Wish you all the best! Thanks for these uploads! I’m 37 and found Van Morrison this year. I haven’t listened to anything else and have found a spiritual healing through his music. It’s crazy. My dad passed in July and his music has helped me through so far. My fav song here is haunts of ancient peace. That solo is too much!! Great list full of fantastic Van songs!
Thanks Lemon Ninja. Sorry to hear about your Dad passing - sounds like he had great taste in music. Although Van produced his most critically acclaimed albums in the 60s and 70s, he has continued to write, record and perform great songs right through to the present. I'm looking forward to his new album due out next week
@@VinylMonkey58 yeah it’s been a real challenging time. Van has healed me and continues to do so. I feel like his music is a journey and I’m enjoying every moment of it. Would love to talk to you about it sometime. Do you have a twitter or instagram?
Had been looking forward to this episode, but had not foreseen that it would come with such sad news! Get well, friend! And thanks for another great video 🍻
Great video Mal. I don’t have enough Morrison in my collection. Will be sending good thoughts your way in the coming days. I was diagnosed with Stage IV bladder cancer in 2001., and against the odds I’m still kicking. Strong family and friends gets you through. Cheers mate.
Hi Mal, great stuff! I haven’t listened to VM in a while, but you’ve made me want to do so. I thought initially I haven’t got many of his 80’s albums but I’ve got about half of those tbh. Sorry to hear your bad news Mal I hope everything goes well for you, and yes great message about the importance of getting things checked out I think we’re all guilty of overlooking such things. F*cking hell Van dressed as Zorro peeping through a hedge cracked me up! 😂 Take care mate cheers PS I hope you’ll be doing a top 10 of the 90’s a few of my favourite VM songs are from that period.
@@VinylMonkey58 just listened to ‘Back on Top’ for the first time in a while off the back of this. I played that album to death back when it came out in 1999 - sheesh is that really 24 years ago ?! 😳
Wonderful selection Mr Monkey....as I watched the video it made me realise I hadn't played some of these fantastic records in a long while, something i will rectify in the coming days. The Beautiful Vision record is a real jewel for me, the first Van song that caught my ear was Cleaning Windows (which i heard on a radio review show called round table) mainly because right over the road from me was a bakery ! (Sparks Bakery in Stockton if you know it) as you know Van sings "the smell of the bakery from across the street" and just that line got me hooked on this great artists music for life. Rave on Vinyl Monkey !!
Cheers John-you mean the Sparks Bakery that is now posh flats. Yes I know it-my brother lives nearby. Shame your great record shop in Stockton has closed following the death of its proprietor
Loving this rundown VM. As I highlighted in my 80s Van albums list, my older brothers and I finally caught Van live last year. He closed the show with In the Garden and it was instantly one of the five grandest live song performances I've ever seen. I linked a video someone in the audience made that evening and uploaded under my breakdown. I'm 48 so I'm taking that health advice to heart. On that note, it kind of blew my mind thinking about you getting Common One on the day it came out!
Haha - I was 21 years old and working at Hartlepool Steelworks when that came out. One of the factors that brought British Steel to its knees (alongside Thatcherite policies,American management, rampant economic globalisation, a national strike, and lack of orders) was that I spent around 75% of the working week reading the print off the NME, Sounds, and Melody Maker.By then I'd accumulated all Van Morrisons albums after seeing him on the OGWT in, I think 73/74?
Keep your chin up, VM, keep engaging with the culture. (I don;t mean politics or even anything necessarily happening now, but the music you come across & the books you read & the films you recall. That's what I do.) Some stories around the VC of survivors in remission from the big C who are quite Out about it. Latest I heard of is Sue spouse of Rachel's Ghost in remission & going strong. Talking about films, met my fave comic actor Gene Wilder in London in 1997, wonderful guy: he had a cold, or what he thought was a cold. Later I remembered how Tony Wilson had a cold that wouldn't quit so Wilson finally went to the docs, it was a symptom of the big C but diagnosed too late. So goes Gene Wilder and his cold, diagnosed immediately after we met - - but whatever they did in hospital, it worked: Gene lived for years after, developed a writing career and turned out to be a fine writer, did some more TV episodes and interviews: and even after retiring, the remission held firm. Gene Wilder eventually died, sure but from Alzheimer's. I suppose if we live long enough even with an indestructible constitution something will have a go at us, even if it's a bus while we're crossing the road... 15:15 That "spiritual heart of England in Avalon" you relate to Van Morrison is also what Orson Welles said he was tapping into with his Shakespeare films, especially CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT. Welles said even if no such Merrie England ever existed, the root myth is nonetheless profound enough to transcend the centuries. O - this is important VM: Take Vitamin D tablets every day. Even if you have vitamin D in your food, take Vit D tablets every day anyway. Your supermarket has them and they are surprisingly cheap, but Vitamin D tablets can make all the difference.
1- Haunts of Ancient Peace, '80 2 - Across The Bridge Where Angels Dwell, '82 3 - In The Garden, '86 4 - Rave On, John Donne, '83 5- Let The Slave/The Price of Experience, '84 6 - Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child, '87 7 - Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart No 2, '83 8 - When Heart Is Open, '80 9 - Orangefield, '89 10 - She Moved Through The Fair, '88
Cheers Tony -all great tracks. I also would have included 'motherless child', except VM didn't write the lyrics, and I only wanted to include songs he'd written
Hope there is improvement in the PC issue... loved it... had no doubt what #1 would be... will have to watch the live gigs, too... Thank you... and appreciate the heads up...
On being a C***. The word which shall not be uttered on here. Of all the words we have at our disposal, this little jewel has yet to be surpassed when it comes to being the go-to expletive - the one we turn to when nothing else will do. However it can be enhanced, tuned, tweaked or, maybe, even softened, by the addition of a well placed and thoughtfully deployed adjective. The adjective, of course must be prefixed, allowing our unrivalled descriptor to shine and to resonate. To penetrate. Shortlisting potential candidates has been achieved courtesy of decades of use. It’s between: TOTAL, ABSOLUTE & COMPLETE. Honourable mentions, perhaps, to: PROPER, IGNORANT (too precise and therefore not sufficiently all encompassing) and MASSIVE. None pass muster, though having their uses. So it’s between the big boys. T, A or C. The employment of any of them does improve impact. Total, is punchy/pithy/succinct. Absolute has the advantage of the additional syllable, thus allowing the user some additional grimace time (try it). But it is the alliterative qualities of ‘complete’ that gives it the edge and allows the user to deploy this most potent of hate-laced invective at its lethal best. Which is why both Matt Malloy and me are sticking with ‘CC’ as the best possible description for the venerated VM. Great vid, Mal, as always.
Thanks Colin for your superb lexicological analysis of one word in a 17 minute monologue - a word which didn't relate to any of the top 10 songs, but to one view of the relationships within a project that involved the production of the only album of the decade which didn't feature any song in my top 10. Any persons view of VMs personality or their personal relationship with him doesn't in my view detract one iota from his place as one of the greatest songwriters and singers of the last 60 years. As ever though-your comments very funny and very welcome
@@VinylMonkey58To reflect, seriously, on the musical content of your outstanding content would require several seismic shifts regarding my, predominantly, rambling responses. 1. I’d have to know what I was talking about. Never a strong point, so not a hill I wish to climb. 2. I’d need to be balanced and reasonable in my commentary. Please refer to issues concerning No 1. 3. As for number 3, were I to comply, it would require that I, publicly, perform a volteface of biblical proportions, in that I would have to acknowledge the creative prowess of so many of the musicians you clearly love and, justifiably, admire - not least of all, VM. And if you think I’m going to do that you’ve in for a very long wait. May bigotry and prejudice reign ad infinitum. PS. Eric Dolphy will always be shite.
Nah, too many consonants and too much alliteration. 'A proper c***' gives it the ring of authenticity, entitlement and membership. Runner-up: 'What a c***' adds consideration !
The one who makes an effort to classify Van Morrison's music embarks himself on an impossible task! You can not rank between excellence, magnificence, outstanding, perfection, etc....
Cheers David-thanks for taking the time to watch and comment. You're absolutely right of course-an impossible task. If I repeated the task every week of the year I could come up with 50 different lists. Just a bit of craic and an excuse to listen to and talk about VM.
You picked the eyes out of the 80s albums pretty well. I would agree with all of your choices, although I might find a spot for Allan Watts Blues which I think is one of Van’s best songs in a commercial vein. Very sorry to hear about your cancer diagnosis, but with the treatments available today I’m sure you’ll pull through.
Best to you with your health challenges. My top ten, without comment or order of preference (I love them all) -These are the Days (Avalon) - Carrickfergus (Chieftains) - Forgot that Love Existed (Poetic Champions) - One Irish Rover (Guru) - Boffyflow & Spike (Sense of Wonder) - River of Time (Inarticulate) - Scandinavia (Vision) - Alan Watts Blues- Cloud Hidden (Poetic) - Contacting My Angel (Avalon) - Celtic Ray (Vision) - When Will I Ever Learn (Avalon) If you ask me next week, I could give you another top ten. I loved this era for Van Morrison. Get well soon.
Thanks for the best wishes Ed-much appreciated. Yours is a great list. I agree-if I repeated the exercise every day for a week, it would probably always be different
Great! We have the same favourite track! But I do not have all LP's from the 80's only "Avalon sunset" and "No guru..." I guess I have a lot to discover. Good reminder about the prostate check and I hope the doctors can help you with your bad cells. ❤
Is it an accident that your channel's initials are the same as Van's? Coney Island and Rave On, John Donne are among my favorites. Looking forward to your selections from the 90s, 2000s, etc. Cheers!
Before I comment Mal, may I wish you all the best for the coming weeks and months. Online friends who have never met but we feel we know them because they're just like us. Anyway, glad to see you've taken that shirt back to the charity shop. It really didn't suit you and I was worried about you being seen out in Hartlepool wearing that. Van made some fantastic music in the '80s and your choices would be very similar to mine. I'd only disagree with your number one. It's a powerful refrain but I don't think it's one of his best vocals. Summertime in England though is sublime, and easily number one for me. It ain't why, why, why, why, why, why, why...it just is.
Wish you all the best! Thanks for these uploads! I’m 37 and found Van Morrison this year. I haven’t listened to anything else and have found a spiritual healing through his music. It’s crazy. My dad passed in July and his music has helped me through so far. My fav song here is haunts of ancient peace. That solo is too much!! Great list full of fantastic Van songs!
Thanks Lemon Ninja. Sorry to hear about your Dad passing - sounds like he had great taste in music. Although Van produced his most critically acclaimed albums in the 60s and 70s, he has continued to write, record and perform great songs right through to the present. I'm looking forward to his new album due out next week
@@VinylMonkey58 yeah it’s been a real challenging time. Van has healed me and continues to do so. I feel like his music is a journey and I’m enjoying every moment of it. Would love to talk to you about it sometime. Do you have a twitter or instagram?
Had been looking forward to this episode, but had not foreseen that it would come with such sad news! Get well, friend! And thanks for another great video 🍻
Thanks Gyron -your kind words are much appreciated
Van morrison fan here 1964-2024AD
Great video Mal. I don’t have enough Morrison in my collection. Will be sending good thoughts your way in the coming days. I was diagnosed with Stage IV bladder cancer in 2001., and against the odds I’m still kicking. Strong family and friends gets you through. Cheers mate.
Thanks for those kind and encouraging words vm
Hi Mal, great stuff! I haven’t listened to VM in a while, but you’ve made me want to do so. I thought initially I haven’t got many of his 80’s albums but I’ve got about half of those tbh. Sorry to hear your bad news Mal I hope everything goes well for you, and yes great message about the importance of getting things checked out I think we’re all guilty of overlooking such things. F*cking hell Van dressed as Zorro peeping through a hedge cracked me up! 😂 Take care mate cheers
PS I hope you’ll be doing a top 10 of the 90’s a few of my favourite VM songs are from that period.
No pressure then - hope we might concur on at least some of them. Thanks for the kind wishes
@@VinylMonkey58 just listened to ‘Back on Top’ for the first time in a while off the back of this. I played that album to death back when it came out in 1999 - sheesh is that really 24 years ago ?! 😳
I love your list of songs here. Mine would be slightly different but those songs are amazing. The 80s might also be my favorite Van-decade.
Wonderful selection Mr Monkey....as I watched the video it made me realise I hadn't played some of these fantastic records in a long while, something i will rectify in the coming days. The Beautiful Vision record is a real jewel for me, the first Van song that caught my ear was Cleaning Windows (which i heard on a radio review show called round table) mainly because right over the road from me was a bakery ! (Sparks Bakery in Stockton if you know it) as you know Van sings "the smell of the bakery from across the street" and just that line got me hooked on this great artists music for life. Rave on Vinyl Monkey !!
Cheers John-you mean the Sparks Bakery that is now posh flats. Yes I know it-my brother lives nearby. Shame your great record shop in Stockton has closed following the death of its proprietor
Loving this rundown VM. As I highlighted in my 80s Van albums list, my older brothers and I finally caught Van live last year. He closed the show with In the Garden and it was instantly one of the five grandest live song performances I've ever seen. I linked a video someone in the audience made that evening and uploaded under my breakdown. I'm 48 so I'm taking that health advice to heart. On that note, it kind of blew my mind thinking about you getting Common One on the day it came out!
Haha - I was 21 years old and working at Hartlepool Steelworks when that came out. One of the factors that brought British Steel to its knees (alongside Thatcherite policies,American management, rampant economic globalisation, a national strike, and lack of orders) was that I spent around 75% of the working week reading the print off the NME, Sounds, and Melody Maker.By then I'd accumulated all Van Morrisons albums after seeing him on the OGWT in, I think 73/74?
We learnt so much reading the music press. Kids miss out on that these days.@@VinylMonkey58
Keep your chin up, VM, keep engaging with the culture. (I don;t mean politics or even anything necessarily happening now, but the music you come across & the books you read & the films you recall. That's what I do.) Some stories around the VC of survivors in remission from the big C who are quite Out about it. Latest I heard of is Sue spouse of Rachel's Ghost in remission & going strong.
Talking about films, met my fave comic actor Gene Wilder in London in 1997, wonderful guy: he had a cold, or what he thought was a cold. Later I remembered how Tony Wilson had a cold that wouldn't quit so Wilson finally went to the docs, it was a symptom of the big C but diagnosed too late. So goes Gene Wilder and his cold, diagnosed immediately after we met - - but whatever they did in hospital, it worked: Gene lived for years after, developed a writing career and turned out to be a fine writer, did some more TV episodes and interviews: and even after retiring, the remission held firm.
Gene Wilder eventually died, sure but from Alzheimer's. I suppose if we live long enough even with an indestructible constitution something will have a go at us, even if it's a bus while we're crossing the road...
15:15 That "spiritual heart of England in Avalon" you relate to Van Morrison is also what Orson Welles said he was tapping into with his Shakespeare films, especially CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT. Welles said even if no such Merrie England ever existed, the root myth is nonetheless profound enough to transcend the centuries.
O - this is important VM: Take Vitamin D tablets every day. Even if you have vitamin D in your food, take Vit D tablets every day anyway. Your supermarket has them and they are surprisingly cheap, but Vitamin D tablets can make all the difference.
1- Haunts of Ancient Peace, '80
2 - Across The Bridge Where Angels Dwell, '82
3 - In The Garden, '86
4 - Rave On, John Donne, '83
5- Let The Slave/The Price of Experience, '84
6 - Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child, '87
7 - Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart No 2, '83
8 - When Heart Is Open, '80
9 - Orangefield, '89
10 - She Moved Through The Fair, '88
Cheers Tony -all great tracks. I also would have included 'motherless child', except VM didn't write the lyrics, and I only wanted to include songs he'd written
Fantastic list. I'm gonna think on my list and post here but I know Orangefield will be on there.
Orangefield a great song-maybe didn't include as I was trying to get a spread across the decade@@hillbillypillars
GOEIE KEUS!!!😎😎
Hope there is improvement in the PC issue... loved it... had no doubt what #1 would be... will have to watch the live gigs, too... Thank you... and appreciate the heads up...
Cheers Gerard-thanks for kind comment. I've had the op and so far so good as they say
On being a C***. The word which shall not be uttered on here.
Of all the words we have at our disposal, this little jewel has yet to be surpassed when it comes to being the go-to expletive - the one we turn to when nothing else will do. However it can be enhanced, tuned, tweaked or, maybe, even softened, by the addition of a well placed and thoughtfully deployed adjective. The adjective, of course must be prefixed, allowing our unrivalled descriptor to shine and to resonate. To penetrate. Shortlisting potential candidates has been achieved courtesy of decades of use. It’s between: TOTAL, ABSOLUTE & COMPLETE. Honourable mentions, perhaps, to: PROPER, IGNORANT (too precise and therefore not sufficiently all encompassing) and MASSIVE. None pass muster, though having their uses. So it’s between the big boys. T, A or C. The employment of any of them does improve impact. Total, is punchy/pithy/succinct. Absolute has the advantage of the additional syllable, thus allowing the user some additional grimace time (try it). But it is the alliterative qualities of ‘complete’ that gives it the edge and allows the user to deploy this most potent of hate-laced invective at its lethal best. Which is why both Matt Malloy and me are sticking with ‘CC’ as the best possible description for the venerated VM. Great vid, Mal, as always.
Thanks Colin for your superb lexicological analysis of one word in a 17 minute monologue - a word which didn't relate to any of the top 10 songs, but to one view of the relationships within a project that involved the production of the only album of the decade which didn't feature any song in my top 10. Any persons view of VMs personality or their personal relationship with him doesn't in my view detract one iota from his place as one of the greatest songwriters and singers of the last 60 years. As ever though-your comments very funny and very welcome
@@VinylMonkey58To reflect, seriously, on the musical content of your outstanding content would require several seismic shifts regarding my, predominantly, rambling responses. 1. I’d have to know what I was talking about. Never a strong point, so not a hill I wish to climb. 2. I’d need to be balanced and reasonable in my commentary. Please refer to issues concerning No 1. 3. As for number 3, were I to comply, it would require that I, publicly, perform a volteface of biblical proportions, in that I would have to acknowledge the creative prowess of so many of the musicians you clearly love and, justifiably, admire - not least of all, VM. And if you think I’m going to do that you’ve in for a very long wait. May bigotry and prejudice reign ad infinitum. PS. Eric Dolphy will always be shite.
Nah, too many consonants and too much alliteration. 'A proper c***' gives it the ring of authenticity, entitlement and membership. Runner-up: 'What a c***' adds consideration !
@@PhilBaird1 Yes, Phil, good points well made. I may have to reconsider my criteria. Thank you.
Thanks Colin. Loved your post. Even Homer would've smiled at that one.@@colinwhite5355
When VM was inducted in the Rock Hall of Fame, he ignored them!!!
Literally, he flipped them the bird by doing that!!!
The one who makes an effort to classify Van Morrison's music embarks himself on an impossible task!
You can not rank between excellence, magnificence, outstanding, perfection, etc....
Cheers David-thanks for taking the time to watch and comment. You're absolutely right of course-an impossible task. If I repeated the task every week of the year I could come up with 50 different lists. Just a bit of craic and an excuse to listen to and talk about VM.
Coney Island is my favourite VM song.
Cheers John -thanks for watching and taking the time to comment
You picked the eyes out of the 80s albums pretty well. I would agree with all of your choices, although I might find a spot for Allan Watts Blues which I think is one of Van’s best songs in a commercial vein. Very sorry to hear about your cancer diagnosis, but with the treatments available today I’m sure you’ll pull through.
Cheers Richard -your positive words appreciated
Best to you with your health challenges.
My top ten, without comment or order of preference (I love them all)
-These are the Days (Avalon)
- Carrickfergus (Chieftains)
- Forgot that Love Existed (Poetic Champions)
- One Irish Rover (Guru)
- Boffyflow & Spike (Sense of Wonder)
- River of Time (Inarticulate)
- Scandinavia (Vision)
- Alan Watts Blues- Cloud Hidden (Poetic)
- Contacting My Angel (Avalon)
- Celtic Ray (Vision)
- When Will I Ever Learn (Avalon)
If you ask me next week, I could give you another top ten. I loved this era for Van Morrison.
Get well soon.
Thanks for the best wishes Ed-much appreciated. Yours is a great list. I agree-if I repeated the exercise every day for a week, it would probably always be different
Great! We have the same favourite track! But I do not have all LP's from the 80's only "Avalon sunset" and "No guru..." I guess I have a lot to discover. Good reminder about the prostate check and I hope the doctors can help you with your bad cells. ❤
Thanks Martin - your comment much appreciated
Is it an accident that your channel's initials are the same as Van's? Coney Island and Rave On, John Donne are among my favorites. Looking forward to your selections from the 90s, 2000s, etc. Cheers!
Thanks JNebs for taking the time to comment, and yes just a coincidence - Vinyl Monkey (Malcolm)
Before I comment Mal, may I wish you all the best for the coming weeks and months. Online friends who have never met but we feel we know them because they're just like us. Anyway, glad to see you've taken that shirt back to the charity shop. It really didn't suit you and I was worried about you being seen out in Hartlepool wearing that. Van made some fantastic music in the '80s and your choices would be very similar to mine. I'd only disagree with your number one. It's a powerful refrain but I don't think it's one of his best vocals. Summertime in England though is sublime, and easily number one for me. It ain't why, why, why, why, why, why, why...it just is.