My Favourite Van Albums, Number 7,'St Dominics Preview'

Take me back, take me way back to springtime of 73.I am lying on my bed in my room at college, wondering why i am so lazy.On my desk lie heaps of work that i haven't done.It wasn't that i didn't want to do it,i just couldn't get motivated.Music could be heard coming through the paper thin walls.It sounded familiar.It was the album i had first heard a few weeks earlier in Manchester.It was Astral Weeks.I banged on the wall and shouted,"Turn that record up mate!".Eventually the person in the next room invited me into his room to listen to his records.He was a really nice bloke.His name was Roger Hawker and he came from Gloucester if i remember correctly and we used to sit there for ages listening to and talking about music.In my minds eye i can still picture his heap of albums leaning against the wall.Not only did he have Astral Weeks he also had another album by Van and that was how i first got to hear St Dominics Preview which is the album i want to discuss in this essay.
Before we explore the music lets just peruse the album cover for a moment.It is really funny.Whoever was in charge of the artwork decided to portray Van as a sort of vagabond troubadour with his guitar on the steps of a church.There is a great big split in the seam of his jeans.I don't know about Van but his jeans are certainly torn down a la Rimbaud!. It reminds me of Rimbauds poem, 'My Bohemian Life' or 'Ma Boheme'-

My only pair of breeches had a big hole in them.

Stargazing Tom Thumb, I sowed rhymes along my way.

My tavern was at the Sign of the Great Bear.

My stars in the sky rustled softly.

Lets have a look at the contents.For this album Van used many of the same musicians as on Tupelo Honey but this album is a total change from the rural contentment of that album containing some huge rambling epic stream of consiousness songs.'Jackie Wilson Said' is one of Vans best known songs,one of his poppiest songs since Brown Eyed Girl and was a huge hit for Dexys Midnight Runners when they covered it.I think Reet Petite by Jackie Wilson mentioned in the lyrics holds the record in Britain for taking the longest time to get to number 1 in the charts.It was released in 1957 and finally got to the top of the charts in 1986.Jackie Wilson Said is a great upbeat opening to this album.It is unlike any other song on the album.Lets move on to 'Gypsy' which is a good song although the lyrics are a bit simplistic.Gypsies crop up a lot in Vans lyrics in such songs as Caravan,Gypsy In My Soul,Into The Mystic,Gypsy Queen etc.I wonder why Van has this gypsy fixation?.It must be something to do with him being one Irish rover.We have quite a lot of gypsies in our area.I call them travellers but other people call them Dids or Pikeys which isn't very nice.We also used to get a lot of New Age Travellers,hippy types coming through here on their way to Stonehenge and such places.I used to envy their lifestyle and freedom.Perhaps thats why Van found them so fascinating.'I Will Be There' follows and i can't think of anything to say about it so i'll move quickly on to the tour de force that is 'Listen To The Lion'.Little did i realise all those years ago when i first heard it that a live version of this masterpiece would become my all time favourite Van song.I will discuss this song at more length later.

The following song 'St Dominics Preview' is another supurb work of art,again one of Vans finest songs.The opening line Chamois cleaning all the windows recalls his early life in Belfast.Then we have Paris images of Notre Dame And Edith Piaf.I've always liked Edith Piaf,she was known as 'The Little Sparrow' and was born on a gendarmes cape on the streets of Paris in a rainstorm in 1915.You also get the feeling that Van is getting homesick for Ireland in this song.Apparently one of his band members after a gig complained that it was a long way to Buffalo where he lived and Van ruefully replied "And its a long way to Belfast City too".Van had been stateside for about 6 years now and maybe missing home but it was a bit difficult by 72 with all the troubles,chains, badges flags and emblems and everyone not feeling anyone elses pain.I was just reading the lyrics and it suddenly occured to me that,'See them freedom marching,out on the street, freedom marching,Saint Dominic's Preview'. It reminded me of Dylans 'Chimes Of Freedom', 'And we gazed upon the chimes of freedom crashing'.Anyway, i better move on because i'm tired and i've been writing all this bollix for ages.

Redwood Tree' is fabulous and has some great images of a dog and a boy and his dad.In one of the biographies i read that when Van was a lad he had a dog called Maxey who he used to go everywhere with.Maybe the song is quasi-autobiographical as Van might say.Its a great song but it doesn't half remind me of Enlightenment.'Almost Independance Day' brings the album to a close in truly epic style.The last four songs on this great album are really brilliant and i can't understand how i forgot two of them when i did my 100 top Van songs.This album from Vans early period is supurb and playing it again takes me right back to a time when i was very young very lazy and very happy.