Wednesday, May 29, 2019

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.

Monday, May 27, 2019

Christy Moore: Royal Festival Hall 25/5/2019.


I had a wonderful weekend in London with my friends Jacky, Bill, Patrick, Wayne, Sarah and Laurie. The highlight was seeing Christy Moore at the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday night. This is what happened. We got down to the Southbank at about 5.00 and had a nice meal in a restaurant by the river. Then we chilled out with a bottle of wine and passed the time people watching. It was a nice warm sunny evening and hundreds of people strolled by, dressed in all their summer fashions. Sitting quietly in the bar of the Southbank Centre I spotted a familiar face who I last saw at Van Morrison’s Lit Up Inside concert in 2014. “I think that lady over there is Edna O’Brien”, I said to Jacky, but I wasn’t certain. Jacky looked on google images on her phone and we agreed that it was almost 95% certainly her. Sorry Edna if it wasn’t you.
Anyway, time was getting on and we took our seats. This was the third time in the last five years that we have seen Christy at the RFH. I think this was the best one of all, no hecklers or any of that carry-on at all. There was a very warm friendly vibe to the whole evening. As before, Christy took to the stage accompanied by Declan Sinnott, Cathal Hayden and Jimmy Higgins. The first song was the wonderful City Of Chicago which as you probably know was written by Christy’s brother Luka Bloom. This was followed by the powerful North And South Of The River which has become even more relevant recently due to the present political mayhem that is going on. Only Our Rivers Run Free was next and was written by Mickey McConnell fifty years ago I believe, and still timeless to this day. On Friday it was Bob Dylan’s 78th birthday which you will know because I wrote a tribute to Bob that you can read if you scroll down. Christy marked the occasion by singing the great emotive song The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll. I think May 24th should be declared International Bob Dylan Day and all radio stations should play at least one Bob song an hour in order to educate the masses. Yellow Furze Woman was written by Christy for his mother Nancy Power. Some Christy songs have a very feminist vibe to them which you often don’t get with male singers.

Don’t Forget Your Shovel written by Christy Hennessy got the lively good-natured audience clapping and singing along. It was great. This was followed by the very moving song Burning Times. Christy didn’t write this song but as I said it is very feminist but also relevant to today because we are facing an environmental catastrophe because of what we have done to the planet. In the face of this, the politicians plan new wars and have leadership contests. Every time I have seen Christy down by the South Bank, he has felt obliged to sing the Ewan McColl song Sweet Thames Flow Softly and why not, because it is a beautiful song. Last week Christy took part in a concert in Dublin called Palfest as an alternative to the Eurovision Song Contest. It was streamed live on Gaza TV and Christy sang No Time For Love written by Jack Warshaw and I must mention Declan’s fabulous guitar playing during this song. Bright Blue Rose written by Jimmy McCarthy is always one of my favourite songs performed live. It is one of Christy’s most spiritual songs and the interpretation is entirely up to the listener. Cathal’s violin playing certainly deserves a mention as well.

I must admit that I had never heard of Rob Corcoran until Christy sang his song Ringing That Bell but I enjoyed hearing it on Saturday night and I’ll seek out more songs by Rob. I have discovered lots of great music through Christy because he always makes a point of giving credit to the songwriters when he performs their songs. For instance, I discovered the music of Mick Blake a couple of years ago thanks to Christy. I loved Sail on Jimmy although I hadn’t heard it live before, but I had found it on YouTube. The audience loved it as well and sang the chorus, encouraged by Christy. The Voyage was dedicated to young Molly & Patrick aged 13. What a beautiful song it is. I Hate Politicians or Lingua Politico or whatever it is called had the audience in stitches. It is a hilarious song, but underneath the humour as in many of Christy’s ‘funny’ songs there is a serious message.

Two songs written by Bobby Sands followed. The first one was McIllhatton and followed by Back Home In Derry. In the middle of the two songs Christy recited On The Mainland from his Graffiti Tongue album. Beeswing is arguably the best, saddest and most beautiful song that Richard Thompson ever wrote, and at first I didn’t like Christy’s version as much as Richard’s, but I have been won over. I like both versions equally these days. I have heard it said that the song was inspired by Anne Briggs and I think Christy heard Anne sing live back in the day. That must have been a treat. I wish I had seen her. Missing You always seems even more poignant than usual when you hear it in a big city like London and you see the homeless people living on the streets. Christy said that he sang Raggle Taggle Gypsies with Planxty in 1973 in a concert in London called Fanfare For Europe and told an amusing story about the Prime Minister Edward Heath meeting the musicians backstage. Viva La Quinta Brigada is a tribute to those who fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War, but it is very appropriate to today’s events in Europe and a warning against repeating the mistakes of the past. Black Is The Colour is a beautiful ballad song Christy learned from Hamish Imlach back in the 60’s and I never grow tired of hearing it.
Me down by the aul Southbank.

I always love hearing Lisdoonvarna as well, especially with Glastonbury only about four weeks away now. It’s a shame Christy isn’t gracing the Acoustic Stage this year, but never mind, there will be other times hopefully. Another reason I like this song is because of the references to Van the Man, especially when Christy says, ‘Turn It Up, Turn it up’ and goes into I’ll Tell Me Ma and then Decco lets rip with his electric guitar. The four amigos left the stage, but we knew there would be more. The first song of the encore was Ride On from the album that got me into Christy in the first place in 1984. The audience joined in and sang beautifully. After that, it was time for some fun with Joxer Goes To Stuttgart and the audience gave a huge cheer when Ray Houghton got the ball and stuck it in the net. Finally, Christy sang Spancil Hill for Valerie from Kilmainham. It was fabulous and brought a wonderful concert to a close. It’s not often I leave a concert having enjoyed every single song.
Next morning, I caught the 11.15 from Waterloo and headed home, back to the forlorn rags of Brexit and all that bollix. Thank you very much to all involved, especially the one and only Christy Moore.
 PS, If I have made any glaring errors, I hope Hilary or young Colm will put me right. Cheers.



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