Van Morrison

muncybob

The Mrs. has one of the few albums of his on her wish list. Got me to wondering what some of Van's fans would consider to be his best work....and which ones would not get more than 1 play?

OleBoot

I grew up with his early stuff like Astral Weeks, Moondance etc. and thought he was good, but not a hero of mine. I had an Irish friend in the 70's that thought he was God. I did get into his much later stuff, however, and Enlightenment (around 1990) remains one of my favorite albums. Another sort of hidden gem that I like a lot is a one off collaboration album with Brit/Irish skiffle artist Lonnie Donegan and trad jazz trombonist Chris Barber on The Skiffle Sessions (2000) - recorded live with great takes on old 1950's skiffle and even a Van Morrison guitar solo !

Emlyn

"The Essential Van Morrison" is a two disc CD best of for $14. Could start there to get a sense of what songs are most appealing from different periods then look for the separate albums those songs are on. His style of music has evolved over time but the core of it hasn't changed all that much.

He refused to have most of his albums remastered and released on CD so some are very difficult to find now. That complicates things! The album "His Band and the Street Choir" is the third of the best early three along with Astral Weeks and Moondance. Something like "Tupelo Honey" is hard to find. I've always like "Poetic Champions Compose" from the 1980s period but good luck finding that on CD new.

But, all of his material appears to be available on Qobuz with a lot of it available for purchase and download in 24/96 high res versions.

https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/poetic-champions-compose-van-morrison/0886445370843

agingboomer

Astral Weeks and Moondance continue to be among my all-time favorites. Common One is rising in my estimation (listening to it now). And Veedon Fleece ranks very high for its mysterious, mystical, and moving atmosphere.

As far as least favorites . . . any of his works are worth more than one play, and they all reveal new pleasures on repeated listens. Blowin' Your Mind! (first solo album) may be fairly considered his worst, but it does contain "Brown-Eyed Girl," so there's that.

@muncybob, I have about 30 of his albums on vinyl and CD and even cassette, so I am curious to know what your Mrs. has on her list and why you say "one of the few albums of his."

mhardy6647

Astral Weeks is an astonishing album. Maybe not ideal for @muncybob's 'use case' -- but... astonishing.

There are a few of his "greatest hits" albums here, but they all disappoint me on their track selections, so I don't have one to recommend.

Practically speaking, I'd probably say Moondance -- but mostly because my favorite Van Morrison song (Into the Mystic) is on it.

Emlyn

agingboomer wrote: »

I have about 30 of his albums on vinyl and CD and even cassette, so I am curious to know what your Mrs. has on her list and why you say "one of the few albums of his."

Same here with the number of albums of his I have. I tend to kick back and relax and listen to whole albums, or sides of albums on vinyl, from him rather than individual songs.

muncybob

One of the few was meant to read one of the few we don't have. I have not counted how many we have but 25 to 30 is probably in the ballpark.

Didn't he do a "country" type album years ago just to satisfy a contract with somebody and be able to get out of said contract?

Emlyn

The country album was titled Pay the Devil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahORoQa6AU0