Review: Van Morrison At The Eden Project 2017

I still hadn’t recovered from Glastonbury when I set out for Cornwall on Saturday morning. I think I’m getting too old for this rock n roll lifestyle. I’m glad I made the effort though because it turned out brilliantly. I caught the 9.56 train from Westbury and changed trains at Exeter St David’s. After Exeter the journey gets really nice because the train runs right along beside the sea and I took some photos from the train window. Soon we were in Cornwall. Then I made my first mistake. I thought my hotel was in St Austell but when I arrived I discovered it was in a place called Par which was the previous stop. I was one over par!. It cost me £13.00 in a taxi to get back to Par. Never mind, after I threw my stuff in the room I got another taxi to the Eden Project which was only about three miles away.

Soon I arrived at the gates of Eden. The Eden Project is a place that I have wanted to visit ever since it was opened in 2001. It is built in an old clay mine and is these huge domes that contain thousands of plants and trees from various climates all over the world. It also has an arena which holds the annual Eden Sessions every summer. I got there too early as usual and was a bit bored to begin with. There was a girl singer on called Kezia and then someone called Nathan Ball and his band. I quite miss the old days when Simon from Wavelength used to organise pre-show get togethers for the fans. I would much rather have been chatting to other fans about Van. I just sat on the grass watching and drinking wine and getting fed up and wishing I hadn’t come so early. Then I spotted Miquel all the way from sunny Spain with his wife Elena and their two daughters. It was great to see them and I cheered up immediately. They went off for a look around and I watched someone called Ruarri Joseph who was quite good but I thought it would be a shame to come all this way without looking inside so I went in the tropical rain forest dome.

It’s not often you get the chance to walk through the tropical rain forest at a Van Morrison gig. It must have been about 40 degrees centigrade in there and very humid. I was sweating by the time I emerged from the jungle 30 minutes later. You could go right up into the canopy of the trees and walk across rope bridges. There were even tropical birds in there. The most interesting plant I saw was called Titan Arum. It comes from the forests of Sumatra and is the worlds biggest flowering plant. It is also the worlds smelliest plant. Just before it is due to flower it emits this powerful aroma which is like rotting meat. This is to attract flies and insects for pollination. Boy did it stink. I wouldn’t want one of those in my garden I can tell you. The neighbours would complain. It was quite fascinating though.

I needed another drink after that and sat where I knew Jamie & Susan would arrive. They had come all the way from Texas to see Van in Cornwall and Adele at Wembley the next night but they told me the sad news that Adele had cancelled which must have been very disappointing. They were determined to enjoy the Van show though.

It was time for Paul Brady next who is someone I had never seen previously but I had always liked his music. I didn’t write down his setlist but the most memorable songs for me were Lakes Of Pontchartrain, The Island, which is my favourite of all his songs and a song called Paradise Is Here which he said was inspired by Krishnamurti who as you know was a big influence on Van as well. I was to have a chance encounter with Paul Brady later in the evening but I’ll tell you about that when I get to it.

Then it was time for Van. Despite the large crowd I found it quite easy to wheedle my way right to the front on the barrier. It was Van’s usual band of Dave Keary, Paul Moore, Paul Moran, Mez Clough, Dana Masters & Sumudu. Near the end of the show when I moved position though I did notice somebody else playing keyboards when Paul was on piano but I don’t know who he was. I also noticed that the whole event was being filmed. The show began with Too Late followed by the Vegas version of Have I Told You Lately and I thought to myself, “Here we go, another greatest hits outdoor show”. I did notice that Sumudu was also playing a little keyboard during this song. The show didn’t turn out as I expected though because Van announced that he was bringing out a new album in September and the show was being filmed for youtube so that is something to look forward to. The first song that I had never heard Van perform before was called I Can Tell You Don’t Love Me No More which I believe is a Bo Diddley song. Van played Maracas on this song. Then a song which I think might be called Transformation which I thought was great with Dave Keary on guitar capturing the emotion of the song perfectly. On first listen I think this song is destined to be a favourite with the fans although it does remind me of other great Van songs. Then it was straight into the bluesy Roll With The Punches which also was very impressive indeed. It makes me think that Van’s new album is going to be very Blues oriented. Then it was the Bo Diddley song Ride On Josephine with Dave again displaying what a great guitar player he is. It reminded me a bit of Not Fade Away by The Stones.

It was a real treat to hear those four songs. Next, we were back to more familiar Van territory with the medley of Baby Please Don’t Go/ Parchman Farm/ Don’t Start Crying Now/ Gimme Some Lovin’. The crowd pleaser of Here Comes The Night was followed by Real Real Gone with great backing vocals by Dana & Sumudu. The crowd also loved Days Like This.

Then it was Moondance and I needed to go for a wee so I gave up my place on the barrier to make a quick march to the loo. On the way who should I meet heading for his car but Paul Brady. I said hello and told him how much I enjoyed his performance and asked him if I could have a photo. He graciously said ok and I gave my camera to a nearby security man and asked him to take a photo. Sadly though I had used up all the memory in my camera filming Van. That was disappointing but never mind, it was a pleasure to meet Paul Brady.

When I got back to the arena Van sang a duet with Dana Sometimes We Cry. Then it was the great Why Must I Always Explain which the new song Transformation sounds a bit like to me. The great songs continued with I Can’t Stop Lovin’ You with Dana & Sumudu sounding perfect. Things got even better with In The Afternoon/ Ancient Highway/ Sitting Pretty. Crowd pleasing hits of  Wild Night/ Carrying A Torch/ Jackie Wilson Said/ and Whenever God Shines His Light followed in quick succession before the inevitable Brown Eyed Girl and a protracted Gloria.

I met up with Miquel & Elena & the children for the long walk out of the Eden Project. They kindly gave me a lift back to Par which I was grateful for because I would never have got a taxi with that crowd and was in no condition to walk three miles. Back at the hotel I had one last drink. The bar was full of people who had been at the concert. Then I went to bed and fell fast asleep after a wonderful day at the Eden Project and I’m very glad that I went.

THE END.

Review: Madeleine Peyroux & John Etheridge, Bath Forum May 27th 2017.

It was my friend Dave who introduced me to the music of Madeleine Peyroux a few months ago when he gave me a copy of an album of hers called Keep Me In Your Heart For A While, The Best Of Madeleine Peyroux which I really enjoyed. I was especially taken by her versions of songs by Bob Dylan & Leonard Cohen. I also really liked her voice which reminded me of Billie Holiday. When I saw that she was to appear at the Forum in Bath as part of the annual Bath Festival I knew we had to go.

It was a nice sunny Saturday evening when we boarded the 5.48 train at Westbury for the short journey to Bath. The city was bustling with people out enjoying the nice weather and we had time for a quick drink in a pub called The Cork. Sitting outside the pub I thought that I should come to Bath more often as it is such a nice place, especially in the summer. Then it was time to make our way to the Forum which is fast becoming my favourite music venue in the area after seeing the likes of Patti Smith, Richard Thompson, Kate Rusby and quite a few others here over the last few years. There was quite a long queue to get in because of the increased security measures following the tragic event in Manchester a few days earlier.

The opening act was a jazz fusion guitarist called John Etheridge. He is known for being a member of Soft Machine and has worked with the likes of Stephane Grappelli and many others. I thought I might find him a bit boring because really I like songs, but I was pleasantly surprised because I really got into his music. The first tune he played was a Sonny Rollins composition called Doxy which I wasn’t all that enamoured with but the second number was a Charles Mingus tune called Goodbye Pork Pie Hat  which apparently was written in tribute to Lester Young. I really enjoyed this one and closed my eyes and just  listened to Mingus, mellow, fantastic. Then he changed guitars to one that he had adapted and it was amazing because it sounded like bass and guitar combined. I didn’t recognise the tune but Dave told me it was called Stormy Weather. John finished his enjoyable short set with a really nice South African tune but I have no idea what it was called.

The interval seemed to last for ages. I went outside for a cigarette and took a photo of the tour bus to pass the time. Then finally it was time for Madeleine. As well as singing, she also played guitar and ukulele and was ably assisted by John Harrington on guitar and Barak Mory on upright bass. As I have said, I only have one album by Madeleine so I didn’t recognise all the songs so I’ll just tell you about the ones I did know. The first song was called Fun Out Of Life which I believe is a Billie Holiday song which suits Madeleine perfectly. I didn’t know the second song in which she pretended to sing into a telephone but it showed that she is a very humorous lady and also she doesn’t think much of Donald Trump. ( Who does?) This was followed by Tango Till They’re Sore in which the bass played used a bow on his instrument to great effect. Madeleine said she only sang three kinds of songs which were about Love, Blues & Drinking and the next song was about all three. It was called Guilty and in the lyrics she sang, ‘ I can’t stand myself’ which reminded me of a Van Morrison lyric. One of my favourite songs of the evening followed which was Our Lady Of Pigalle and Madeleine played ukulele on that one. I didn’t know either of the next two songs, one of them was in French but very enjoyable and the other was for people who felt that their vote didn’t count for anything. This was followed by a brilliant version of The Beatles It’s Getting Better which she said was the only cheerful song she was going to sing.

Other songs which I enjoyed were Easy Come, Easy Go which I think might be a Bessie Smith song,Trampin’ which was great and a song which was based on a poem by Lynton Kwesi Johnson that Maddy had put music to. Shout Sister Shout was dedicated to all the women in the audience. Every Thing I Do Gohn  Be Funky From Now On was originally a song by Lee Dorsey I believe but Madeleine's version is great. She sang a love song in Brazilian-Portuguese, I haven’t got a clue what it is called but it sounded wonderful. Leonard Cohen’s Dance Me To The End Of Love was fabulous as was Careless Love which brought a wonderful concert to an end.

I wanted to buy Madeleine’s most recent album called Secular Hymns but I was amazed to find that there was no merchandise stall in the foyer which is most unusual at a concert these days. Anyway, we grabbed a quick drink in the pub opposite the station and caught the 10.38 train home. Thank you very much Bath Forum, John Etheridge,John Harrington, Barak Mory and most of all Madeleine Peyroux for a great night out in Bath.

The Unthanks, 'How Wild The Wind Blows', The Songs And Poems Of Molly Drake.

I had never heard of Molly Drake until a few months ago. This is how I discovered her. There is an English folk group called The Unthanks led by Rachel & Becky Unthank. I hadn't got any of their albums at the time, but I had enjoyed the songs that I had heard and I saw them at Glastonbury Festival where they played with a full orchestra which was very impressive. Two of my friends Jacky & Bill from Yorkshire are big fans of the Unthanks.  I saw on the internet before Christmas that they were going to play in Bradford On Avon in April which is a very picturesque little town only eight miles from me. “That sounds like fun”, I thought to myself so I bought some tickets and invited my friends down for the weekend. I was really  looking forward to it. When I read more about this tour I discovered that they had deliberately chosen small venues which would be perfect for the intimate performance of the songs and poems of Molly Drake.

“Who on Earth is Molly Drake?”, I asked myself. I immediately googled Molly Drake and discovered via Wikipedia that she was none other than the mother of the legendary Nick Drake. Although I really like Nick Drake and am quite familiar with his best known songs and have one album called Way To Blue I’m not a fanatical fan like some completist’s who have to have everything he ever recorded. That’s why I hadn’t heard of Molly before. During her lifetime Molly never performed publicly or made any official recordings but I discovered that in the 1950’s her husband Rodney Drake had made some home recordings of Molly singing and playing the piano. Because of the increasing cult following  in her son’s life, attention passed to Molly and finally these recordings were assembled into a cd simply called Molly Drake and released by Squirrel Thing records in 2013.

I had read enough. I knew I had to get this cd, especially because it was issued on the same label as the Connie Converse album that I reviewed a year ago. I have always been fascinated by people who never really sought fame and fortune or had a brief flirtation with fame and then faded away but whose reputation has grown over the years due to the quality of their work. In the past as well as Connie I have written about the likes of Karen Dalton, Linda Perhacs, Annie Briggs, Vashti Bunyan. Sibylle Baier, Shelagh McDonald, Mellow Candle, Thomas Fraser, Jonathon Kelly, Jackson C Frank and many more.  I sent off to Germany for a copy because I couldn’t see one available in Britain and a few days later it popped through my letterbox. They had done an excellent job in the design of the cd with an attractive booklet with Molly’s story written by her daughter who is the actress Gabrielle Drake and contains lots of photos of Molly. I was a bit disappointed though because I was expecting a 45 page booklet of Molly’s poems to be included, but alas there wasn’t. Maybe that was only with the first pressing of the album.

Just after Christmas I got around to giving the cd a good listen. The whole album is only 37 minutes long and there are 19 songs so you can see how short most of the songs are. Molly has a very English middle-class voice and sings in a very formal style. You can tell that the recording was made in the fifties. There is one song though called Poor Mum which almost sounds like a riposte to Nick’s song Poor Boy. If it was recorded in the 50’s then it is strangely prophetic. They have done a great job of mastering this cd from reel to reel 60 year old tapes but there is still some crackle and hiss on some songs but in a way that gives those songs a haunting ghost-like quality. The producer Joe Boyd said that these songs are the missing link in the Nick Drake story. I can understand what he means because the words do seem to have a feeling of quiet desperation and melancholy and explore the fragility of happiness which makes you think that Nick might have inherited a lot of his personality from his mother as well as a love of music.

Three months went by and Winter changed to Spring. I saw on the internet that the album by The Unthanks called 'The Songs And Poems Of Molly Drake' could now be ordered online ahead of it's official release date so I ordered it, and while I was at it I ordered their book called 'The Unthanks Memory Book' as well and I resolved to take it along to the gig and get it signed. I also took Molly's album along in the hope that her daughter Gabrielle would be there on the evening to sign that.

 Finally the big night arrived. I had never been to the Wiltshire Music Centre before but it is a fabulous little purpose built venue and the little town of Bradford On Avon is lucky to have such a nice venue. The sound quality in there is absolutely perfect. The stage set was designed very theatrically with chairs and lamps so in the small intimate setting you would almost believe that you were in Molly's living room. As well as Becky & Rachel singing they also had a piano player, bass player, clarinet & violin, all of whom performed brilliantly. I must say that Rachel & Becky's harmonies are among the best I have ever heard. They also had a screen at the back on which they showed photos and rare footage of Molly with Nick & Gabrielle Drake. I didn't take my notebook along to write the setlist but my favourite songs of the evening included Weaver Bird, Happiness, How Wild The Wind Blows, What Can A Song Do For You?, I Remember, Never Pine For The Old Love, Poor Mum and Soft Shelled Crabs. I can't remember the titles of the other songs but I enjoyed ever single song. In between the songs there was the voice of Gabrielle reciting her mothers poems along with pictures projected on the screen which was very moving.

Me & Rachel Unthank.

 The evening was divided into two halves and during the intermission I managed to get Becky & Rachel to sign my book and in the absence of Gabrielle, Becky kindly signed my Molly Drake CD. I also managed to get a photo with Rachel. They are really nice friendly people. As an encore they sang their version of Nick Drake's song Riverman and one other song that I don't know the name of. The show lasted about two hours and I must say it was one of the best evenings of music I have had in a long time so thank you very much to The Unthanks for a great night and spreading the word about the legacy of Molly Drake. I urge you to try and get a ticket to see The Unthanks on this tour if any are still available and buy their album as well because it is great.

Review: Van Morrison At Nell's 16th February 2017.

Van Morrison seems to like playing at Nell’s in West Kensington. Last night when I was leaving the club I thanked the owner Vince Power for a great evening and he told me that it was the 18^th show Van had played at Nell’s. That is quite amazing when you think it has only been open since November 2014. I think it is because Van likes playing small intimate venues when he gets the chance. Maybe it reminds him of when he began his career at the Maritime Hotel in Belfast over 50 years ago. This is my story of yesterday.

I arrived in London Waterloo Station at about 1.00 and as it was a nice sunny day I took a leisurely stroll across the river to Embankment underground station. By the time I crossed the river I was singing Van’s latest song ‘Every Time I See A River’ in my head. Then it was just a short journey on the District Line to West Kensington. As soon as I came out of the station who should I meet but top Van fan Kerrie Brown. Kerrie had seen Van the night before and had got a signed CD and photos with Van so she was well chuffed. I told Kerrie I’d see her later and found my hotel which was only a couple of minutes away and had a snooze for a couple of hours.

It was 5.00 when I woke up. I had a look at the queue outside Nell’s and Kerrie was right at the front of it. She told me that our friend Yves-Michel ‘Burning Ground’ Balin was in the pub so I went to the ‘Famous 3 Kings’ to see him. It was great to catch up with him again and we had a good chat for about an hour. Eventually Yves-Michel went off to get in the queue but I stayed and had another drink. About 7.00 I thought I had better go as the doors were opening. In the queue it was brilliant to see my Spanish friend Miquel Rovira and his lovely wife Elena and their friend Thomas. I hadn’t seen Miquel since the ‘Lit Up Inside’ show in 2014.

Once inside, I spotted Brendan from Ireland which was the first time I’d seen Brendan since I was sat next  to him at the Van fans party for Van’s 70^th birthday in Belfast 2015. Brendan always writes great reviews on the Mystic Avenue site so I am looking forward to seeing what he thought of this show and see if he agrees with me. Also, tucked away in a corner at the back, relaxing before the show I spotted three members of Van’s band, drummer Mez Clough, guitarist Dave Keary and singer Dana Masters. I don’t want to sound sexist but Dana looked stunningly beautiful. I had a little chat and they were very polite but I bet they just wanted to have a few quiet moments. I asked if it was ok to take a photo and they obliged. I had turned flash off on my camera so the photo isn't that great.

Then it was Showtime. It was nice to see Sumudu back, sharing backing vocal duties with Dana. The last time I saw Van in Nottingham 3 months ago was Sumudu’s first show with Van. The opening song was Goldfish Bowl which isn’t one of my favourite songs by any means but in this tiny venue, up close you don’t mind so much. Symphony Sid  followed. It isn’t a favourite of mine either but Dana added some really nice vocals. Do you know that Symphony Sid is mentioned in my favourite book of all time which is On The Road by Jack Kerouac.

“Dean took the wheel and drove clear the rest of the way to New York, and we began to hear the Symphony Sid show on the radio with all the latest bop, and now we were entering the great and final city of America.” (Jack Kerouac, On the Road, pt. 3, ch. 11) See photo of Symphony Sid.

Then it was Keeping Mediocrity At Bay, another of Van’s lesser songs in most fans opinion but Van seems to like it. Maybe he is trying to tell us something. Beautiful Vision was next and this was really nice and it was 35 years to the day since that great album was released.I wonder if Van realised that or if it was just coincidence. Tear Your Playhouse Down followed and again I think this is one of my least favourite Van songs but it allowed Dave Keary to show what a great guitarist he is. In contrast Sometimes We Cry is a classic Van song and Dana added some wonderful vocals to this song.

Van then added to his vast repertoire of instruments I have seen him play by picking up a pair of maracas. This is the first time in about 60 concerts where I have seen him play maracas, he said,” This is a Jazz & Blues club, so I’m gonna play some Bo Diddly”, I think the song was called ‘I Can Tell’. It was ok I suppose but when you are sat about 12 feet away from your favourite singer of all time you don’t care.

Then Van said, “I’m going to sing some songs that we used to do in the Maritime Hotel in Belfast back in 1964”, and sang Baby Please Don’t Go, Midnight Special, Parchman Farm, Don’t Start Crying Now and Custard Pie. It was great, I think Van is quite nostalgic for the olden days in Belfast when he was young and just starting out. There was a complete change of mood then for In The Midnight in which Dave Keary played some wonderful pedal steel guitar. The song had a sort of 1950’s doo-wop feel for me. This was followed by Think Twice Before You Go and then Precious Time which I know some of the Vanatics don’t like all that much but Dave on pedal steel and Paul on trumpet were excellent.

The show went from really good to sublime then, when Van put on his electric guitar for Why Must I Always Explain. It was fabulous and was followed by Ray Charles’s I Can’t Stop Loving You. Dana & Sumudu were great on the backing vocals for this song which reminded me of when Van had the Crawford Bell singers in the band about 10 years ago. The brilliance continued with In The Afternoon. Van  stopped the song to have a little mini-rant about BBC Radio 2 presenter Steve Wright who has a show called ‘Steve Wright In The Afternoon’. Van said he had met him about 20 years ago and he still has a grudge against Van now. Van said, “ Anyway, up your’s Steve Wright”. I agree with Van, I can’t stand the pillock either. Apart from that the song developed into Raincheck and it was great.

The show was coming to a climax now with All In The Game in which Dave on guitar and Paul on trumpet were magnificent and the song evolved into You Know What They're Writing About /No Plan B No Safety Net. This is the transcendental stuff that keeps us die-hard Van fans coming back for more. Van left the stage but came back for Help Me which was good but I’ve heard it many a time before. When Van left the stage again I was heading for the door because I knew the band would be playing away for another ten minutes. That’s how I managed to have a chat with Vince on the way out.

Outside on the pavement in the rainy London night I said cheerio to Kerrie who had to rush off and then me, Burning Ground, Miquel, Elena & Thomas went to the pub. Marcel-Yves was buzzing from the concert. We all agreed it was great. They were playing bass and drum dance music in the pub and Marcel-Yves couldn’t stand it after seeing Van so he headed off. Eventually the pub closed and I said goodnight to the others and headed back to my hotel.

This morning it was a beautiful sunny warm Spring day in London town and I went for a nice walk along the river. I was early for my train so went in a pub near Waterloo called The Hole In The Wall. Guess what music they were playing ? Only Tupelo Honey by Van Morrison. The perfect end to a really nice trip to London to see Van the man. Let’s do it again soon !

Review: Crazy Dancing Days by Keith Christmas.

It has been a long wait for a new album from Keith Christmas since Live At The Pump in 2012 so I was very pleased when Crazy Dancing Days popped through my letter box yesterday. The twelve songs on the album are all written by Keith and I think this is the first album of completely new material that he has produced in decades.

On opening the package which incidentally arrived only three days after I had ordered it, (I wish everyone I bought stuff from online was this prompt) I discovered a most attractively designed CD featuring a Mud Dance drip painting by Frank Marino Baker. There is also a photo by Tony Lock and Keith had also taken the time to sign my copy.

The opening track Crazy Dancing Days demonstrates what a virtuoso guitarist Keith is, as does every track on the album. In the lyrics, he mentions playing at Les Cousins. This was a folk club in Greek Street in Soho where everybody who was anybody in the folk music world of the 60’s played. It was famous for its all-night sessions. The song is a nostalgic look back to those heady days. There is quite a political message to this album as shown by the second song Cross The Water which is an impassioned plea for us to be more sympathetic to refugees. Sadly, a message that I fear is falling on deaf ears these days, especially in Brexit Britain. Flow Through Me is a great song which as I interpret the lyrics is about Keith getting the muse again during a trip to France and after years of writers block suddenly starts channeling songs. I often think that with artistic people that the inspiration doesn’t come from them, it flows through them and often even they don’t understand where it comes from. I suppose in the old days the next song Welcome To The End Of The World (One More Time) would be called a ‘Protest’ song. I think we could do with a few more protest songs these days.

 I am glad that the next two songs, Haul It Up and Sail With The Sun sit next to each other on the album because they seem to complement each other very nicely indeed. Both are awash with nautical references. I think you can tell that Keith lives by the coast. Talking To The Dead (Again) is a wonderful poignant song with Keith reflecting on the life of an old friend.

The political themes return in the next three songs. When The New Man Comes To Power seems very topical to me with the unspeakable one about to be installed as USA President. After watching the news about what is happening in Aleppo at the moment I think that King Of The Ruined Castle could easily refer to Assad but that’s just my interpretation. I have seen Keith perform If The Young Don’t March at the Village Pump fest and thinking what a great song it is. I’m not sure if I exactly agree though. It wasn’t the young who voted for Brexit, also I think there are a lot of marches and demos going on but it doesn’t get the coverage in the biased media. Jeremy Corbyn certainly got huge crowds of youngsters at his rallies during his leadership campaign.

Cover It Up features some frenetic guitar playing and sounds like quite an angry song. By complete contrast the last song Small Brass Box is a beautiful mellow ballad inspired by mementos of his parents. I loved this song on first listen. If a retrospective best of Keith Christmas album is ever issued in the future then I think this song would certainly deserve to be included on it.

I have really enjoyed listening to this album the last two days and Keith should be really proud of his achievement. If you would like to find out more about Keith Christmas then go to his website here-

 http://keithchristmas.com/

Fifty Years Ago Today. November 5th 1966.

I know exactly what I was doing on November 5th 1966 because it was Bonfire night and I had some money left from my 15th birthday but I wasn't going to spend it on fireworks. I had a much better idea of what to spend my money on. That afternoon I made my way to Boots store in Bridge Street which had a record department up at the far end and looked at the Top 20 for that week.
1) REACH OUT I'LL BE THERE Four Tops
2) STOP, STOP, STOP Hollies
3) I CAN'T CONTROL MYSELF The Troggs
4) DISTANT DRUMS Jim Reeves
5) WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL New Vaudeville Band
6) HIGH TIME Paul Jones
7) NO MILK TODAY Herman's Hermits
8) GUANTANAMERA Sandpipers
9) BEND IT Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich
10) TIME DRAGS BY Cliff Richard
11) SEMI-DETACHED SURBURBAN MR. JAMES Manfred Mann
12) I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN Four Seasons
13) IF I WERE A CARPENTER Bobby Darin
14) A FOOL AM I Cilla Black
15) GOOD VIBRATIONS Beach Boys
16) I'M A BOY The Who
17) ALL I SEE IS YOU Dusty Springfield
18) ALL THAT I AM Elvis Presley
19) HAVE YOU SEEN YOUR MOTHER, BABY, STANDING IN THE SHADOWS Rolling Stones
20) YOU CAN'T HURRY LOVE Supremes

I knew exactly the one I wanted. I had been a Beach Boys fan for two years already since hearing I Get Around in an amusement arcade in Cromer in 1964. The Beach Boys had already had three top ten hits in 66 with Barbara Ann, Sloop John B and God Only Knows. The new song was straight in the charts at Number 15 and I hadn't heard it yet. "Can I have Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys please", I said to the girl, handing over a ten shilling note, and paid 6/8p (six shillings and eight pence). I pocketed my 3/4p change and hurried back up Bridge Street clutching my precious record. There was a man on the corner of Cathedral Square selling the Evening Telegraph and the Pink 'Un.

" How did Posh get on?",I asked him."They drew 1-1 with Bristol Rovers",he replied. I crossed the square and headed up Long Causeway and Broadway, past the Odean Cinema which was showing 'Finders Keepers' starring Cliff Richard. It was rubbish, we had seen it that week because I had won free tickets in the 99 Club in the Evening Telegraph. I ran up Park Road past the The Kings School  kicking the fallen chestnut leaves along the pavement. It was a dark and windy evening now with just the odd rocket exploding in the gathering dusk. I got home and went straight to the front room and put on my new record and lay on the settee to listen. I was amazed. It was the best song I had ever heard in my life. I couldn't believe it. After one listen I knew that music had taken a quantum leap to another level. Nobody had made a record this sophisticated before. It was a mini-symphony of three and a half minutes. If Mozart had been alive in 1966 he would have listened with admiration to this song. When it ended I played it again, lying on the floor with my head near the speaker listening intently to sounds I had never heard before such as the theremin which was an instrument I had never even heard of. It was enthralling. Rolling Stone magazine put this song as number six on its list of the 500 greatest pop songs of all time. I would put it at number one. Then I played it again... and again...and again. Then played the flipside which was called Wendy and was a track off the All Summer Long album of two years earlier. It was alright, but not a patch on Good Vibrations which I played again about five more times. With this song Brian Wilson had thrown down the gauntlet to the Beatles. He had assembled the record from 90 hours of recording tape and spliced the various parts together. Nobody had attempted this modular approach to recording before to produce the perfect song. There would have been no Strawberry Fields Forever or A Day In The Life if it hadn't been for Brian raising the bar in such spectacular fashion.

On that fateful evening of fifty years ago today my music appreciation had reached a new level. Brian Wilson had become my music god and my life would never be the same again. Shortly afterwards I had saved up the 32/6p to buy Pet Sounds which I thought was the best album ever until I heard Astral Weeks seven years later.

Review: Keep Me Singing By Van Morrison.

I like to support my local music shop if I can so on Friday morning still buzzing from Van’s great concert on the BBC the previous night I caught the bus over to Warminster where I picked up the CD of Van’s 36^th solo album Keep Me Singing from Raves From The Graves record shop. Then I met my friend Sian in the Bath Arms pub and eagerly opened the package. The artwork is by Justin Helton who apparently designed the posters for some of Van’s shows in the USA earlier in the year. I was really pleased that the CD contained a booklet with all the lyrics because I like poring over the words to see what I can glean from them. Later that afternoon I played the album for the first time and immediately decided that this is Van’s best recorded work in 20 years. I have been guilty in the past  of being over-enthusiastic on hearing a Van album for the first time so I waited till today before writing a review. I must say though after a few listens that I think it is possibly his best work since Down The Road in 2002. Let’s have a look at the songs.

Let It Rhyme is a great opening track. Van complained in an interview recently about the length of time it takes to do the mixing after the recording is complete but I think the wait has been worth it because Enda Walsh has done a great job in the mixing and adding Fiachra Trench’s strings. One thing that this album shows is that Van’s voice is as great or even greater than ever. Van plays some really nice blues harp and Paul Moran’s Hammond organ playing deserves a mention as well.

Every Time I See A River is a collaboration between Van and the famous lyricist Don Black and I think it is destined to be a Van classic and I can imagine it being part of his live repertoire for years to come. Dave Keary shows what a fine guitarist he is on this song.

The title track Keep Me Singing is next. Here we find Van on the corner where the homeboys welcome him back which is an image Van has conjured up before in his long and illustrious career and the great Sam Cooke gets another mention in a Van song. Watching boats from the hillside also reminds me a bit of previous Van songs such as So Quiet In Here. It’s nice to see some old faces from a previous Van era reappearing on this album such as Johnny Scott, Nicky Scott & Liam Bradley. Van plays more great harp on this track as well.

Out In The Cold Again is another great song. It only features one member of Van’s present band who is Paul Moran but really nice to see Kate St John return on the Cor Anglais. There is some very nice acoustic guitar played by Nigel Price. When I read the lyrics before hearing the song I thought the words were quite depressing but you don’t get the feeling of rage on this album but more like world weary resignation in the cold black night. I think this song will be great in concert.

Memory Lane is well named because it reminds me of Van songs from another time mentioning Autumn and leaves in all their splendour. I think it must have been recorded at the same session as the previous track because it features the same eight people. Another great song which the fans will love.

The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword is a complete change of mood and quite funky and you can have a dance to this one if you want. The lyrics are a bit repetitious but that doesn’t matter. Dave Keary and Van play some great guitar on this track.

Holy Guardian Angel might prove to be my favourite track from the album in time. It is very spiritual as you would imagine from the title. I think this song might have evolved from Van’s concert performances because in the past when stretching out In The Garden he has often referred to guardian angels and the witching hour. It is very nice to see that John Platania another of Van’s old friends from the past playing acoustic guitar on this song. In the lyrics van sings ‘Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, nobody knows my sorrow’, this is taken from an old slave spiritual published in 1867 which has been recorded by Louis Armstrong, Sam Cooke and many others which Van has cleverly worked into this song.

Share Your Love With Me is the only cover version on the album and was written by Alfred Braggs & Don Robey. Van originally recorded it for a Bobby Bland tribute album which never happened so he decided to include it here. Van’s admiration of Bobby Bland goes back a long way with his band Them recording Turn On Your Love light and Van’s live version of  Ain’t Nothing You Can Do. This song is a nice rhythm & Blues song with a hint of country. No wonder Kenny Rogers had a hit with it.

In Tiburon is next and I loved the lyrics of this song when I first heard it because it mentions a lot of the Beat Generation writers who I admire such as Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. It also mentions City Lights Bookshop and it was City Lights who published the American edition of Van’s book of lyrics ‘Lit Up Inside’. Ferlinghetti is still alive actually aged 97, I wonder if he knows that Van has mentioned him in a song. He read one of his poems at the Last Waltz concert where Van stole the show so they do know each other. This song is dripping with literary and music references. I think I noticed a typo error in the lyrics booklet. It mentions the ‘Hungry Eye’ club, I think it should read ‘The Hungry I’. Also the song mentions another of Van’s heroes Chet Baker playing at The Trident. It was outside the Trident that Chet Baker while trying to score some heroin got beaten up so badly that all his teeth got knocked out which ruined his embouchure so he couldn’t play his horn for a long while till he got his mouth sorted out.  Cast Your Fate To The Wind by Vince Guaraldi which is also mentioned got to number 5 in the UK Charts in 1965 when recorded by Sounds Orchestral. Anyway, all that besides, this is a great song and one of my favourites from the album and has foghorns a plenty which Van also likes to mention occasionally.

Look Beyond The Hill I think is one of the lesser tracks on the album but I might change my mind after a few more listens.It was originally an instrumental called Yo and was a B-Side to one of Van's singles but he has revisited it and added lyrics.

Going Down To Bangor is the fun song with Van getting aboard a charabanc with his bucket and spade for a day at the seaside. I think his Northern Ireland fans will love all the local references to the Pickie Pool, Napoleons Nose, Cave Hill and Donaghadee.

Too Late is the token pop song and the first single from the album. I thought it was Dave Keary doing the backing vocals as he does live but he is not credited on this track so I think it must be Lance Ellington who sings backing vocals with Dana Masters.

Caledonia Swing is the instrumental track which brings this excellent album to an end. Van has had an obsession with the word Caledonia all his life even to the extent of it being his daughter Shana’s middle name. I think it is because he is proud of his Ulster/ Scots background and Caledonia is the old Roman word for Scotland. Anyway, it is quite a jolly romp and it’s nice to see his old fiddle player Tony Fitzgibbon make a welcome return.

I highly recommend this album which is a great addition to the finest body of work of any singer in the world. To make an album of this quality at the age of 71 after a career of over 55 years is quite an amazing achievement.

                                                             The End.