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Man, here's the latest BN signing


kenny weir

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I love all of Van's work, from his days with Them to 1980s "Common One." After that, it gets sketchy. His last few releases, however, (such as 1999's "Back on Top" and last year's "Down The Road") have been VERY good. Not quite the Van of old, but much better than some of the stuff he put out in the 80s. So I'm looking forward to his first Blue Note release. Terence Blanchard's debut for the lable, "Bounce," was excellent.

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For those who have heard very little Van...

You MUST have "Astral Weeks" and "Moondance." Those two are a given.

I also recommend "St. Dominic's Preview," "Veedon Fleece," and "His Band and Street Choir."

All of Van's work from 1966 to 1980 is nearly flawless, but these are the cream as far as I'm concerned.

Also, the live double album "It's Too Late To Stop Now" is AMAZING. No Van live album since then has touched it. Check out the 11 minute long version of "Caravan" on the second disc. Electrifiying!

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Connick is not dropped by Sony, he was allowed to do an instrumental record for Marsalis Music (distributed by Rounder). He has records for both labels on the way. For an artist driven label, Marsalis Music sure acts like the majors. As for Van Morrison, sure why not, they also might stop pretending they're a jazz label. I'm sure a lot of the "hipper" rock or folk people who always admired jazz would be happy to have a record on Blue Note.

Edited by kdd
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For those who claim that "Brown Eyed Girl" is a great song I must assume that you're not musicians.

I've played that god damn song so many times that I can't help but loathe it.... as well as Mustang Sally. One of these days I'm going to create a version of Mustang Sally in some fucked up time signature like 9/8 or 19/16 and see if people still dance to it.

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We won't see one more single CD reissue even if Van Morisson goes platinum! EMI - or rather those who get the profits - needs that money much too badly to waste some of it on reissues that won't break even. Y'all forgot the changes after Norah Jones' success? :tdown

Besides that, Van Morrisson isn't that good a singer. Saw him on German TV. The band, led by Georgie Fame (who sings a lot better and jazzier!), was good, but his intonation and phrasing was sloppy. As Bobby McFerrin showed with his version of Moondance, some of his pieces benefit a lot from a set of better vocal organs. A flirt with jazz, no more.

Now who's really signed to Blue Note at the moment? And who was five years ago? A comparative listing would be revealing!

Edited by mikeweil
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For those who claim that "Brown Eyed Girl" is a great song I must assume that you're not musicians.

If it makes you feel any better, Van hated that song too. "Brown Eyed Girl" was the brainchild of producer Bert Berns, who co-wrote "Twist and Shout" and Them's "Here Comes The Night." Since Van had worked with him before, Berns signed Van to his NYC based Bang records in 1967. It was an unhappy alliance, for the most part. Berns had this idea that songs written in a latin tempo (A la "La Bamba") would be hits, so he made Van record several more songs in that vein ("Spanish Rose" and "Chick-a-Boom" are two). Van got in his licks, though. The same sessions that produced "Brown Eyed Girl" also produced the astonishing "T.B. Sheets," (which you would dig because it has some VERY tasty organ), "Who Drove the Red Sports Car," and some very interesting versions of two songs that would later surface as part of Astral Weeks, "Madame George" and "Beside You." Van had a contract with Berns that went beyond the numbers he recorded for them (available on a number of compliations), so he recorded a reel of some of the least commercial music ever produced. Most of it is just silly variations on "Twist and Shout," but some of them (like "Ringworm" and "A Blow in Your Nose") are hilarious. Berns let Van out of his contract, and Van signed with Warner Brothers. "Brown Eyed Girl" was the only hit from the Bang sessions (it was Van's only top ten hit, period), and you can see in Van's face how much he hated it when he was obliged to pimp it on television. On at least one television appearence, Van refuses to look into the camera and mimes the words so badly, you know he was doing it on purpose. It has been so overplayed that it is an easy song to dislike.

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On at least one television appearence, Van refuses to look into the camera and mimes the words so badly, you know he was doing it on purpose.

I STILL remember seeing him on Bandstand doing that song. He sang the whole thing entirely in profile, showing only the left side of his face. ONLY the left side of his face. For the entire freakin' song. I always thought that he probably had a shiner or something. That and Blue Cheer playing "Summertime Blues" LIVE ( :excited: ) are the most memorable Bandstand moments that I ever saw.

And yeah, "T.B. Sheets"... Whoa...

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If you are ever on Treasure Cay in the Abacos and your guide is O'Donnell Macintosh, there is no doubt that you will find yourself in the flats of Crown Haven. Across from the slip (the backyard of a friend of O'Donnell's) is a cinderblock building with a pool table, a jukebox, and a bar. In that jukebox, you will find a number of very interesting selections, one of which is TB SHEETS. I believe it was the b-side to Brown Eyed Girl on this particular record. We kept feeding that jukebox quarters and the locals were eating it up! The fish weren't feeding so we decided to fill up on Kalik instead. This was 4 or 5 years ago, but I imagine the building is still there and the selection has not changed. Hey, I'd wouldn't be surprised if we were the last people to feed that jukebox quarters!

TB SHEETS has a special place in my collection, but it will never sound the same again unless I am in Crown Haven. It just doesn't have that punch that it did that day. Over and over again. And LOUD! :D

Just thought I'd drop a quick story.

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My favorites were Astral Weeks, Veedon Fleece and Hard Nose the Highway. I like the ones in between those, but IMO Van was at his finest doing the semi-introvert thing, like "It's Not Easy Being Green", "Fair Play", "Astral Weeks", "Autumn Song". Some of his stuff does receive too much airplay to ever listen to of one's own accord.

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. That and Blue Cheer playing "Summertime Blues" LIVE ( :excited: ) are the most memorable Bandstand moments that I ever saw.

Blue Cheer on Bandstand? The mind boggles! :wacko:

Oh, it was a trip. I don't know why they played live, but they did. Of course, the volume all but destroyed the studio's sound equipment. All you heard was 3-4 minutes of this grinding noise. As well, their guitars kept giving off these HUGE, blinding reflections. Dick Clark acted like there was nothing wrong when he conducted the post-performancce interview, but he didn't fool anybody. Bandstand had just been reamed.

Not quite The Who on the Smothers Brothers show, but pretty darn close, all things considered.

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