Van Morrison & The City Of Bath.

Last years Bath Festival.

I’m looking forward to seeing Van Morrison in Bath on Sunday. It is a welcome return because Van lived and worked around Bath for nearly 20 years. As a Van fan who lives 12 miles from Bath I am very proud of Van’s connection with this area, so today I thought I would dust off a little piece I wrote a few years ago about Van’s connections with Bath and the surrounding area which some of the fans coming to Bath for the gig might find interesting.

Bath Abbey.

Wherever Van has lived has been a source of inspiration to him. Belfast obviously, New York, Woodstock, California, Copenhagen, London and Ireland, but I feel that one of his most sustained periods of creativity was when Van lived right here in the West Country of England. When Van moved back to England after many years in the states he lived in Notting Hill London, an area he knew from the 60's but Van had changed since then. He was a nature poet inspired by the countryside as shown in such songs as Summertime In England and he was exploring the healing power of music. Van set up offices in Bath which later became Exile Productions. Thus began a golden age in his career. The first album he recorded in this area was Poetic Champions Compose which was recorded at Wool Hall Studios in the village of Beckington which is only about 5 miles from where I am sitting at this very moment.

Wool Hall Studio.

 The studio was owned at the time by the band Tears For Fears and Van became one of its most regular clients. In 1994 after recording five albums there Van bought the studio. All Van's studio albums between 1987 and 2006 were recorded at the Wool Hall as far as I know. About 14 albums, a very impressive body of work indeed. You can see the influence the area had on Van’s work immediately. Avalon Sunset from 89 with its pastoral imagery was partly inspired by the Vale Of Avalon and nearby Glastonbury. In the song Pagan Streams on Hymns To The Silence Van says, 'And we walked the pagan streams and searched for white horses on surrounding hills, We lived where dusk had meaning, And repaired to quiet sleep, where noise abated, In touch with the silence On honey street, on honey street’. I live in Westbury which is overlooked by the famous White Horse which is carved into the hillside. It commemorates the Battle Of Edington where King Alfred beat the Danes. He dumped the Jute on the burning ground. I wonder if this is the white horse that Van is referring to? It is quite visible from Beckington. Also, Honey Street is a small village on the Kennet And Avon Canal near Devizes.

Shop used for Down The Road.

Van became a well-known figure around the quiet streets, cafe's, bookshops and record shops of Bath and beyond. A friend of mine spotted him in a shop in Frome called Raves From The Grave  where Van was mooching through the blues albums. Another day, I was in a now defunct record shop in Trowbridge called The Record Collector and I asked the man if he had any Van Morrison and he said that Van had been in only the day before, buying records for his jukebox. I think that is great that someone like Van with all his fame and fortune still enjoys looking in second-hand shops for rare records. In the late 90's we used to go into a tiny wine bar just around the corner from the Theatre Royal in Bath. It was called Raincheck after a song on Van's Days Like This album. Apparently Van was a silent partner in the place. I think he probably just lent a friend the money to open it. I never saw Van in there, but he used to frequent it regularly according to people I spoke to. One man in there told me that he had been chatting to Van about the Them gigs at the Pavilion and he said Van had told him that the supporting band one night were The Four Specs who had that name because all the band wore glasses. I looked them up and they really existed.  Kim used to have her hair done in a place called Mahogany in the Corridor in Bath and Van used to have his hair cut there as well, but according to the staff he didn't have much to say for himself. Kim worked for Social Services looking after people with learning difficulties and one day she was taking some of them out shopping in Bath and stopped at the crossing near Queens Square and this familiar figure walked across, “It’s Van the Man", shouted Kim and Van turned round and gave her one of those looks that only he can do.

 I know this lady called Jean who was in a tea shop in Bath one day with her son Ben. It might have been Sally Lunn’s and she spotted Van who was enjoying a pot of tea and some scones in the corner and as she was leaving she went over and said,” This is my son Ben and he would like to shake hands with you". Van wiped his hands on his napkin and shook hands with Ben aged 11 and said, "How do you do”. which shows what a nice person he is if you don't be too intrusive. We saw him at Lydiard Park near Swindon which is only a stone’s throw from Little Somerford. I think that was the first time Brian Kennedy appeared with him. Also, at Frome Festival at Marston House just about 3 miles from Beckington. That was the last time I saw the great Pee Wee Ellis play with Van. We saw Pee Wee play in Bradford On Avon one Sunday afternoon and we met a nice lady called Nicky who used to be Vans PA and she recognised me from off the telly. I had achieved some local short-lived fame after winning on a quiz show called Fifteen To One and she said that they had all been rooting for me because on the show I said I was a Van Morrison fan. I wonder if Van watched it.

 I saw Van seven times at Glastonbury Festival and three times at Glastonbury Abbey only 26 miles from here. Plus, Van’s almost annual concerts down by Bristol. I think of the seventy times I have seen Van half of the gigs have been in a thirty mile radius of Bath. Van has saved me a lot of money by playing locally. One concert I would have loved to have gone to was when Van played in the church in the village of Stogumber because he wanted to hear what his music sounded like in a church. 300 people paid £10 to see Van and he donated the money to the church to have a painting restored. What a nice gesture. You hear all sorts of stories about Van being a miserable grumpy person. I think most of them are untrue, and probably lies because people I know who have met him speak very well of him. In 2002 Van released Down The Road which was a great album and for the cover he used Nasher’s Record Shop in Walcot Street in Bath. It was a  great cover because the window of the shop was filled with albums of Van's influences. Maybe it was inspired by Dylan’s Bringing It All Back-Home album. I know Nasher’s really well because I used to have a browse in there on my way to the Hat And Feather pub or The Bell. About nine years ago I decided to sell all my vinyl albums because i had nothing to play them on and because of the Van connection I thought I would get a good price for my Van vinyl in Nasher’s, but the tight buggers only paid me about £1.25 for each. I really regret selling them now. Anyway, eventually Van moved away. I think he spends most of his time back in Belfast now. The Wool Hall has closed as a studio, Nasher’s has closed, and Raincheck. I think Van has sold most of his interests in Bath. It will be great to see Van perform at the Recreation Ground in the city of Bath on Sunday and the weather forecast is looking good.