Van Morrison / Myths And Legends 1968 - 1999
1968 - 1979
01 Sweet Thing / Astral Weeks November 1968
02 The Way Young Lovers Do / Astral Weeks November 1968
03 And It Stoned Me / Moondance March 1970
04 Into The Mystic / Moondance March 1970
05 Crazy Face / His Band And The Street Choir November 1970
06 Tupelo Honey / Tupelo Honey October 1971
07 Saint Dominic’s Preview / Saint Dominic’s Preview July 1972
08 Redwood Tree / Saint Dominic’s Preview July 1972
09 Not Supposed To Break Down / Originally Unreleased Recorded 1972
10 Hard Nose The Highway / Hard Nose The Highway August 1973
11 Caravan / It’s Too Late To Stop Now February 1974
12 Linden Arden Stole The Highlights / Veedon Fleece October 1974
13 Bulbs / Veedon Fleece October 1974
14 Joyous Sound / A Period Of Transition April 1977
15 Natalia / Wavelength October 1978
16 Full Force Gale / Into The Music August 1979
17 And The Healing Has Begun / Into The Music August 1979
1980 - 1999
01 Satisfied / Common One September 1980
02 Cleaning Windows / Beautiful Vision February 1982
03 Wonderful Remark / King Of Comedy Soundtrack February 1983
04 Rave On John Donne / Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart March 1983
05 Tore Down A La Rimbaud / A Sense Of Wonder February 1985
06 In The Garden / No Guru No Method No Teacher July 1986
07 Alan Watts Blues / Poetic Champions Compose September 1997
08 Carrickfergus / Irish Heartbeat June 1988
09 I’m Tired Joey Boy / Avalon Sunset May 1989
10 These Are The Days / Avalon Sunset May 1989
11 In The Days Before Rock ‘n’ Roll / Enlightenment October 1990
12 I’m Not Feeling It Anymore / Hymns To The Silence September 1991
13 Ball And Chain / Too Long In Exile June 1993
14 Days Like This / Days Like This June 1995
15 Piper At The Gates Of Dawn / The Healing Game March 1997
16 Philosophers Stone / Back On Top March 1999
When my 23 year old soldier son was shot and killed by a sniper in Afghanistan, he had already requested ‘Philosophers Stone’ be played as his coffin was carried from the church into the light and the clapping crowds. The poignancy of that moment will never leave those who witnessed it but it also made me realise just how much Van Morrison had penetrated the very fabric of my family’s life. And yet, like many true fanatics, I came to Van Morrison late in life, so late in fact that he had recorded all but one of the albums here.
I first heard some of his songs back in the mid 70’s, ‘Caravan’ from It’s Too Late To Stop Now being a particular favourite on one of our better schoolboy mix tapes. But my true obsession didn’t start until the spring of 1997. Intoxicated by the giddy thrill of new love, after a decade in the doldrums I had a lust for life like never before. Suddenly, off the back of two Best Of collections, Van Morrison’s songs seemed to make a lot more sense. Obsessions tend to be things you grow out of but this was definitely one I grew into.
Over the years he’s been called everything, from Van The Man to the Belfast Cowboy, but in reality he’s always been Van the Miserable Git with a belligerent streak as wide as the Irish Sea. Never one to court popularity, he has always regarded his music as a sacrosanct vocation rather than a quest for celebrity. Consequently he’s strived to live as far from 21st Century celebrity bullshit as he can get and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Of course some people believe he has spent the last forty years trying to better Astral Weeks, his first proper solo LP and acknowledged classic. I’ve never believed that because although it was certainly a milestone it’s not even his finest work, not by a long shot. As far as I’m concerned that honour goes to St Dominic’s Preview, but ask me next week and I might say Veedon Fleece or Moondance or Into The Music. Van’s seventies work alone surpasses what most artists achieve in a lifetime. When I listen to songs like ‘Into The Mystic’, ‘Not Supposed To Break Down’, ‘In The Garden’, ‘I’m Tired Joey Boy’ or ‘Philosophers Stone’ I get a sense of peace, completeness and in more recent years, sadness, that’s just impossible to quantify or understand. Some might even call it spiritual.
May 2012
