Backstreet JellyPOLL: ILM Van Morrison Poll Discussion Thread

Are you ready to venture into the slipstream? Can you hear Them calling, way up from Oregon? Have you got your pen and notebook ready?

I think it's about time for us to begin the ILM Van Morrison poll.

Submit your top 30 Van Morrison songs, and your top 5 albums. Everything from Them to his newest record is eligible. Deadline is end of day August 1, 2017. Standard scoring, blah blah blah.

Please send your ballots via electronic mail to ilmvanmorrisonpoll at gmail dot com

Use this thread to advocate for any songs, albums, or anything else Van-related that crosses your mind. This is going to be a good time!!!!!!!

holy shit

is this the thread for rhapsodic appreciation of Veedon Fleece?

all threads are for the rhapsodic appreciation of veedon fleece iirc

glad this poll didn't happen before most of his catalog became available digitally

Well this isn't going to be difficult at all.

I'm curious for the albums poll. The Veedon Fleece has undergone an On The Beach-esque surge in popularity in recent years. Or maybe On The Beach has undergone a Veedon Fleece.

Also, all votes for Veedon Fleece will be discounted unless it's referred to as The Veedon Fleece.

Also, I'm not sure there's any act more conducive to POLL-style puns. The guy has a zillion.

if anyone needs a guide to the '80s and early '90s van records i wrote one a few years ago http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/astral-years-a-seekers-guide-to-van-morrison-in-the-80-1700003646

essentially no van ballot is complete without

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxA0UWDkVNI

imo

Thanks, that's a fantastic blog. Van's 80s were better than he gets credit for. How about the 90s? The Healing Game is good, but I haven't heard much else.

Also, this is an incredible story by Glen Hansard about the first time he crossed paths with Van Morrison.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29abxJgCyOI

Van is a weird dude

I'm not really into polls but I'm up for this one

Can we include Them material?

POLLer on the threshold

Did Ye Get POLLed

Can we include Them material?

Yes of course.

I only 'found' Summertime in England last year, but I think it'll be in my top 5. And thanks for the 80s primer - don't know that period at all.

this is going to be awesome.

I made a CD-R in '15 out of Brad's '80s selections on a beach road trip to the west coast of Florida – damn, it was perfect.

With such a vast and varied catalog, hard for me to guess what's relatively obscure and worth touting on this thread. Example: Moonshine Whiskey. It's on Tupelo Honey but I only really know it from various live performances. Anyhow, it's worth your consideration ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyqIED-yBbE

feelin Brad on Summertime in England, essential

i don't even know how to do this poll

BTW - Are live versions (particularly stuff from It's Too Late to Stop Now and also "Caravan" from The Last Waltz) eligible or only studio stuff?

also, for way late period albums, I'd encourage people to check out Magic Time, it's worth a listen

the new one (keep me singing) is good too but not sure anything that would crack a list

always bring this one out — might be my favorite Van deep cut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_YMPV3Y8sk

i like this one off Magic Time, Van and lions are a good combo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_gPYg6ZT4Y

Tyler OTM about Contemplation Rose. Not Supposed To Break Down also highly recommended.

Would be really hard to narrow down to 30 cuts just from Van in the 70s.

BTW - Are live versions (particularly stuff from It's Too Late to Stop Now and also "Caravan" from The Last Waltz) eligible or only studio stuff?

― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, July 18, 2017 8:57 AM (forty-three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i mean i'll leave this up to kornruelz but i think it'd be best to fold live versions into a song's total points, while noting a certain no. of ppl voted for a specific live performance in parentheses or something)

BTW - Are live versions (particularly stuff from It's Too Late to Stop Now and also "Caravan" from The Last Waltz) eligible or only studio stuff?

Similar to how it was done on Talking Heads poll, I'll combine live and studio together. So if you vote for Caravan from Last Waltz, just specifiy it and I'll note all the live versions receiving votes during the rollout.

I'll be giving this a vote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_X5M_bWNIY

"good craic (an Irish term for conversation)"

I hate to be pedantic Brad but "craic" generally means fun times and joviality

i'll definitely forward it to my editor two years ago

iirc i took that definition from wikipedia but at some point the adjectives i employed before "conversation" ("jovial"? was potentially one of them) got deleted, idk

Oh man I am not enjoying Wavelength at all.

xpost Love me some Into the Music from the following year. What's up with Wavelength?

"Wavelength" is kinda poor. I was listening to "Common One" earlier and I think it's Top 5 quality

I agree, Wavelength is dull, but Into the Music is a real return to form, especially the first side. Apart from the odd track, the 80s were not good - plodding, repetitive, predictable. For deep '70s cuts, I would single out You're My Woman from Tupelo Honey, Snow in St Anselmo and Wild Children from Hard Nose the Highway, I've Been Working from Street Choir, the title track of St Dominic's Preview and Into the Mystic from Moondance. Veedon Fleece is just about perfect. The real high points, for me, are the transitions from Linden Arden Stole the Highlights into the falsetto of Who Was the Masked Man, and his vocal delivery on You Don't Pull No Punches. Check out the strings and flue arrangement on that track too.

flute, not flue, there are no musical chimneys

"Craic" is fake Irish of course. To be even more pedantic .

I'm going to be even more pedantic now. Van is from Ulster - Ulster Scots, if you prefer, though I don't - and 'craic' or, more properly, 'crack' would have meant conversation/chat to someone from his background, though it's possible he's using it in its more modern Irish form.

oh god now i'm reliving my research on that piece lol

Yes, ignore all that and get into the music instead, doyouseewhatididthere...

the second side of into the music where all the songs blend into each other exquisite, especially in fall

er.. is exquisite*

y'all...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMf-0OuUy9k

One of my very favorite songs of his is Wonderful Remark, from the King of Comedy film and his ubiquitous greatest hits CD from the late 80s.

There's a longer version of Wonderful Remark on the Philosopher's Stone compilation, but IMHO you can't beat the 80s one.

that was a wonderful remark kornrulez

Circa 1991, I taped (off the radio) a King Biscuit live show from the Wavelength era. It was among my very favorite tapes. An aging boombox ate it for lunch a few years later. Nowadays, when I chance to hear anything from that album, I mourn for that lost cassette. I don't know if it's available and I confess I haven't looked much. But I recall that "Wavelength," "Kingdom Hall," and "Checkin' It Out" were uberclassic in that performance.

"Wonderful Remark" is essential imo.

so is "Cleaning Windows."

i'll def need to download a new bootleg bc there's a lot of weird problems with this one, but the audio quality itself is still v good. his band sounds so buoyant in this era, or maybe i'm projecting onto how fun "dweller" and "cleaning windows" sound to play xp

fair amount of van boots yonder: http://www.ousterhout.net/mp3/vm.html

Speaking of unreleased Van, would be nice if he signed off on the live 1968 Astral Weeks tape currently collecting dust at Peter Wolf's house.

the version I knew of "Grits Ain't Groceries" was an ooooold country tune but I'm guessing this was Van's jam in '75

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vel5wqOURMo

Update: Tomorrow is the last day to vote. Right now this thing is a tossup, there is a handful of songs that could easily win, and albums is wide open as well.

XP Also a career-making hit (under the title "All Around The World") for Little Willie John in the mid-'50s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XHC-qZXOyI

working my way through the discography

Wavelength is pretty bad

i disagree!!!

i couldn't find room for it on my ballot but i really love "take it where you find it" and how it slowly loosens into this enormous gospel song

I'm to the title track now and it's my fav so far. It's funny I was like "Is Garth Hudson on this?" and it turns out he was, he's so distinctive, esp once he gets into synths, in fact this is a good song

Venice USA was such a pastiche of late period Band it turned me off tho

Wavelength album is uneven but utterly key imo.

Checkin' It Out > Kingdom Hall > Wavelength > Natalia > Hungry for Your Love

kornrulez is there a time cut-off tomorrow (2nd Aug)? I'm on GMT.

holy crap at the opening...

https://youtu.be/Ndt3bVNcug0

on to Into the Music, really good so far...I love "Full Force Gale", seems like he's trying to get back to the Caledonia Soul Orchestra sound here but a bit more modern

"rave on john donne" merging into "did ye get healed" at the end of the '87 glastonbury show = a+

into the music is def a return to form in composition and production, it makes a lot more sense as a follow-up to veedon fleece than a period of transition does, and it sounds so crisp

Van is going to kill you if you meet him by those pylons, i think. or maybe love you forever? but also maybe kill you?

kornrulez is there a time cut-off tomorrow (2nd Aug)? I'm on GMT.

Officially the cutoff 12:01 AM Eastern Standard Time, August 3. That's 6 hours behind GMT. But I'm not going to be able to check the ballots until around 9am August 3.

How many people still have to vote?

me, will send this evening

Speaking of cleaning windows, I never took in that the first line in St Dominic's Preview was about just that: "shammy cleaning all the windows..."

St Dominic's is very high on my ballot. Here's a lovely mellow version from his Belfast 1979 show, I believe the first time he's back in Belfast in many many years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igK2ME-0jh4

Into the Music is a top three Van album

"Bright side of the road" is the go-to Van song for Irish radio even more than "Brown Eyed Girl". I'm kinda sick of it esp the Dairylea girl backing vox. It put me off listening to "into the music" tbh

In the USA radio it's either Domino or Wild Night. Brown Eyed Girl is easily his biggest hit here but it's been relegated to oldies status.

...and/or "Moondance"--I was amazed to discover it wasn't a single since it was such a radio staple.

/kornrulez is there a time cut-off tomorrow (2nd Aug)? I'm on GMT./

Officially the cutoff 12:01 AM Eastern Standard Time, August 3. That's 6 hours behind GMT. But I'm not going to be able to check the ballots until around 9am August 3.

Great thanks i will be sending my ballot tonight.

I'm almost done!

I'm being lazy but does someone have a link to the Glastonbury set?

will send at noon PST

sent

Holy mackerel, this thing is going to be close. If you haven't voted, please do so. Your ballot will decide the winner fer sure.

Sent.

Holy mackerel, this thing is going to be close. If you haven't voted, please do so. Your ballot will decide the winner fer sure.

Coming soon. With a coat so old. In the garden. With the leaves all wet with rain.

I'm almost done!

I'm being lazy but does someone have a link to the Glastonbury set?

I don't know how ilx mail works but I could help

I VOTED! (NO FAKE NEWS)

waiting for the rollout to start is a form of suffering so fine

^dwelling on the threshold

I'm trying hard to make this whole thing blend.

Rollout begins tomorrow for sure

I'm caught one more time waiting

Kornrulez it will come through

Sent!

this is exciting

turn it up!

Kornrulez it will come through

― wtev,

Did I get your ballot, wtev? The Caravan is packing up and ready to move.

/Kornrulez it will come through

― wtev,/

Did I get your ballot, wtev? The Caravan is packing up and ready to move.

Yes you emailed me last night at 2.27 Manchester time

Sorry my earlier post was written while I was listening to summertime in England. /a man who comes through/

OK so we are done.

22 ballots.
16 albums.
154 songs.
Lots of surprises to come.

Yes!

http://i.imgur.com/fg8RYPw.jpg

Just testing that out. Apologies for the crude art direction.

Linden Arden POLL the Highlights--ILM Van Morrison Poll Results