Thursday, March 1, 2018

Van





Half standards/half originals. I wasn’t even going to bother with yet another new Van Morrison record, but I’m glad I did. The originals are better than the standards, but there is some killer Van gibberish in “Unchained Melody” and “Affirmation” is gorgeous in that, “where the hell is he going” way of old. Highly recommended!













14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sal, don't mean to threadcrap the Van post but I've been meaning to give you a heads up on these two guys, both Jason Falkner protégés (JF produces both and performs as well).

Bent Van Looy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJTKnR303aw


Anne Soldaat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhpiWbF6tsc


Being a big JF fan, these guys fit in nicely to my musical rotation. Randy

dogbreath said...

Hey, I'm glad there's someone else out there who likes "Versatile". Coming so soon after "Roll With the Punches" I was surprised the old chap had another disc out hot on its heels. "Punches" felt like a bit of a musical shot in the arm whereas I feel "Versatile" plays like an homage to Van's jazzy roots. Even at this stage of his career Van the Man isn't just dialing it in; there's some real emotional heft and depth in the performing and song-craft.

Troy said...

Agreed that both discs have some real delights. Although I cannot stand the opening track 'Broken Record'. My continued rant is on the length of albums. Both are just a bit too long. I wondered if these might have worked as a single disc, with a jazz side and a blues side. Regardless, it is good to hear Van when he gets inspired.

Sal Nunziato said...

Troy,
My friend said the same thing about "Broken Record." I love it because it reminds me of old Van, when he gets into that trance. "Workin/workin/workin/workin/workin" or "you/youyouyou/youyou/youyouyouyou."

Sal Nunziato said...

Randy, that Bent Van Looy is great!! Thanks for the heads up. Working on Anne Soldaat. Singing voice is not happening for me on first go.

Troy said...

Sal,
I get that, and I like the examples you mentioned. But when he starts on the broken record repeat, I reach for the track skip button. I think it sounds too much like a broken record. So I guess Van wins after all. But I still go to track 2.

Anonymous said...

Hello all...no, please remain seated,

Van and I lost touch with each other some years back (...but I know, it’s my own damn fault). But Unchained Melody is my “Wichita Lineman” league of great songs. So, I listened with trepidation. Holy-moley, you’re right! Killer jibberish by the Belfast Lion. When the horns picked up about 2/3rds of the way in, I half-expected he would shout “Jack!!!” by way of introducing a 16 bar tenor solo. Since that didn’t happen I’m forced, more in sorrow than in anger, to deduct a half-star.

Lovely, lovely version. Thanks for the turn on.

Regards, RichD

A walk in the woods said...

OK, you moved me back into the "yes" camp on this record (speaking about the jazz set, not so much the blues LP that preceded) by Van. I'm a huge Van fan, and generally buy it all these days, but wasn't excited about what I saw as perhaps a genre exercise, and with songs picked that I wasn't excited about, on paper anyway.

But your comments, and you focusing in on a few songs of interest, got me back on board - I'm picking "Versatile" up this weekend. The arrangement on "Affirmation" reminds me of some of the ones on what I think is his great "lost" record that nobody talks about, the badly-titled "Poetic Champions Compose." PCC is in my Top 5 Van records, and that "Versatile" seems to veer that way works for me.

Joe said...

Sal, I was pleasantly surprised that the the set held together as a nice listening experience. Although I could have gone with one or two less "Broken Record" shout outs. I guess I was most surprised with some of the standards (not all) where I thought Van really added value in his interpretation.

Joe

Sal Nunziato said...

I think his repeating "broken record" might be my favorite thing about the song. It's soooo very Van.

Anonymous said...

All this broken record stuff reminds of the time my vinyl copy of Moondance got a glob of something on it that made it skip in an interesting place.

It was during the 2nd verse of the song Moondance, and here's how it sounded until I removed the glob:

"...well I want to make love to you tonight, I can't...tonight, I can't... tonight, I can't... tonight, I can't..."

Sal Nunziato said...

My Elton "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" had a skip in Bennie & The Jets.

"You know I read it in a maga-zay-EEN, zay-EEN, zay-EEN, zay-EEN!"

Anonymous said...

Affirmation is gorgeous!
C in California

M_Sharp said...

Two good ones from Van The Man!