Van Morrison In Brighton 2014.

This is a little story about one incident in 2014. I caught the 11.04 train from Westbury on Monday, grateful that the trains were running after all the terrible floods and storms of the previous week, changed trains at Southampton and arrived in Brighton about 2.00 and walked to my hotel the Hilton Metropole on the seafront. I had chosen this hotel because it was at this very hotel in the summer of 75 that I had the shortest job of my life. I had started work as a kitchen porter at 11.30 and walked out at 12.15. I bet they didn't think I would return in triumph 39 years later. After I got settled in I went for a bit of a stroll and had something to eat in Yates's and then took a slow walk to the Lord Nelson Pub in Trafalgar Street where I met Othmar and Daria from Switzerland, Marion from The Netherlands, Julia from Marsailles, Miquel and Tony from  Spain, Simon and Sandra, and Nosey. The time flew by and we made our way to Brighton Dome.
         

I took my seat in the circle and Van's daughter Shana came on first with the band minus the brass section to start the evening. She looked great as always and sang three songs, God Must Love Me, Serve Me Right To Suffer and Higher And Higher  which I really enjoyed. Then it was time for the Celtic soul brother himself to walk on stage with the now familiar opening of Celtic Swing followed by Close Enough For Jazz. This was followed by Back On Top which I think I enjoyed more than at Bristol. Then it was one of the first highlights of the evening for me, So Quiet In Here. It was great and I liked Shana's backing vocals and the brass section of Chris and Alistair White were really good as well. This was followed by Rough God Goes Riding, which was also great but I was beginning to realise that this was almost exactly the same set as in Bristol. I wanted to hear something different. Van ended the song by doing his Clint Eastwood impression again which was funny the first time I heard it. He is trying to get away from his grumpy image. Following this was Keeping Mediocrity At Bay   which is not a favourite album track but I think performed live it isn't bad at all. Benediction, by Van's friend Mose Allison was next which was ok, but the gig for me was getting a bit 'samey' now. Van sat on the stool next for Keep It Simple which is one of the best songs of recent years. Then it was the excellent Queen Of The Slipstream.

                                                                                                                                  Van said, "Now I'd like to bring on my old china plate (Cockney rhyming slang for mate) Chris Farlowe", and he and Van sang Early In The Morning, Hoochie Coochie Man,and Stormy Monday which Chris had recorded under the name Little Joe Cook back in the 60's. Not my favourite part of the show. Dave Keary's guitar playing was good though. Sometimes We Cry  with Shana was next followed by Whenever God Shines His Light and Days Like This. Then the new arrangement of Brown Eyed Girl which is replacing Moondance as the song where all the band get to play a solo. Baby Please Don't Go was brilliant followed by the eternal Help Me. Then Chris returned for Gloria/Who Do You Love and finally Stand By Me. I was disappointed that apart from the Farlowe numbers there hadn't been a single different song to Bristol, but I was determined to make tonight special one way or another.

                                                                                                                                  Before the band had finished playing I made a bee-line for the door and turned left and left again and made my way to the stage door. There was a Mercedes parked outside and a man holding an umbrella. I knew he was waiting for Van. I stood against the wall and waited ten minutes in the rain. Then the door opened and out came Van with his assistant. I stepped up and handed him my moleskine notebook and my sad little pen that I had got in the bookies a few days earlier and said, "Could I have a quick autograph please Van?". As he scrawled his name I said, "Thank you very much Van, I’ve been a fan for 40 years", "That long huh?", said Van and smiled at me and gave me back my book and bookies pen and got in the car. A couple who were standing there applauded and he was gone... It didn't matter about the bit of ink on a page, that was just the excuse. What mattered was that for just a few fleeting seconds I had connected with the person whose music has meant so much to me for so long. I wished Kim had been there to witness it, she would have been thrilled. It was the highlight of my Van fan career. To quote Van himself I was 'Higher Than The World'. I'll never bother him again. I ran back to the front of the hall to show my friends the autograph. A gang of us retired to a nearby pub for a drink and I tried to calm down. The End.

                                                                                                                                                                                

Van Morrison, 28 Years Too Long In Exile

God it's hot today. I was sitting outside in the yard, but I have come indoors for the coolness. Talking about cool, I am listening to Too Long In Exile by Van Morrison because I saw on a Van Facebook group page that it was released 28 years ago today on June 8th 1993. I  remember clearly a show Van did about a month or two later at Lydiard Park near Swindon, only a stones throw from Van's house at the time in the village of Little Somerton. I think that was only the first or second ever gig since Brian Kennedy joined the band. Brian sang some songs with Van, then one of his own called Captured which was excellent. This was one of the great 'lost' Van concerts because I don't think a tape exists of it. You could just walk up to the front and stand just a few feet away from Van and dig the music. That's why I loved those outdoor Van gigs in the summertime in England when Van cuts loose and blows a fuse around the regions again. I did notice a change that night in Van's audience which was less of the hippy types and more of the Radio 2 chattering classes and this was to get worse as the years went by. That particular night if my memory serves me well Van opened with the title track from the new album and  Ball And Chain and later Lonely Avenue. These songs are all great. To get to the actual album, it starts really promisingly with Too Long In Exile which has a relentless beat, great harmonica and mentions some of the Irish heroes such as Georgie Best, Alex Hurricane Higgins and Samuel Beckett. Then one of Van's better moaning songs which recall his years at Bang records Big Time Operators. What do you expect when you sign to a company called Bang? Ball And Chain is great, and then a nice version of Lonely Avenue.

To my ears In The Forest is a similar song to Orangefield, and Till We Get The Healing Done is an attempt to recapture former glories of Van's spiritual quest, but Van was reaching the end of the road in that search for the time being and was just forcing the issue here. The two tracks with his friend John Lee Hooker are not very good. Gloria is not a patch on the original, so I think they could have chosen different songs. Van should have done a whole official album with John Lee which might have been a classic. I love their version of I Cover The Waterfront.  The outstanding track on this uneven album is Before The World Was Made in which Van turns a great poem by W.B. Yeats into a wonderful song. I love this song which seems to be more at home on the album Now And In Time To Be. a tribute to W.B. Yeats. I think there is some great music on this album, but it lacks consistency of mood, and doesn't seem to know where it wants to go. It is a mish-mash of different styles. Everyone has their own opinion though on albums. Some people might think it is one of Van's best, and they are entitled to that view.

Unofficial Album.

The End Of An Era.

Monday morning. I ought to try and write something in the mornings because if I leave it until the evening, I tend not to bother. So, what have I been doing lately? Not a lot really. On Saturday I went over to Warminster. I thought I would treat myself to a new CD because I like to support my local record shop when I can. It is called Raves From The Grave because as well as new releases they also sold rare collectible vinyl. “Have you got the new album by Marianne Faithfull?”, I asked the lady behind the counter. “No, we haven’t got anything new I’m afraid, this is our last day today, we are closing”. That was sad news, the end of an era. It is inevitable I suppose. All the interesting little shops are gradually disappearing. It is the effect of online shopping and maybe Covid was the final straw. In a few years’ time I think all music shops will have closed. When I look back, I remember the hours I used to spend happily browsing in record shops until I made my choice of what to buy. Anyway, I had a look through what stock they had remaining, but couldn’t find anything I wanted, so left the shop empty handed and went to Spoons to meet Sian.

I don’t even like Wetherspoons. The owner of the Wetherspoons chain Tim Martin is a pro-Brexiter and they even used to have pro Brexit leaflets on the tables in there. He treated the staff appallingly during lockdown, telling them to try their luck at Tesco’s. Now, he is asking Boris Johnson to allow more workers from Europe into the country because he is facing staff shortages. The irony of it!  Anyway, Sian doesn’t care about that, and also because other pubs like The Bell have closed down due to Spoons undercutting the prices, there isn’t a lot of choice in the centre of Warminster. That is why I met her in there. Previously I used to get her to take my photo with whatever CD I had bought, to illustrate my subsequent review. Today, I sadly had nothing to photograph, but I got her to take my photo anyway.

I did leave her for a few minutes while I had a had a quick buzz around the charity shops. I found one little bargain for only £1.00 which was Hoochie Coochie Man, The Chess Story. It is a 2CD set of 50 original recordings on the Chess label, by such people as Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, Howling Wolf, Etta James, Little Walter, Memphis Slim, Big Bill Broonzy and many more. I played it when I got home and love it. I bet Van Morrison would enjoy this album because a lot of these people were a big influence on Van, and I only discovered a lot of them because of Van talking about them in interviews. That is just one of the great things about Van, he leads you discover other great music.  So, although it was disappointing that the record shop has closed, it wasn’t such a bad day after all.