Van Morrison - Just Like Greta

The Big Picture By Bap Kennedy.

Sunday evening and I'm listening to an album I bought about twelve years ago. I bought it through the late lamented Wavelength Magazine run by Simon Gee. Bap had signed a few albums for them. Before buying this album all I knew about Bap Kennedy was that he was in a band called Energy Orchard many years ago who had recorded an excellent version of Van Morrison's Madame George. I also knew he was the brother of Brian Kennedy. The reason I bought the album was that I had the great pleasure many years ago of meeting Carolyn Cassady and I often wondered what she was doing these days and lo and behold,up she popped on Bap's album. The opening track Rock And Roll Heaven begins with a few seconds of Brian Wilson style harmonising and then goes into a driving country rock beat with Bap name dropping nearly every dead singer that ever existed. The Truth Is Painful  is a slower introspective song with some nice whistle playing by Kieron Kelly and guitar by Paul Toner. Moriarty's Blues is what I came here for. It's a nice slow jazzy song. Moriarty as you know is Dean Moriarty the hero of Kerouac's On The Road and in real life Neal Cassady. His wife Carolyn reads a short extract from her book Off The Road and it is very nice to hear her voice again. Sadly Carolyn as well as Bap is no longer with us What a great lady she was.

Streetwise displays Bap's dry dark humour and Too Old For Fairy Tales has a country feel to it. Milky Way was co-written with another Belfast troubadour called Van Morrison. It is a wonderful song with a great instrumental break in the middle of it. You can hear Milky Way below if you scroll down. Alison Limerick provides some nice backing vocals to Loverman. There is a West Indian feel to Fireworks. The legend that is Shane MacGowan makes a small contribution to On The Mighty Ocean Alcohol . There are some very witty lyrics to The Sweet Smell Of Success. The best is saved for last with The Beautiful Country. It is a song only the Irish could write.

On the liner notes I see that a lot of the album was recorded at Wool Hall Studio's which is only four miles away from where I am right now. Van gave Bap the use of his studio. Bap also thanks Van without whom the album wouldn't exist. That shows what a nice person Van is under his gruff exterior. This album is highly recommended. Sadly Bap died just over a year ago and didn't achieve the recognition his talent deserved. A friend of mine sent me another great album by Bap called Howl On. I might write about that album on another evening.

Bap Kennedy Milky Way

Van Morrison - Cyprus Avenue - 9/23/1970 - Fillmore East, New York, NY (...

Jackson C. Frank- Blues Run the Game (1965)

Way To Blue. Nick Drake & Van Morrison.

I finished reading the excellent Pink Moon by Gorm Henrik Rasmusson this afternoon. A great read and written in a very poetic style which you would expect as the author is a poet. Well done as well to the translator Bent Sorenson for translating it in to English so sympathetically. As a huge Van Morrison fan one thing that struck me is the similarities between Van and Nick especially as regards such early Van albums as Astral Weeks and Veedon Fleece. It is apparent that Nick was a fan of Astral Weeks. It is well documented that he gave it a lot of plays. When Nick was at Marlborough College he formed a band called The Perfumed Garden and part of their repertoire was St James Infirmary and Parchman Farm. As any Van fan will tell you, those songs have both been recorded by Van and often figure in his live act. The book tells us that Nick was a big fan of Mose Allison, as is Van to this very day. Georgie Fame was somebody else who Nick admired who went on to become a band member and close friend of Van’s. Also, Nick & Van do not appear to have any interest in explaining the songs. It is left to the listener to find meaning in the songs for themselves.

Another thing I noticed was they both were great admirers of William Blake. Nick & Van obviously recognised a kindred spirit there. Finally, I couldn’t help noticing how much rain is mentioned in the lyrics of both singers. They both seem to see rain & water as cathartic experiences.

I wonder if Nick hadn’t died so tragically young if Nick & Van’s paths might have crossed. I think they would have understood each other. Both seemed to have an underlying melancholy, and ambivalence about performing live. My own guess about the source of Nick’s unhappiness is that he inherited his mother’s sadness. After buying the Songs Of Molly Drake album last year I can see the same underlying depression that Nick suffered from in the words of Molly’s songs. I think it was her husband Rodney who gave Molly the stability she needed. Nick wasn't so lucky. Anyway, I’m now playing my Way To Blue album by the great Nick Drake. 

Nick Drake - Way To Blue