Van Morrison Band

Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison, OBE (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer, songwriter and musician. He has received six Grammy Awards, the 1994 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, and has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2016 he was knighted for his musical achievements and his services to tourism and charitable causes in Northern Ireland.

Known as "Van the Man" to his fans, Morrison started his professional career when, as a teenager in the late 1950s, he played a variety of instruments including guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone for various Irish showbands covering the popular hits of the day. He rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as the lead singer of the Northern Irish R&B band Them, with whom he recorded the garage band classic "Gloria". His solo career began under the pop-hit oriented guidance of Bert Berns with the release of the hit single "Brown Eyed Girl" in 1967. After Berns' death, Warner Bros. Records bought out his contract and allowed him three sessions to record Astral Weeks (1968). Even though this album would gradually garner high praise, it was initially a poor seller; Moondance (1970), however, established Morrison as a major artist,[3] and he built on his reputation throughout the 1970s with a series of acclaimed albums and live performances. Morrison continues to record and tour, producing albums and live performances that sell well and are generally warmly received, sometimes collaborating with other artists, such as Georgie Fame and the Chieftains. In 2008 he performed Astral Weeks live for the first time since 1968.



Essential Albums; Astral Weeks to start, and then he's got another half a dozen perfect albums after there. Can't go wrong with any of his 70s stuff really.

 

I think this live acoustic take of Sweet Thing from 1971 is somehow even more beautiful than the studio version from Astral Weeks.

 

wow....george killed spo. damn

 

I thin I've started to settle in on "Tupelo Honey" as my favorite Van track

 

I am alive

 

This is a good thread to mention this. Every single time I see your username, and it stoned me gets in my head. It'll happen like 10 minutes on. I'll be reading this site then leave and be walking to class and realize I've been humming it the whole time I was walking.

It's actually great so thanks

 

I'm actually a spambot from Van's agency that developed a shitty persona over 10 years on a website for this exact reason

 

You're very good at your job

 

Glad Tidings is such a great song. MDW is prime Van listening

 

Today is a "Tupelo Honey" kind of day.

 

Van Morrison: It's Too Late to Stop Now... Volumes II, III, IV & DVD Album Review | Pitchfork

yayyyy

 

Got one of my kids to check out Astral Weeks! I'm hype!

 

Dude you might be a wizard. Meanwhile I'm nodding along sadly as students try to sell me on why 21 Pilots and Ed Sheeran are all time greats

 

I've really been digging the songs from his new blues album. Listening to Astral Weeks instead because this album's always incredible.

 

My friend gave me Astral Weeks on a care package of music and I dig it a lot, that sort of folk jazz combo is not something I ever really thought of existing like that.

 

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EDIT: Okay I guess I can't link to it but there's a great interview with Van on FT.com

 

my former editor at the guardian did that interview! it's great

 

Another new one coming out December 1st!
Van the Man!!!

 

This is the case with a fair amount of his records, but man the album art for A Sense of Wonder is gloriously bad in an 80s way



Love the record tho

 

I still somehow have never heard anything Post 70s hiatus. Despite how prolific he's been the last few years

 

Both albums from last year are nice evening listens. I’d recommend Roll With The Punches, the blues record.

 

The Miracle of Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks”

And there's an Astral Weeks book!!!

 

Reading the book now!