''The Philosopher's Stone'' is a compilation album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter
Van Morrison
Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...
released in 1998.
The songs released on this 2-CD thirty-track album were previously unreleased
outtakes
An outtake is a portion of a work (usually a film or music recording) that is removed in the editing process and not included in the work's final, publicly released version. In the digital era, significant outtakes have been appended to CD and DV ...
from 1969 to 1988. The album features twenty-five songs that had never been released, and early alternative renditions of "The Street Only Knew Your Name" from ''
Inarticulate Speech of the Heart'', "
Wonderful Remark" from ''
The Best of Van Morrison
''The Best of Van Morrison'' is a compilation album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It compiles songs spanning 25 years of his recording career. Released in 1990 by Polydor Records, the album was a critical and commercial succes ...
'', "
Real Real Gone" from ''
Enlightenment
Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to:
Age of Enlightenment
* Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...
'', "Joyous Sound" and "Flamingos Fly" from ''
A Period of Transition'', and "
Bright Side of the Road" from ''
Into the Music
''Into the Music'' is the 11th studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, and was released in August 1979. It includes " Bright Side of the Road", which peaked at number 63 on the UK Singles Chart, and other songs in which M ...
''.
Three songs on the album were evidently intended for Morrison's unreleased 1975 album ''Mechanical Bliss''. "Twilight Zone", "Foggy Mountain Top" and "Flamingos Fly" were all mixed in 1974 just before ''Mechanical Bliss'' was due to come out.
Original release
''The Philosopher's Stone, Volume One'' was originally scheduled to be released in July 1996. When it was released, some of the tracks had been changed; "When I Deliver", "
John Brown's Body
"John Brown's Body" ( Roud 771), originally known as "John Brown's Song", is a United States marching song about the abolitionist John Brown. The song was popular in the Union during the American Civil War. The song arose out of the folk hymn ...
" and "I'm Ready" were replaced by "The Street Only Knew Your Name", "Western Plains" and "Joyous Sound".
[Heylin, p 477] "John Brown's Body" and "I'm Ready" were eventually released as
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...
s on Morrison's 1999 single "
Back on Top".
Commenting on the previously unreleased songs, Van Morrison remarked:
"It's hard to work out why you didn't put something out at the time. Usually it felt like it didn't fit...When I was with Warner Brothers they were very minimalist."
The Van Morrison song titled "Philosopher's Stone" does not appear on this album, but is from 1999's ''
Back On Top'', released one year after this album.
Recording dates
Many of the recording dates on the album notes are disputed by one of Morrison's biographers, Heylin. "Really Don't Know" he claims was recorded in 1969, not 1971 as he only has details of the musicians recording with Morrison in 1969. Heylin feels that tracks from "
Wonderful Remark" to "Drumshanbo Hustle" were recorded in 1972 not 1973, and that "There There Child" was recorded in 1972 not 1976. On disc two "John Henry" is shown as recorded in 1977, but Heylin argues that it was recorded two years earlier, as there are no details on Morrison recording in 1977. "Crazy Jane on God" was recorded with
Moving Hearts
Moving Hearts is an Irish Celtic rock band formed in 1981. They followed in the footsteps of Horslips in combining music of Ireland, Irish traditional music with rock and roll, and also added elements of jazz to their sound.Harris, Craig''Movin ...
in 1983 for the album ''
A Sense of Wonder
''A Sense of Wonder'' is the fifteenth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison released in 1984. On first release, original pressings had to be recalled when the W. B. Yeats estate refused to allow Morrison's musical versio ...
''. From the same sessions the songs "A Sense of Wonder" and "Boffyflow and Spike" were used for the album. The recording date of these songs was 1983 (as stated on the album itself) but the date on ''The Philosopher's Stone'' states "Crazy Jane on God" was recorded in 1984.
Scott Thomas in the fan magazine ''Wavelength'' noted:
Everything about ''The Philosopher's Stone'', from its format to its packaging to its song selection, seems designed to divorce the tracks from their historical milieu...When we open the package, there are no essays, no interviews, no archival photos — just lyrics (often incorrectly transcribed) and credits which include the year of the session.
Track listing
All songs written by
Van Morrison
Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...
unless noted.
;Disc one
#"Really Don't Know" – 3:37
#"Ordinary People" – 5:20
#"
Wonderful Remark" – 8:01
#"Not Supposed to Break Down" – 5:24
#"Laughing in the Wind" – 4:10
#"Madame Joy" – 4:23
#"Contemplation Rose" – 5:15
#"Don't Worry About Tomorrow" – 5:20
#"Try for Sleep" (Morrison,
John Platania) – 6:05
#"Lover's Prayer" – 3:57
#"Drumshanbo Hustle" – 4:48
#"Twilight Zone" – 8:23
#"Foggy Mountain Top" – 5:27
#"Naked in the Jungle" – 4:36
#"There There Child" (Morrison, Platania) – 3:01
;Disc two
#"The Street Only Knew Your Name" – 6:25
#"John Henry" (Traditional) – 5:48
#"Western Plain" (
Lead Belly
Huddie William Ledbetter ( ; January 1888 or 1889 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk music, folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the ...
,
John Lomax
John Avery Lomax (September 23, 1867 – January 26, 1948) was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist, and a folklorist who did much for the preservation of American folk music. He was the father of Alan Lomax, John Lomax Jr. and Bess ...
) – 5:42
#"Joyous Sound" – 2:30
#"I Have Finally Come to Realize" – 5:09
#"Flamingoes Fly" – 6:28
#"Stepping Out Queen Part 2" – 4:26
#"
Bright Side of the Road" – 4:02
#"Street Theory" – 4:54
#"
Real Real Gone" – 3:45
#"Showbusiness" – 9:21
#"For Mr. Thomas" (
Robin Williamson
Robin Duncan Harry Williamson (born 24 November 1943) is a Scottish multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and storyteller who was a founding member of the Incredible String Band.
Career
Williamson lived in the Fairmilehead area of Edinbu ...
) – 4:15
#"Crazy Jane on God" (
William Mathieu,
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th century in literature, 20th-century literature. He was ...
) – 4:05
#"Song of Being a Child" (
Peter Handke
Peter Handke (; born 6 December 1942) is an Austrians, Austrian novelist, playwright, translator, poet, film director, and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has ...
, Morrison) – 4:09
#"High Spirits" (
Paddy Moloney
Paddy Moloney (; 1 August 1938 – 12 October 2021) was an Irish musician, composer, and record producer. He co-founded and led the Irish musical group the Chieftains, playing on all of their 44 albums. He was particularly associated with the re ...
, Morrison) – 4:21 (recorded with
The Chieftains
The Chieftains were a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous w ...
)
Personnel
*
Van Morrison
Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...
– vocals,
acoustic and electric guitar, harmonica, saxophone
*June Boyce – vocals
*
Ronnie Montrose
Ronald Douglas Montrose (November 29, 1947 – March 3, 2012) was an American musician and guitarist who founded and led the rock bands Montrose and Gamma. He also performed and did session work with a variety of musicians, including Van Morri ...
– guitar,
background vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...
on "Wonderful Remark" and "Ordinary People"
*John Blakey,
John Platania, Mick Cox,
Chris Michie
Chris Michie (January 12, 1948 – March 27, 2003) was an American guitarist and composer, best known for his work with Van Morrison.
Chris Michie was born in Ithaca, New York, in 1948 and moved to Madison, Wisconsin, when he was a teenager. He ...
– guitar
*Herbie Armstrong – rhythm guitar
*Toni Marcus – violin
*Jules Broussard – flute,
tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...
*"Boots" Rolf Houston – flute
*Jack Schroer –
alto
The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in ch ...
and
baritone saxophone
The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...
s
*Collin Tilton,
Pee Wee Ellis
Alfred James Rogers (April 21, 1941 – September 23, 2021), known as Pee Wee Ellis due to his diminutive stature, was an American saxophonist, composer, and arranger. With a background in jazz, he was a member of James Brown's band in the 19 ...
– tenor saxophone
*
Bill Atwood – trumpet
*
Mark Isham
Mark Ware Isham (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician and composer. A trumpeter and keyboardist, Isham works in a variety of genres, including jazz and electronic music, electronic. He is also a prolific and acclaimed composer of Film ...
– trumpet,
flugelhorn
The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet, but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though ...
, synthesizers
*John Allair – piano, organ
*
Jeff Labes,
Mark Naftalin
Mark Naftalin (born August 2, 1944) is an American blues keyboardist and record producer. He appears on the first five albums by Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the mid 1960s as a band member, and as such was inducted into the Rock and Roll Ha ...
, Mark Jordan,
Pete Wingfield
William Peter Wingfield (born 7 May 1948) is an English record producer, Keyboardist, keyboard player, songwriter, singer, and music journalism, music journalist.
Career
Whilst at Sussex University, Wingfield and three other students formed ...
– piano
*Smith Dobson – piano,
electric piano
An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...
*
Bernie Krause
Bernard L. Krause (born December 8, 1938) is an American musician and soundscape ecologist. In 1968, he founded Wild Sanctuary, an organization dedicated to the recording and archiving of natural soundscapes. Krause is an author, a bio-acoustici ...
–
moog synthesizer
The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...
*John Klingberg, Bill Church,
David Hayes, Jerome Rimson,
Clive Culbertson – bass
*
Gary Mallaber
Gary Mallaber (born October 11, 1946, in Buffalo) is an American musician from Los Angeles, mostly known as a drummer, but plays percussion, vibraphone, and keyboards. In addition, he is a songwriter, arranger, composer, producer, engineer, a ...
,
Connie Kay
Conrad Henry Kirnon (April 27, 1927 – November 30, 1994) known professionally as Connie Kay, was an American jazz and R&B drummer, who was a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet.
Biography
Self-taught on drums, Kay began performing in Los Ange ...
, Lee Charlton, Dahaud Shaar,
Rick Shlosser
Rick Shlosser is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music. He has been a member of Van Morrison's band and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. He's also been a varied sessions drummer.
Discography 1970s
* Andy Pratt – ''Records Are Like Life'' ( ...
,
Peter Van Hooke
Peter Van Hooke (born 6 April 1950) is an English rock drummer and producer with over 350 credits to his name. He was the drummer for the English band Mike + The Mechanics (from 1985 to 1995) and also drummed for Van Morrison's band, Headston ...
, Tony Day, Tom Donlinger, Roy Jones,
Dave Early
Sade ( or ) are an English band, formed in London in 1982 and named after their lead singer, Sade Adu. The band consists of Adu alongside bassist Paul Denman, saxophonist and guitarist Stuart Matthewman, and keyboardist Andrew Hale. Foundi ...
– drums
*
Jackie DeShannon
Jackie DeShannon (born Sharon Lee Myers; August 21, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and radio broadcaster who has had many hit song credits beginning in the 1960s, as both a singer and composer. She was one of the first female singer-son ...
,
Judy Clay,
Bianca Thornton, Pauline Lazano, Annie Stocking – background vocals
*Neil Drinkwater – keyboards
*
The Chieftains
The Chieftains were a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous w ...
,
Moving Hearts
Moving Hearts is an Irish Celtic rock band formed in 1981. They followed in the footsteps of Horslips in combining music of Ireland, Irish traditional music with rock and roll, and also added elements of jazz to their sound.Harris, Craig''Movin ...
– bands
Charts
References
Sources
*
Heylin, Clinton (2003). ''Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography'', Chicago Review Press
*
Rogan, Johnny (2006). ''
Van Morrison: No Surrender'', London:Vintage Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Philosopher's Stone
1998 compilation albums
Albums produced by Van Morrison
Blues compilation albums
Van Morrison compilation albums