May 19: Van Morrison released Avalon Sunset in 1989

avalon-sunset

May 19: Van Morrison released Avalon Sunset in 1989

“You have to remember that writing those sorta songs is not reality, it’s more like trance, dream, y’know, like dreamwork. The mythical thing can enter the creating but there’s the mythical place and the real place. And there’s both…I get it between waking and sleeping. Or, when I’m doing something else. I don’t sit down and think I’m gonna write about subject X or subject Y. I could be doing something and an impression comes in from outside and the song emerges out of that. It’s never thought about or contrived.”
– Van Morrison (NME, 1989)

Avalon Sunset is the nineteenth studio album by Van Morrison, it was released May 19, 1989. It is one his finest!

It is not on Spotify, but let us go through the album song by song.

The album opens with “Whenever God Shines His Light“, issued as a successful single that charted at #20 in the U.K. and was a duet with Cliff Richard.

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Van Morrison live in Belfast February 20, 1979 (full concert)

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Van Morrison live in Belfast February 20, 1979

Van Morrison in Ireland is the first official video by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1981 of a concert Morrison recorded in Northern Ireland two years earlier. The video also shows footage of the band whilst touring in Ireland and images of Belfast, including Hyndford Street and Cyprus Avenue.

“The band display a range of textures reminiscent of The Caledonia Soul Orchestra, first with the dark resonance of Toni Marcus’ violin, then Pat Kyle’s bright sharp tenor sax and finally Bobby Tench’s prickly electric guitar”.
– Tony Stewart (NME)

This concert featured the band with which Morrison recorded his 1978 album Wavelength, augmented by a horn section and violinist. The concert included two songs from Wavelength, the title track and “Checkin’ It Out”. The rest of the songs had originally been recorded at least seven years earlier, the latest of these being “Saint Dominic’s Preview” from 1972. Also on the video are two songs Morrison had recorded when fronting the band Them in the mid 1960s — “Don’t Look Back” and “Gloria”.

Highlight: A funky as hell rendition of I’ve been working

Almost 57 minutes of Van Morrison in top form! :

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Classic concert: Van Morrison Capitol Theatre Oct 6, 1979

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Classic concert: Van Morrison Capitol Theatre Oct 6 1979

The Capitol Theatre was an entertainment venue located at the intersection of Monroe Street and Central Avenue in Passaic, New Jersey. Built in 1926 as a vaudeville house, the Capitol later served as a movie theater (in its later years a XXX movie theatre) and (after John Scher bought the property) a venue for rock concerts.

Throughout the 1970s and into the mid-1980s, the 3,200 seat theatre was a popular stop on nearly every major rock artist’s tour. The venue was known for its in house video system which resulted in a number of good quality, black and white video bootlegs. After it closed, the building fell into disrepair and it was demolished in April 1991.

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Video of the day: Van Morrison – Cyprus Avenue

From Wikipedia:

Cyprus Avenue” is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1968 album Astral Weeks. In performance it was a concert highlight and closer for years to come and would end with Morrison’s command, “It’s too late to stop now!” as he stalked from the stage. A dynamic 10 minute version with the usual stop-start ending was included on his 1974 live album, It’s Too Late To Stop Now.

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Jan 21: Them Again by Them was released in 1966

Them Again is the second album by Them, lead by singer and songwriter Van Morrison. The album was released by Decca Records in the UK on 21 January 1966 but it failed to chart. In the U.S. it was released in April 1966 where it peaked at #138 on the Billboard charts.

Released 21 January 1966 (UK), April 1966 (USA)
Genre Rock
Length 48:21Decca (UK), Parrot PA 61008; PAS 71008 (USA)
Producer Tommy Scott

It’s a great record and often overlooked and unfavourably compared to Them’s debut. It is allmost as good. You owe it to yourself to check it out.

Two of the original Van Morrison songs included on the album, “My Lonely Sad Eyes” and “Hey Girl”, can be seen as precursors to the poetic musings of Morrison’s later Astral Weeks album, released in 1968. “My Lonely Sad Eyes” begins with the words, “Fill me my cup, and I’ll drink your sparkling wine/Pretend that everything is fine, ’til I see your sad eyes.” The title implies that the sad eyes belong to the singer but the lyrics address the singer’s love interest. It reminds me of Rolling Stones at their most soulful.

My Lonely Sad Eyes:

The song “Hey Girl” has a pastoral feel to it, enhanced by the addition of flutes and in Brian Hinton’s opinion is a “dry run for ‘Cyprus Avenue'” from Astral Weeks.

Hey Girl:

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Jan 4: Van Morrison and Chieftains released Irish Heartbeat in 1988

Irish Heartbeat is the eighteenth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and is a collaboration with the traditional Irish musical group The Chieftains, released in 1988. The album was recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, Ireland and reached number 18 in the UK album charts.

The album was recorded on dates from September to December 1987 and in January 1988. The Chieftains and Van Morrison had met years before at the Edinburgh rock festival. They joined up in Belfast during Morrison’s No Guru tour and afterwards, Morrison and Paddy Moloney discussed recording an album together during a walk. They each had a list of songs and reached a consensus to cover two of Morrison’s previously released tracks (the title track was one) and the rest from traditional Irish songs.

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