live versions

August 26: Elvis Presley Released “Suspicious Minds” in 1969

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

elvis-presley-suspicious-minds-1969-6

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]We’re caught in a trap
I can’t walk out
Because I love you too much baby

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Recorded between four and seven in the morning, during the landmark Memphis session that helped return the King to his throne, “Suspicious Minds” — the final Number One single of his lifetime — is Presley’s masterpiece: He sings so intensely through the fade-out that his band returns for another minute of the tear-stained chorus.
~rollingstone.com[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Together with “Mystery Train” this is my favourite Elvis song.

Suspicious Minds:

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August 25: Bob Dylan released “Not Dark Yet” in 1997

Posted on by Egil Mosbron


[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]A lot of the songs (on Time Out Of Mind) were written after the sun went down . . This one phrase was going through my head: ‘Work while the day lasts, because the night of death cometh when no man can work … It wouldn’t let me go. I was like, what does that phrase mean? … It was at the forefront of my mind for a long period of time, and I think a lot of that is instilled into this record
~Bob Dylan to Jon Pareles, 1997

‘ Not Dark Yet ‘ is many folks’ favourite song on Dylan’s 1997 album, and for sure it pushes all the right buttons: a gorgeous vocal, a brooding melody, the darkling worldview and that seemingly effortless way he captured the dusk in his veins.
~Clinton Heylin (Still On The Road)[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Bob Dylan: 5 Brilliant live performances from the year 1980

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]PV: You’re not preaching to us?
Dylan: No, no I’m not… I’m not… I’m not (pause) I could do a little bit of this and a little bit of
that but right now I’m just content to play these shows. I don’t have, uh… this is a stage
show we’re doing, it’s not, uh, a salvation ceremony.
-Paul Vincent Interview, San Francisco – November 18, 1980[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

1980 Concerts

  • Second Gospel Tour
    • From January 11 – Portland, Oregon –> February 9 – Charleston, West Virginia
    • 24 Concerts
    • Only religious songs
  • 22nd Annual Grammy Award Ceremony
    • February 27 – Los Angeles, California
    • Gotta Server Somebody
  • Third Gospel Tour
    • From April 17 – Toronto, Canada –> May 21 – Dayton, Ohio
    • 29 concerts
    • Only religious songs
  • Musical Retrospective Tour
    • November 9 – San Francisco, California –> December 4 – Portland, Oregon
    • 19 concerts
    • Gradually more and more of his “old” songs began to infiltrate the setlists, the last show had about 50% non-religious songs
  • A total of 72 concerts

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Van Morrison – 5 Wonderful Live Versions of “And The Healing Has Begun”

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

 

And we’ll walk down the avenue again
And we’ll sing all the songs from way back when
And we’ll walk down the avenue again and the healing has begun

And we’ll walk down the avenue in style
And we’ll walk down the avenue and we’ll smile
And we’ll say “baby, ain’t it all worthwhile?” when the healing has begun

–

“It starts just like ‘Cyprus Avenue’, no coincidence as the line about ‘songs from way back when’ hints, and with a walk down the avenue (of dreams), to the sound of a haunted violin. A song of full, blazing sex as well as revelation. The healing here is like that in Arthurian myth, the wounded King restored through the action of the Holy Grail, but it is also through as graphic a seduction, almost, as the original live version of “Gloria”
-Brian Hinton (Celtic Crossroads)

This beauty was recorded at the Record Plant Studios in Sausalito, California in spring 1979. He has performed it live 274 times according to the brilliant website ivan.vanomatic.de.

Here are 5 lovely versions..

Live At The Oasis Centre – Putting The Boot In – Swindon – 1999:

I want you to put on your pretty summer dress
You can wear your Easter bonnet and all the rest
And I want to make love to you yes, yes, yes, when the healing has begun

Louder, when the healing has begun
So good
Whoo
All right, whoo
Yeah
Aah
Whoo

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Van Morrison – 3 brilliant versions of “Carrickfergus”

Posted on by Egil Mosbron


[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]I wished I had you in Carrickfergus
Only for nights in Ballygrand
I would swim over the deepest ocean
The deepest ocean to be by your side[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

“Carrickfergus” is an Irish folk song, named after the town of Carrickfergus in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was first recorded, under the name “The Kerry Boatman”, by Dominic Behan on an LP called “The Irish Rover”, released in 1965.

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Van Morrison has performed “Carrickfergus” 86 times live (1988, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2002 & 2003) – top year was 1989 with 31 performances.

I love this song, and no one does it better than Van Morrison. Here are three brilliant versions.

From the album “Irish Heartbeat” w/The Chieftains:

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Van Morrison: 4 Great Live Versions of His Brilliant “Orangefield”

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]On a gold autumn day
You came my way in Orangefield
Saw you standing by the riverside in Orangefield
How I love you then in Orangefield
Like I love you now in Orangefield[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

This great song from the album Avalon Sunset (1989) was first performed live May 18, 1989 (Swansea, Wales), and last time VM played it in concert was August 24, 2014 (Orangefield High School,
Belfast). It has been performed 92 times live, mostly in 1989 & 1990.

Here are 4 great versions…

Stadtpark Freilichtbühne, Hamburg, Germany
June 4, 1989

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