What are you listening to now?

[magnumforce73]

Jun 5, 2018 12:27:19 GMT goldrusher said:

Jun 5, 2018 12:06:05 GMT magnumforce73 said:

Fair Play to you, Sir. 

Highway is his most underrated 70s LP--and he is one of a select handful who dominated that decade.  It never gets the love it deserves  There's absolutely nothing wrong with that LP--it simply had the misfortune of being released between two of Van's greatest achievements in Preview and Fleece.  Van doin' his own take on the Sinatra Trip.  And what an opener with that celestial choir in "Snow In San Anselmo."

It suffers the same fate as The Stones' Goats Head Soup LP (also a 73 release)--it's a brilliant LP, but it happened to be the one to follow Exile On Main St.  Sometimes offerings produced exceed and pleasantly surprise expectations!

"And it's Ever Present Everywhere." 

mf73

I started listening to Van in 1995. I remember at the time I couldn't find Tupelo Honey, Saint Dominic's Preview, Hard Nose The Highway, It's Too Late To Stop Now, Veedon Fleece, A Period Of Transition, and Wavelength on CD. They were all re-released sometime in the late 90's and I bought them all once at Media Play. 

Sadly--with the exception of It's Too Late To Stop Now, those other albums are out of print.  I climbed aboard Van's Train a tad later, but when I did, I went all-out and snagged those OOP LPs.  That made it more fun--having to hunt down Van's Golden Era albums in OOP status for the lowest possible price.  You, too, digested all of those Golden Era LPs.

Lots of people don't like Transition and Wavelength, but I personally find them to be overall stronger than the more acclaimed Into The Music--the late 70s weren't as bad to Van The Man as what the rock scribes write.

"Excuse me do you know the way to Kansas City?!" 

mf73

[goldrusher]

Jun 5, 2018 13:57:03 GMT magnumforce73 said:

Jun 5, 2018 12:27:19 GMT goldrusher said:

I started listening to Van in 1995. I remember at the time I couldn't find Tupelo Honey, Saint Dominic's Preview, Hard Nose The Highway, It's Too Late To Stop Now, Veedon Fleece, A Period Of Transition, and Wavelength on CD. They were all re-released sometime in the late 90's and I bought them all once at Media Play. 

Sadly--with the exception of It's Too Late To Stop Now, those other albums are out of print.  I climbed aboard Van's Train a tad later, but when I did, I went all-out and snagged those OOP LPs.  That made it more fun--having to hunt down Van's Golden Era albums in OOP status for the lowest possible price.  You, too, digested all of those Golden Era LPs.

Lots of people don't like Transition and Wavelength, but I personally find them to be overall stronger than the more acclaimed Into The Music--the late 70s weren't as bad to Van The Man as what the rock scribes write.

"Excuse me do you know the way to Kansas City?!" 

mf73

I think A Period Of Transition and Wavelength are superb. The remastered No Guru, No Method, No Teacher is excellent as well. The acoustic guitars are especially rich and amazing! Funny, most of my friends don't care for Van Morrison. I need new friends, ha!

[annielynn]

Wheeeels ooonn fiiiire
youtu.be/rKKmwGKGgMY

😆
Magic Numbers - I see you, you see me
(one of my favs of magic numbers)
youtu.be/9nBYeEdh354

[magnumforce73]

Jun 5, 2018 14:02:30 GMT goldrusher said:

Jun 5, 2018 13:57:03 GMT magnumforce73 said:

Sadly--with the exception of It's Too Late To Stop Now, those other albums are out of print.  I climbed aboard Van's Train a tad later, but when I did, I went all-out and snagged those OOP LPs.  That made it more fun--having to hunt down Van's Golden Era albums in OOP status for the lowest possible price.  You, too, digested all of those Golden Era LPs.

Lots of people don't like Transition and Wavelength, but I personally find them to be overall stronger than the more acclaimed Into The Music--the late 70s weren't as bad to Van The Man as what the rock scribes write.

"Excuse me do you know the way to Kansas City?!" 

mf73

I think A Period Of Transition and Wavelength are superb. The remastered No Guru, No Method, No Teacher is excellent as well. The acoustic guitars are especially rich and amazing! Funny, most of my friends don't care for Van Morrison. I need new friends, ha!

Heh.  Much love for No Guru, No Method, No Teacher--the 80s were good to him as well; that run from Beautiful Vision up through NGNMNT is pretty great, too.

You need new friends. 

mf73

[goldrusher]

Jun 5, 2018 14:20:15 GMT magnumforce73 said:

Jun 5, 2018 14:02:30 GMT goldrusher said:

I think A Period Of Transition and Wavelength are superb. The remastered No Guru, No Method, No Teacher is excellent as well. The acoustic guitars are especially rich and amazing! Funny, most of my friends don't care for Van Morrison. I need new friends, ha!

Heh.  Much love for No Guru, No Method, No Teacher--the 80s were good to him as well; that run from Beautiful Vision up through NGNMNT is pretty great, too.

You need new friends. 

mf73

I have a copy of Van Morrison - Live in Essen (1982) A great show! 

[magnumforce73]

Jun 5, 2018 14:28:21 GMT goldrusher said:

Jun 5, 2018 14:20:15 GMT magnumforce73 said:

Heh.  Much love for No Guru, No Method, No Teacher--the 80s were good to him as well; that run from Beautiful Vision up through NGNMNT is pretty great, too.

You need new friends. 

mf73

I have a copy of Van Morrison - Live in Essen (1982) A great show! 

I'm going to quote a guy from Steve Hoffman's Music Forums regarding live Van Morrison:

"Seeing Van on a good night is like a religious experience spanning Generations." T R U T H !    Lucky!--the only live Van in the archive (at the moment) is It's Too Late To Stop Now, but early 80s Van is always welcome in my ear.

Oh, my current "On Repeating Loop" Track:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi8WaU-OiBg

"I've Been Working Fa Da King...I've Been Working Fa Jesse James  Him 'n me we made half a million!"  Van and John Plantania really cut loose on the electric guitars.  And who else would reference Alfred, Lord Tennyson in a blues jam?!

mf73

[Deleted]

Jun 5, 2018 14:44:41 GMT magnumforce73 said:

Jun 5, 2018 14:28:21 GMT goldrusher said:

I have a copy of Van Morrison - Live in Essen (1982) A great show! 

I'm going to quote a guy from Steve Hoffman's Music Forums regarding live Van Morrison:

"Seeing Van on a good night is like a religious experience spanning Generations." T R U T H !    Lucky!--the only live Van in the archive (at the moment) is It's Too Late To Stop Now, but early 80s Van is always welcome in my ear.

Oh, my current "On Repeating Loop" Track:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi8WaU-OiBg

"I've Been Working Fa Da King...I've Been Working Fa Jesse James  Him 'n me we made half a million!"  Van and John Plantania really cut loose on the electric guitars.  And who else would reference Alfred, Lord Tennyson in a blues jam?!

mf73

I'm a longtime Hoffman Forum member. JCM.

[annielynn]

Dinosaur jr. - Watch the corners
youtu.be/FpsGcnLEZbk

Youngblood hawke - We come running
youtu.be/6ECw5DTULQ8

[rkz]

This is my favorite band and this is my favorite song by my favorite band:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-IaWAe872M

More great songs by my favorite band:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlZlst4NBVw

www.youtube.com/watch?v=slMDEW4EP2A

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oahhlvwZKk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5v_-ZiQZ0k

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYtP8XhBu2A

[Deleted]

Jun 5, 2018 18:25:50 GMT annielynn said:

Dinosaur jr. - Watch the corners
youtu.be/FpsGcnLEZbk

I love the early albums and singles. Was a fairly big Lou Barlow fan in the early-to-mid 90s as well.

Good stuff.

[Deleted]

Jun 5, 2018 18:50:39 GMT rkz said:

This is my favorite band and this is my favorite song by my favorite band:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-IaWAe872M

One of my favorites as well. The trilogy of "Bee Thousand", "Alien Lanes" and "Under the Bushes" is about as iron clad "essential" as one can get for indie rock from the 90s, IMO.

[Deleted]

Jun 5, 2018 18:50:39 GMT rkz said:

This is my favorite band and this is my favorite song by my favorite band:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-IaWAe872M

More great songs by my favorite band:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlZlst4NBVw

www.youtube.com/watch?v=slMDEW4EP2A

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oahhlvwZKk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5v_-ZiQZ0k

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYtP8XhBu2A

And I loved a good bit of the reunion material as well with the 'Classic Lineup'. I had a ticket to see that line up in late 2014 just before Bob decided to pull the ripcord for awhile.

To me, GBV isn't the same without Mitch Mitchell and Tobin Sprout, minimum.

Someone did this 'fan' video for "The Head" from "Let's Go Eat the Factory". Dare you not to watch it 10 times in a row. LOL

[rkz]

Jun 5, 2018 18:56:27 GMT @suddenterror said:

Jun 5, 2018 18:50:39 GMT rkz said:

This is my favorite band and this is my favorite song by my favorite band:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-IaWAe872M

One of my favorites as well. The trilogy of "Bee Thousand", "Alien Lanes" and "Under the Bushes" is about as iron clad "essential" as one can get for indie rock from the 90s, IMO.

Absolutely. I've seen GBV 8 times since 1994, I even sent Bob a letter volunteering my services as a drummer if Kevin Fennell ever quite or got fired (Bob didn't hire me. )  And there's even some good songs on the later albums! You have to dig through a lot of filler to find 'em, but Bob can still knock 'em flying out of the park when he gets the notion. (I wish he'd lay off the booze and cigs though, cuz his voice is TRASHED these days...)

Have you heard this podcast?

everygbvlp.com/

[Deleted]

Jun 5, 2018 19:00:09 GMT rkz said:

Jun 5, 2018 18:56:27 GMT @suddenterror said:

One of my favorites as well. The trilogy of "Bee Thousand", "Alien Lanes" and "Under the Bushes" is about as iron clad "essential" as one can get for indie rock from the 90s, IMO.

Absolutely. I've seen GBV 8 times since 1994, I even sent Bob a letter volunteering my services as a drummer if Kevin Fennell ever quite or got fired (Bob didn't hire me. )  And there's even some good songs on the later albums! You have to dig through a lot of filler to find 'em, but Bob can still knock 'em flying out of the park when he gets the notion. (I wish he'd lay off the booze and cigs though, cuz his voice is TRASHED these days...)

Have you heard this podcast?

everygbvlp.com/

Agree on all counts and I have not checked that out. I will.

[rkz]

Jun 5, 2018 18:59:52 GMT @suddenterror said:

Jun 5, 2018 18:50:39 GMT rkz said:

This is my favorite band and this is my favorite song by my favorite band:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-IaWAe872M

More great songs by my favorite band:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlZlst4NBVw

www.youtube.com/watch?v=slMDEW4EP2A

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oahhlvwZKk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5v_-ZiQZ0k

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYtP8XhBu2A

And I loved a good bit of the reunion material as well with the 'Classic Lineup'. I had a ticket to see that line up in late 2014 just before Bob decided to pull the ripcord for awhile.

To me, GBV isn't the same without Mitch Mitchell and Tobin Sprout, minimum.

Someone did this 'fan' video for "The Head" from "Let's Go Eat the Factory". Dare you not to watch it 10 times in a row. LOL

As much as I love the "So-Called Classic Lineup," I actually prefer the Gillard era. I fell in love with the band circa 1994, so that should be the lineup I love the most, but for me, I felt like Bob and the band just kept getting better and better until the breakup in 2004. The Nate Farley Session version of "Alone, Stinking, and Unafraid" contains some of the best singing I've ever heard from anyone.

I found the reunion albums underwhelming; it really seemed like Toby was shouldering the burden of writing memorable songs (Bob kept recycling tunes he put on the Suitcase boxes!), and the last album featured the whole band writing and singing songs. There were some great tunes on the albums between 2010-2014, but since then I don't think I could name a single song by GBV that I could remember after it's finished. He seems to be saving his best songs for solo projects now, and he has a harder time singing now, but up until the breakup of the classic lineup Mk. II it seemed like he was in the middle of a renaissance. HE was writing a lot of great tunes between 2010-2014.

But yeah...the classic lineup probably made the best overall records. I prefer the Gillard albums, but I totally LOVE the old ones too. (I actually prefer the 1987-1992 sound of GBV to the sound of the classic lineup too....I'm weird)