastily signed a contract (which biographer Clinton Heylin says probably still gives him sleepless nights). During a two-day recording session starting 28 March 1967, he recorded eight songs intended to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blowin' Your Mind!
''Blowin' Your Mind!'' is the debut studio album by Northern Irish musician Van Morrison, released in 1967. It was recorded 28–29 March 1967 and contained his first solo pop hit "Brown Eyed Girl". It was included by ''Rolling Stone'' as one of the ''40 Essential Albums of 1967''. Recording and release history Morrison does not regard this record as a true album, as Bert Berns compiled and released it without his consent. A few months previously, Morrison had carelessly signed a contract that he had not fully studied and it stipulated that he would surrender virtually all control of the material he would record with Bang Records. The songs were recorded in March 1967 and had been intended to be released on four separate singles. The album jacket became notorious as a model of bad taste, a perception shared widely by Morrison himself. It featured a strange swirl of circling brown vines (and drug connotation) surrounding a sweaty looking Morrison. Greil Marcus described it as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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