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Van Morrison

Van Morrison

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Van Morrison: Gonna Rock Your Gypsy Soul

Report and Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 28 July 1973

"IT'S SHOWTIME, ladies and gentlemen! And here's the one you've been waiting for – the Caledonia Soul Orchestra with ... VAN MORRISON!" ...

Audio interviews

Van Morrison (1979)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, February 1979

In Belfast to play his first Ulster gig since the '60s, Van talks about his recent period of transition: resolving business issues, and Harvey Goldsmith and Bill Graham; living in the USA; leaving Norther Ireland for London, the Troubles, and being Irish in America; on Wavelength and his previous albums; on Astral Weeks; the difficulty in playing his albums live; his current road band with Peter Bardens; on Hard Nose the Highway and 'Bein' Green'; being his own producer; the live It's Too Late to Stop Now, and what he listens to at home.

File format: mp3; file size: 43.6mb, interview length: 45' 27" sound quality: ***

Van Morrison (2014)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 23 June 2014

Van talks about his escape to Woodstock after Bert Berns and Bang records: the Band, Albert Grossman, not recognising Bob Dylan; the making of the Moondance and Street Choir albums, and not buying into the Woodstock mythology.

File format: mp3; file size: 41mb, interview length: 44' 48" sound quality: *****

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Singer Van Morrison's Mind-Blowing Music Style

Profile and Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 25 August 1967

VAN MORRISON, whose 'Brown-Eyed Girl' is a top ten record in town, isn't the easiest person to talk to. He prefers communicating through his music ...

Loraine Alterman on Records: New Albums from Vanilla Fudge, Big Brother et al

Review by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 3 September 1967

Vanilla Fudge: Exciting Album ...

Van Morrison: "I Can't Mix – My Problem"

Profile and Interview by Carol Deck, KRLA Beat, 2 December 1967

VAN MORRISON is hunting for himself. ...

New Albums by John Mayall, Fleetwood Mac, Van Morrison et al

Review by Peter Jones, Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 2 March 1968

Staunch British blues fans will dig Mayall's Diary LP set ...

Albums from Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison and more

Review by John Mendelssohn, UCLA Daily Bruin, 26 February 1969

BROTHERHOOD, AN RCA group composed of three former Paul Revere underlings and a gutless organist named Ron Collins, have taken a timid, tiny step past ...

Van Morrison: Astral Weeks (Warner Bros. 1778)

Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 11 May 1969

VAN MORRISON is one of the rock vocalists. He was lead singer and primary writer for Them during their 'Gloria', 'Baby Please Don't Go', 'Here ...

Van Morrison, The Holy Modal Rounders: Cafe Au Go Go, New York NY

Live Review by Danny Goldberg, Billboard, 13 September 1969

NEW YORK — The Cafe Au Go Go, relatively idle in recent months, interrupted renovations with a splash of good music Aug. 29-31, displaying the ...

Eyes Of Blue: In Fields Of Ardath (Mercury); Best Of Traffic (Island); Van Morrison: Astral Weeks (Warner Bros.)

Review by Mark Williams, International Times, 5 December 1969

IT'S VERY difficult you see. The record companies send you FREE records to review and something goes wrong: not enough space, a strangely appalling record ...

Albums from Van Morrison, John Fred & His Playboy Band and Peter Sarstedt

Review by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 8 March 1970

VAN MORRISON — MOONDANCE — WARNER BROS. A tremendous album. The production is tight, the songs are good and Morrison's voice, weird as it is, fits perfectly. ...

Van Morrison, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Brinsley Schwartz: Fillmore East, New York NY

Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 10 April 1970

I WAS ON that New York trip last weekend, too. My brief was to listen to the music. I have to report that as soon ...

Quicksilver, Van Morrison, Brinsley Schwarz: Fillmore East, New York NY

Live Review by Ian Dove, Billboard, 18 April 1970

BRINSLEY SCHWARZ is an unknown British group that aroused interest because over 100 U.K. journalists braved a 12-hour trouble beset trip from London to spend ...

Joe Cocker, Mad Dogs & Englishmen, Van Morrison, the Stonemans: Fillmore West, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 24 April 1970

Cocker's Classy Collection of Rock Freaks ...

Van Morrison: Egotistical and Brilliant

Profile by Danny Goldberg, Circus, June 1970

VAN MORRISON has finally begun to get his due. Finally is a pretty strange word to use with someone who is not yet twenty-five, but ...

Van Morrison: In Conversation

Interview by Happy Traum, Rolling Stone, 9 July 1970

VAN MORRISON sits on the edge of the bed and absently picks an old Gibson. He is moody, his eyes intense and his smile sudden; ...

Van Morrison: His Band And The Street Choir (Warner Bros.)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 30 January 1971

Has Van Morrison eased up? ...

Van Morrison: February 1971

Interview by Rick McGrath, The Georgia Straight, February 1971

This interview with Van Morrison and some of the members of his band took place at Vancouver airport on the morning after a concert. ...

Grateful Dead: American Beauty (Warner-Reprise); Van Morrison: His Band and the Street Choir (Warner-Reprise)

Review by Hugh Nolan, International Times, 25 February 1971

THESE TWO albums have more in common than being on the same label (and it's no detriment to either that it should be the label ...

What's So Special About Van Morrison?

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, Melody Maker, 20 March 1971

Update, 2019. BELOW THIS update is the first of two pieces on Van's early albums. They were commissioned by Richard Williams as my Melody Maker editor, ...

Van — Them and now

Discography by Geoffrey Cannon, Melody Maker, 27 March 1971

Update, 2019: This piece continues that on "What's so special about Van Morrison", also here in the RBP archive, commissioned by Richard Williams as my ...

Van Morrison: Lion's Share, San Anselmo CA; Rita Coolidge: Keystone Korner, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 27 April 1971

Big Talents on Small Club Circuit ...

Van Morrison: His Band And Street Choir

Review by Dave Marsh, Creem, October 1971

THERE'S A SECRET to every Van Morrison album, and even this one, which too many of us wrote off too long ago, has it. The ...

Van Morrison: Tupelo Honey; The Band: Cahoots; The Beach Boys: Surf's Up

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 29 October 1971

Out of the city ...

Van Morrison: Tupelo Honey (Warner Bros. K.46114; £2 15)

Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 December 1971

THERE ARE those albums which one enjoys so much that one doesn't want to review them, but just play continuously. This, Van Morrison's latest epistle, ...

Van Morrison: The Hottest Hand in Rock And Roll

Discography by Metal Mike Saunders, The Rag, 6 December 1971

THERE ARE four remaining survivors from the English Invasion: the Kinks, the Hollies, the Rolling Stones, and Van Morrison. All four of these have wound ...

Soul Brothers: Al Green, Sly Stone, Van Morrison

Review by Charlie Gillett, Cream, January 1972

IS THE REVIEWER supposed to come to each record as an objective analyst? Or, if he isn’t one, must he pretend he is? Impossible for ...

Van Morrison: Where Is The Restless Lion Now?

Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 19 August 1972

I'M AFRAID that the Van Morrison you know, may not be quite the same person as the one I envisage. ...

Van Morrison: Saint Dominic's Preview (Warner Bros. K46172, £2.09)

Review by Andrew Tyler, Disc, 2 September 1972

FOLLOW THAT VAN ...

Van Morrison: Saint Dominic's Preview (Warner Bros.)

Review by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, October 1972

LIKE ANYONE else, a record reviewer has certain expectations and anticipations of an album before he hears it, and tends to judge it on whether ...

Van Morrison: St.Dominic's Preview (Warner Bros.); Them: Them Featuring Van Morrison (Parrot)

Review by Dave Marsh, Creem, October 1972

AFTER TUPELO HONEY Van Morrison must have been faced with a choice. He could continue with his domestic tranquility myth, which was as artistically false ...

Van Morrison: Early Them and all the vocal fire of Tarzan with a hernia

Retrospective and Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 August 1973

BUT WITH CONTROL, MAN, WITH CONTROL ...

Van Morrison: Hard Nose The Highway

Review by Charlie Gillett, Let It Rock, September 1973

WHAT'S HE BEEN DOING, listening to Brahms? If that title is a riddle that holds the answer, I give in, and the cover doesn't help ...

Van Morrison: Hard Nose The Highway

Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, October 1973

THE TEMPTATION is simply to quote huge chunks of lyrics, but allow me instead the indulgence of a passage from Kierkegaard, cited by A. Alvarez ...

Van Morrison: Hard Nose The Highway (Warner Bros.)

Review by Wayne Robins, Zoo World, 11 October 1973

I KEEP HAVING this dream – wish fulfillment, for the Freudians out in Zoo World – where the mailman rings the bell, and tells me ...

Van Morrison out of the music

Profile and Interview by John Tobler, ZigZag, November 1973

"YOU COULD FORGIVE him anything after you've listened to his music." (Nicola Hugen-Tobler after first straining to hear the great man's words through the clinking ...

Van Morrison: A Van For All Seasons

Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 23 February 1974

LET'S talk about the albums, starting with Hard Nose The Highway. ...

Van Morrison: ...It's Too Late To Stop Now... (Warner and his wonderful Brothers)

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 9 March 1974

Hey, the caravan is on its way... ...

Van Morrison: It's Too Late to Stop Now (Warner Brothers)

Review by Todd Everett, Phonograph Record, April 1974

IT'S TOO Late is the perfect album if you're going to have only one by Van Morrison. Everything you'll need to know about the Belfast ...

Van Morrison, the Persuasions: Felt Forum, NYC

Live Review by Happy Traum, Rolling Stone, 25 April 1974

Inventive Van Impresses ...

Van Morrison: TB Sheets

Review by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, June 1974

I FOUND VAN MORRISON by a most tortuous, circumlocutory route: first (after the mediocrity of 'Here Comes The Night') there was, of course, 'Gloria', which ...

Letter from Britain: Something Might Happen

Report by Ian MacDonald, Creem, November 1974

SITUATION UNCHANGED. Still hanging on in here, waiting for something to happen. (Wait — was that a heart-grazing lobe-grinder of a new single from Mick, ...

The Band's "Last Waltz": Winterland, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Stephen M H Braitman, Phonograph Record, December 1976

WHEN THE announcement came, 5,000 tickets at $25 each were sold out almost immediately. This was the final show, "The Last Waltz." The Band — ...

Van Morrison

Book Excerpt by David Dalton, Lenny Kaye, Rock 100, 1977

ON THE WALL OF HIS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA home, a note announces to friends and visitors that "Van Morrison the person only sometimes has anything to ...

Van Morrison: Jamming with George Benson

Report by Harvey Kubernik, Melody Maker, 9 April 1977

LOS ANGELES: VAN MORRISON made a rare TV appearance on the Midnight Special filmed last Monday at the NBC studios in Burbank. The show, which ...

Van Morrison: A Period Of Transition (Warner Bros)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 April 1977

A MOST DISTRESSING set of circumstances is what we have here. ...

Van Morrison: A Period Of Transition

Review by Bud Scoppa, Phonograph Record, May 1977

"It’s just what it is – it says what it is and nobody is going to analyze it for secret meanings. It’s exactly what it ...

An interview with Van Morrison

Interview by Ritchie Yorke, Stage Life, June 1977

HEAD THE HOLLYWOOD WHEELS westward along Sunset Blvd., out past the "Riot House" hotel, the Rainbow, the Roxy, the record company offices entwined on either ...

Van Morrison

Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 25 June 1977

EVERYONE calls him Van the Man. For reasons of symmetry, mainly; Van Morrison the Man as opposed to the Musician is pretty elusive. Vague slogans ...

Van Morrison: The Speakeasy, London

Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 2 July 1977

EVER LOOKED Dr John the night tripper straight in the eyes? Ever stood this close to Van the Man you can feel him breathe? ...

Van Morrison: A Period Of Transition and The Story Of Them

Review by John Morthland, Creem, August 1977

A Period of Transition is a disappointing album, and at first I thought it was mainly because after his nearly three years absence, I expected ...

Van Morrison: T.B. Sheets (Phonogram – Reissue)

Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 17 September 1977

IN WHICH Phonogram Records acquire the rights to Van Morrison's early BANG material and effectively re-issue an album called T.B. Sheets which Decca put out ...

Van Morrison: "Sam Cooke Still Turns Me On"

Interview by Davitt Sigerson, Sounds, 1 July 1978

A short and rather scruffy man, accompanied by a handsome L.A. Ethnic (tee-shirt, jeans, clean black moustache) is milling around Oxford on an afternoon characterised ...

Van Morrison (1979) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1979

This is a transcription of John's interview with Van. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Van Morrison: Astral Weeks

Essay by Lester Bangs, Stranded (ed. Greil Marcus), 1979

VAN MORRISON'S Astral Weeks was released ten years, almost to the day, before this was written. It was particularly important to me because the fall ...

Van Morrison: These Dreams of You (So Unreal, So Untrue)

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 3 February 1979

OUTSIDE THE ROYAL GARDEN HOTEL, a blizzard raged. Inside, snowflakes dripped and melted into the plush carpets. Waiters scurried while rich Americans and Arabs mulled ...

Van Morrison (part 1)

Interview by John Tobler, Blank Space, March 1979

Talking to Tobler ...

Van Morrison: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 3 March 1979

VAN MORRISON has a special kind of communication with his followers that is reserved for only a favoured few. It's not an hysterical or violent ...

Van Morrison: Whitla Hall, Belfast

Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979

FOR THE WAR children of Belfast, Van Morrison's homecoming after 12 years was an emotional celebration, creating an atmosphere in the Whitla Hall equal to ...

Van Morrison: When Irish Eyes are Scowling

Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 10 March 1979

"If you want me to sit here and talk about my emotions you've got to be out of your MIND!" ...

Van Morrison (part 2)

Interview by John Tobler, Blank Space, May 1979

IT WOULD BE shrewd to note at this point, the start of the second part of this documentary, that there is no intention here to ...

Van Morrison: Belfast to Belfast

Retrospective by Peter Silverton, Trouser Press, July 1979

IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO imagine someone further removed than Van Morrison from looking like a pop star or even a rock'n'roll artiste. It's not even like, ...

Van Morrison: Into The Music (Mercury)

Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 August 1979

CAN THIS BE coincidence? Three of rock's most vaunted troubadors choose the very same week to unveil their newest fare, their last of the spiritually ...

Van Morrison: Into The Music (Mercury)

Review by Ian Birch, Melody Maker, 25 August 1979

NOWADAYS, PEOPLE don't so much discover Van Morrison as grow old with him. ...

Van Morrison: Into The Music

Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 23 September 1979

LAST YEAR'S Wavelength may have dispelled lingering doubts about Van Morrison's creative talents, but it did so only at the expense of some of the ...

Van Morrison: Common One

Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, December 1980

ANYONE WHO CAN make the phrase "William Blake and the eternals" sound like the evocation of a metaphysical doo-wop group, as Van Morrison did on ...

Rock Returns to Holy Rolling

Essay by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 14 June 1981

ON SATURDAY nights in 1956, transistor radios in the hands of eager teenagers all over America shuddered with the sensual sound of Elvis Presley's 'Hound ...

Ted Templeman: Super Producer

Interview by David Gans, BAM, 1982

The super producer talks about Little Feat, Van Halen, the Doobies, and staying sane in a world of crazies. ...

Van Morrison: Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Michael Goldberg, Musician, February 1982

IF THIS was the National Enquirer, the headline on this piece, printed in tacky 48-point bold type, would read: VAN MORRISON FINDS GOD! POP STAR ...

Van Morrison breaks his silence (sort of)

Profile and Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 18 February 1982

The mystery man says he's no longer interested in the 'rock & rocll circus' ...

Van Morrison: AWESOME!!!

Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 27 March 1982

Van Morrison: The Dominion, London ...

Van Morrison: Beautiful Vision (Warner Bros.)

Review by Richard Riegel, Creem, June 1982

AND REMEMBER, CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS ...

Van Morrison: Odeon, Birmingham

Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, September 1983

I LOST VAN Morrison's wavelength on the album of the same name, and my feelings about the last four are decidedly mixed. This misanthropic mystic ...

Van Morrison: Live at the Grand Opera House, Belfast

Review by Rob Steen, Time Out, February 1984

VAN MORRISON'S second live recording, following a decade after his state-of-the-art It's Too Late To Stop Now, was recorded last year in his home town, ...

Van Morrison: Live At The Grand Opera House Belfast (Mercury)

Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 10 March 1984

AS SOMEONE not over-exposed to Van Morrison's music, this is an extremely useful record. It acts both as a good compilation album (all the songs ...

The Voice Squad

Overview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 12 January 1985

From the raw to the pure, from the sublime to the meticulous — BARNEY HOSKYNS sings the praises of 24 of music's most glorious voices. ...

Van Morrison: A Sense Of Wonder

Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, June 1985

ONE OF THE SMARTEST things Martin Scorsese did in The King Of Comedy was bracket it with songs by Ray Charles and Van Morrison. The ...

Van Morrison

Interview by Mick Brown, promo for 'No Guru, No Method, No Teacher', 1986

Musical Roots ...

Van Morrison: No Guru, No Method, No Teacher

Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 26 July 1986

ALTHOUGH VAN Morrison has long since ceased to surprise, there have been enough scattered moments throughout his recent work to point to a singer content ...

Van Morrison: The Pier, New York NY

Live Review by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 28 August 1986

STUBBORN SOUL: VAN MORRISON'S ERRATIC SHOW ...

Van Morrison: Live At Liverpool Empire.

Live Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 1987

"Didn’t I come to bring you a sense of wonder.Didn’t I come to lift your fiery vision brightDidn’t I come to bring you a sense ...

Van Morrison: "I’m not doing this because I want to be on Top Of The Pops."

Interview by Chris Salewicz, Q, January 1987

Van Morrison’s job is the pursuit of magic moments. All the rest – the touring, the recording, the interviews, the selling – is an irrelevance ...

Van Morrison: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 24 January 1987

NOT UNREASONABLY I've always associated middle-aged corpulence and material over-indulgence with the death of desire to develop; we witness the long drawn-out demise of our ...

Van Morrison: Poetic Champions Compose (PolyGram)

Review by Roy Trakin, Musician, November 1987

"IF MY HEART could do the thinking, and my head began to feel," pleads Van Morrison on a song from his latest album, a sentiment ...

Van Morrison: CD Reissues

Review by Robert Sandall, Q, September 1989

Earthy but out of this world: at last on CD, Van Morrison's swinging '70s. ...

Van Morrison: Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles

Live Review by Tim Riley, The Boston Phoenix, 27 April 1990

Soul to burn — the spirit moves Van Morrison ...

Van Morrison: Enlightenment

Review by Max Bell, Vox, November 1990

VAN MORRISON HAS TWO SONGS THESE DAYS. There is the casually crafted one which often climaxes with Van reciting the litany of great soul artistes ...

Van Morrison: Down Van's streets of dreams

Essay by Steve Turner, The Independent, 30 March 1991

Van Morrison's Belfast was full of religion, jazz and child-like visions. Steve Turner visits his haunts, where neighbours remember 'the shy boy' ...

Van Morrison: Hymns To The Silence

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, October 1991

QUINTESSENTIALLY quare maybe, but Van Morrison is certainly a worker. His third new album within 27 months weighs in at 95 minutes. For Van addicts ...

Peter Gabriel: World Party

Report by Johnny Black, Q, November 1991

One week this summer, Peter Gabriel's dream came true. Musicians of the world, from Sinead O'Connor and Van Morrison to stars of Lapland and Tanzania, ...

Van Morrison: The Great Hall, Exeter University

Live Review by Johnny Black, MOJO, April 1994

MAN. VAN. THE. UNTIL NOW THE ONLY WELL-KNOWN PHRASE or saying into which these three words could be re-assembled has been a synonym for irascible ...

Van Morrison: Days Like This (Polydor)

Review by Mark Cooper, Q, July 1995

Although Van Morrison has enjoyed unprecedented commercial success since signing to Polydor in 1989, in creative terms it has been an uncertain period for him. ...

You are invited to the Mercury Music Prize. Dress: tux. Behaviour: rock and roll. Nick Coleman is thrilled to bits

Report by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 14 September 1995

THIS YEAR'S identity branding of choice is the luminescent hospital wrist-tag you can't get off. It has supplanted the dangly laminate as the ligger/consumer's badge ...

Van Morrison with Georgie Fame and Friends: How Long Has This Been Going On (Verve) ****

Review by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 8 February 1996

ARETHA FRANKLIN AND VAN MORRISON are the best vocal improvisers of their generation, but neither can be accurately described as a jazz singer. When authentic ...

Verses I'm versus

Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 4 October 1996

Pop lyrics should be sung, not read out on the radio for pseuds to sneer at ...

Van Morrison: The Healing Game

Review by Susan Whitall, Houston Press, 27 February 1997

THE NEWS THAT there's a new Van Morrison CD out should be thrilling. But for some of us, there have been so many Morrison discs ...

Van Morrison: The Philosopher's Stone

Review by Gavin Martin, Uncut, June 1998

AS HE'S an artist soaked in mystique, renowned for a hard-headed approach to both his work and the business around it, expectations for this, Van ...

Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison at the Pauley Pavilion, UCLA, Los Angeles

Live Review by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, July 1998

Set List Van Morrison: Sweet Thing/You Make Me Feel So Free/Burning Ground/It Once Was My Life/Cleaning Windows/Vanlose Stairway/That's Life/Days Like This/Sometimes We Cry/Moondance/This Weight/Tupelo Honey/Why ...

Bishopstock 2001: Nina Simone and Van Morrison

Live Review by The Rev. Al Friston, Rock's Backpages, 1 September 2001

Two cantankerous legends hold court in the Devon sunshine ONE FESTIVAL, THREE DAYS, four major cancellations... and two obstreperous veterans doing their thang on Bank ...

Nothin' But A Stranger In This World: Van Morrison and Astral Weeks

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, November 2001

THE FITFUL BRITISH SUMMER of 2001 is ending not with a whimper but a bang – a burst of Bank Holiday heat that's got everyone ...

Van Morrison/Solomon Burke: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Gavin Martin, The Independent, 21 April 2003

THE POTENTIAL that the double bill offered for a soulman super summit was certainly enticing – Solomon Burke, the veteran preacherman from Philadelphia, and George ...

Van Morrison: Astral Weeks

Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 20 June 2004

RECORDED in New York over two days in 1968, Astral Weeks still sounds like nothing before or since. Unlike other classic albums, Pet Sounds, say, ...

Magic Time: Van the Man's New Lucky 13

Review and Interview by Gene Sculatti, ICE, May 2005

THE ARTIST who famously proclaimed It's Too Late to Stop Now means what he says. In 1974, when Van Morrison used the phrase for the ...

Van Morrison: Magic Time

Review by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 21 May 2005

AS 36TH ALBUMS go, Van Morrison's latest is a laid-back marvel. ...

Johnny Rogan: Van Morrison – No Surrender (Secker & Warburg)

Book Review by David Sinclair, The Guardian, 28 May 2005

Johnny Rogan supplies everything you wanted to know about Van Morrison – and even more that you didn't. David Sinclair digests an almost comically unflattering ...

Van Morrison: Into The Mystic

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, July 2005

For 40 years, his music has inspired and astonished. Yet he has remained a silent, enigmatic figure, shunning the media. Now, at long last, VAN ...

Rock of the Aged: Morrison, Gilmour, Davies, Fagen

Review by Steven Ward, Las Vegas Weekly, 23 March 2006

YOU KNOW WHAT Van Morrison, David Gilmour, Ray Davies and Donald Fagen have in common, besides their royal rank in rock geezerdom? They have new ...

Recycling Albums

Report by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 26 October 2008

Van Morrison's revival of Astral Weeks is the latest example of yesterday's cult LPs being turned into today's sell-out concerts. ...

Van Morrison: Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl (Listen to the Lion/EMI)

Review by Roy Trakin, Rock's Backpages, January 2009

FAR INTO THE post-apocalyptic future, long after people have holed up in their fallout shelters, emerging only to forage for what little edible green foodstuff ...

Van Morrison: Astral Weeks – Live at the Hollywood Bowl

Review by Steven R Rosen, Blurt, 18 February 2009

FIRST OF ALL, Van Morrison's Astral Weeks is rock's A Love Supreme. There's no way you could ever listen to its title song – a ...

Van Morrison: Astral Regrets

Comment by Rob Steen, Rock's Backpages, 4 March 2009

"DON'T BOTHER." The owner of Octave in Lewes High Street, my ever-so-friendly local record store (sincere apologies if that sounds as if I'm gloating over ...

Into the Mystic Again: Van Morrison, Them and Now

Comment by Archie Patterson, Rock's Backpages, 22 March 2009

"You've made a very happy man feel very old" – Van Morrison, November 2008 ...

Them: 'Baby Please Don't Go' (1965)

Book Excerpt by Greil Marcus, 'When That Rough God Goes Riding', June 2010

IN 1965, THEM'S 'Baby Please Don't Go'–usually cited as a rock 'n' roll update of a song first recorded by the Mississippi blues singer Joe ...

Van Morrison: The Healing Game (1997)

Book Excerpt by Greil Marcus, 'When That Rough God Goes Riding' , June 2010

THE BLACK-AND-WHITE photo that appears on the face of The Healing Game–and on the disc itself, and on the back of the CD box, insisting ...

Greil Marcus: Listening to Van Morrison

Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 6 June 2010

An appreciation of the best bits of Van the Man's career wisely concentrates on the sublime music, not the grouch who made it. ...

Van Morrison: Born To Sing: No Plan B

Review by Peter Stone Brown, CounterPunch, 12 October 2012

FOR VAN MORRISON, first and foremost, it's always been about the music, and finding that magic place inside the music that takes you someplace else, ...

How 'Gloria' Became the Ultimate Rock Anthem

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, 2017

'GLORIA', WRITTEN more than fifty years ago by Van Morrison for his band Them, is the simplest song. Just three chords – my musician friends ...

Van Morrison: Versatile

Review by Colin Irwin, MOJO, February 2018

After R&B covers album, Van pays homage to the great jazz songbook. ...

Van Morrison: The Prophet Speaks

Review by Stevie Chick, Metro, 4 December 2018

NOVEMBER MARKED the 50th anniversary of Van Morrison's masterpiece, Astral Weeks, but for the longest time, the artist formerly known as Van The Man might ...

Van Morrison: The Prophet Speaks (Caroline International)

Review by Stevie Chick, Metro, 4 December 2018

NOVEMBER MARKED the 50th anniversary of Van Morrison's masterpiece, Astral Weeks, but for the longest time, the artist formerly known as Van The Man might ...

Van Morrison: Electric Ballroom, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph, 6 September 2020

It's a sheer joy to watch live music again – and this was a vintage show from the 75-year-old legend as he rummaged in his ...

Johnny Rogan, 1953-2021

Obituary by Chris Charlesworth, Rock's Backpages, February 2021

MY GOOD FRIEND Johnny Rogan, who died unexpectedly in January aged 67, was among the most prolific and acclaimed music biographers of his generation. Much ...

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