Good Van Morrison albums?

September 28, 2006 1:55 PM

Van Morrison - where do I start?

I've long been a casual Van Morrison fan, and recently decided that I really should know more of his stuff. I have a copy of "Astral Weeks", which to be honest I don't really care for, but I really like songs like "Once In A Blue Moon" and "Someone Like You".

What album or albums would be a good jumping-off point to start exploring Van Morrison's body of work?

posted by pdb to media & arts (36 comments total)

T.B. Sheets. Fucking stellar.
posted by saladin at 2:05 PM on September 28, 2006

I may be the only one, but Beautiful Vision is not just one of his best, but in my top twenty albums of all time. Fantastic musicians like Mark Isham and Mark Knopfler helping out on most tracks. The double cd Hymns to the Silence is good too. But I haven't kept up with Van in a long time. I was tempted to buy his last cd of old country and western standards, but never got around to it. Some of the stuff he put out over the last ten years was real shite.
posted by vronsky at 2:13 PM on September 28, 2006

Astral Weeks / Moondance. The perfect pair.
posted by one_bean at 2:13 PM on September 28, 2006

Actually, first start by reading Lester Bangs on "Astral Weeks."
posted by one_bean at 2:14 PM on September 28, 2006

Jackie Wilson Said.
posted by fixedgear at 2:21 PM on September 28, 2006

The Healing Game. Absolutely brilliant brass work alongside Van. Maybe a little too much Bryan Kennedy for some, but some have said his expanded role on the album covered flaws in Van's performances. That may be the case, but I'm a sucker for Van's brass sections.
posted by Sk4n at 2:22 PM on September 28, 2006

Moondance is the obvious answer, but it's the obvious answer for a reason.
posted by Bookhouse at 2:24 PM on September 28, 2006

another vote for astral weeks.
posted by jessicak at 2:31 PM on September 28, 2006

Where do you start? With Them.

Actually, pretty much everything he did up to Saint Dominic's Preview (except for those songs he did to break his Bang contract and piss off Bert Burns).
posted by timeistight at 2:32 PM on September 28, 2006

note to everyone suggesting Astral Weeks: the OP has already said "I have a copy of "Astral Weeks", which to be honest I don't really care for"
posted by scody at 2:44 PM on September 28, 2006

If you like "Someone Like You" but not Astral Weeks, you'll probably like his mellow 80's stuff the best. From that period, I like the albums Beautfiul Vision, Enlightenment, Into The Music, Common One and Live At The Grand Opera House.
posted by skwm at 2:46 PM on September 28, 2006

This is the "contractual obligation" album I was trying to warn you off. Bang Masters, on the other hand, is worth having. It's a bit like a rough, working version of Astral Weeks, plus it has the unedited version of "Brown-Eyed Girl".
posted by timeistight at 2:47 PM on September 28, 2006 [1 favorite]

And, scody, he thinks he doesn't care for Astral Weeks, but we know better. He just needs to try harder.
posted by timeistight at 2:50 PM on September 28, 2006

The Best of and Best of Volume 2? It's obvious, but it is a good jumping off point. It helped me determine that I liked his earlier stuff much more than his later stuff.

With that in mind, I'd also second timeistight's recommendation of "Them".
posted by Gary at 2:50 PM on September 28, 2006

he thinks he doesn't care for Astral Weeks, but we know better. He just needs to try harder.

Oh, believe me, I have tried. Several times. For whatever reason, AW just doesn't do it for me. Thanks, everybody, for all the other recommendations, though...keep 'em coming...
posted by pdb at 2:53 PM on September 28, 2006

Other folks may contradict this, but Van Morrison might not be for you if you really don't care for Astral Weeks. It's such a touchstone, so central to ouvre, that it's hard to think where else to go.
posted by OmieWise at 2:54 PM on September 28, 2006

No Guru, No Method, No Teacher is also underrated imho.
posted by vronsky at 2:58 PM on September 28, 2006

Astral Weeks is a great album, but when you consider Van Morrison's entire 35+ album body of work you quickly see that it's sound and style is an abberation. No other album of his is done in such a folky style. If someone does or doesn't like that album, it's hard to say what they'll feel about the rest of his work. Now, if they don't like Moondance, it's safe to say that they won't like anything up through Tupelo Honey. Preference towards Beautiful Vision would be a good prediction of how they would react to A Period Of Transition through, say, Enlightenment. Other generalizations could be made, but I don't think one can draw strong conclusions off of Astral Weeks.
posted by skwm at 3:01 PM on September 28, 2006

Go to this site for a good comprehensive review of several of his key albums.
posted by yclipse at 3:01 PM on September 28, 2006

The live in San Francisco double set is great.
posted by funboytree at 3:03 PM on September 28, 2006

Van Morrison might not be for you if you really don't care for Astral Weeks. It's such a touchstone, so central to ouvre, that it's hard to think where else to go.

If Astral Weeks were representative of Morrison's sound throughout his entire body of work, I might agree with you. It's not, at least to my limited VM ear, so I'm in search of things that sound not-really-like-that. It's a touchstone, sure, but it's also pretty different than the other Van Morrison stuff I've heard.

Or, what skwm said.
posted by pdb at 3:04 PM on September 28, 2006

The Bang Records Contractual Obligation Album


I was a casual listener at best. My wife likes him a lot.
Then this link appeared somewhere and I was intrigued.
I listened and listened and listened.
I laughed and laughed and laughed.
After listening to this album, I grew to appreciate his other music more. Wife hates this album. I love it.

Lovers of Van will hate this album. In fact most will probably tell you to ignore it.
Lovers of snark will love it.

Be warned: Not great music, not typical Van Morrison, very lo-fi.

You'll now have a song to put on a mix tape for the next person you know who gets ring-worm.
posted by Seamus at 3:06 PM on September 28, 2006

Van Morrison is arguably one of the greatest blue-eyed soul singers of all time.

If you like your blue-eyed soul of the garage rock ilk, get the two-CD Story of Them.

If you like jazzy acoustic Joni Mitchell-meets-Ray Charles in Belfast music, get Astral Weeks or Veedon Fleece.

If you like more straight ahead pop-soul with Celtic acoustic twists, get anything from Moondance through St. Dominic's Preview.

Don't forget to pick up the double live It's Too Late To Stop Now featuring a string section and killer versions of hits from all of the above.

Also, it looks like some of these titles are either out of print or Amazon's totally out of stock (unlikely) so snatch 'em up while you can before the $30 "deluxe editions" come out.
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 3:07 PM on September 28, 2006

You'll now have a song to put on a mix tape for the next person you know who gets ring-worm.

At last, we get to the true hidden meaning behind my seemingly generic question. :-)
posted by pdb at 3:08 PM on September 28, 2006

Astral Weeks is a great record but if you're looking for some of his more melodic records, try these:

Moondance
Into The Music
St Dominics Preview
Tupelo Honey
His Band and The Street Choir.

All classics in my opinion.
posted by gfrobe at 3:13 PM on September 28, 2006

I'm no expert, but I've tried to get into his work a few times over the years and really felt like I must be missing the great essence that so many people love. Until I got St. Dominic's Preview. Great, great album. I owned Astral Weeks for a decade before I got St. Dominic's Preview; I always liked it, but never really got what all the fuss was about. I still don't to tell you the truth. But St. Dominic's Preview is one of my very favorite albums by any musician in any genre at any time.
On preview, joseph_elmhurst's answer seems astute.
posted by willpie at 3:22 PM on September 28, 2006

the unedited version of 'Brown-Eyed Girl'
It's funny because the bass player forgets the bass line in the middle of the breakdown.

MP3.com's Van Morrison bio and album reviews.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:24 PM on September 28, 2006

Van Morisson & The Chieftains - Irish Heartbeat
posted by mattholomew at 3:54 PM on September 28, 2006

Back On Top 1999. Song When the Leaves Come Falling Down.Entire album good.
posted by madstop1 at 4:45 PM on September 28, 2006

I second the recommendation for Them, one of the great unknown bands. "Here Comes the Night" blows just about everything that was on the radio back then right out of the water. Try it, you'll like it.
posted by languagehat at 5:27 PM on September 28, 2006

I have most of Van Morrison's earlier albums and some of his more recent ones, but find myself digging out Tupelo Honey and Hymns to the Silence and listening to one or the other at least once every month since, well, forever. So although I agree with a lot of the recommendations above because I simply love Van Morrison, my suggestions for a place to start would be these two.
And I'm so so depressed that he never comes here and I'll probably never see him play live...
posted by misozaki at 5:42 PM on September 28, 2006

i like tupelo honey best. as an alternative, try the best of friends by john lee hooker. there are two cuts, i cover the waterfront and don't look back, with vocals by john lee hooker and van morrison that are to die for. i melt.
posted by brandz at 6:17 PM on September 28, 2006

Damn. I'm coming in late...
As the owner of every VM release (many on record, some on record, cd and tape) and a few boots I must weigh in. But damn. It's just what gfrobe said:
Moondance
Into The Music
St Dominics Preview
Tupelo Honey
His Band and The Street Choir

Not at all like other Van recordings, but I LOVE it (YMMV)
Irish Heartbeat (with the Chieftains)


I'd say AVOID Bang masters
I'm not a fan of Veedon Fleece., and if you don't like AW you won't be either.

Later efforts like "magic Time" and "What's wrong with this Picture" always have a couple of winners and a few that hurt your brain.

Skip "The Skiffle Sessions - Live in Belfast " and that weird one -- "You win again" with the English "country" singer too.

There's a great Van site as well http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/~hayward/van/
posted by cccorlew at 8:01 PM on September 28, 2006

one-bean: Absolutely. Bangs' piece is essential reading.

Saladin: fucking stellar is spot on. The title song is is one of the most moving songs that Morrison has ever written. It also contains an unfortunately censored version of Brown Eyed Girl, and some racous numbers re-released from the Bang era with vocals later echoed by Mick Jagger

I'm surprised that Veedon Fleece has been mentioned only once. Bulbs is a wonderful little gem, and Linden Arden is a truly unique song ("cleaved their heads off with a hatchet.Lord he was a drinkin' man"). Veedon Fleece is probably my favourite.


Except of course for Astral Weeks. Which is where any critical examination of VM's work surely must return,
posted by Neiltupper at 8:05 PM on September 28, 2006

Another vote for "The Healing Game."
posted by caddis at 12:31 AM on September 29, 2006

Another vote for His Band and the Street Choir. When CDs first came on the scene this was one of the first three I bought having played St. Dominic's Preview endlessly on tape). Still play it often.
posted by mikepop at 5:50 AM on September 29, 2006