Van Morrison LIVE!

I consider myself a pretty big Van Morrison fan. I've collected his albums over the years, picking up his early CD's here and there and all the while enjoying the ride. I have his first 8 or 9 albums which I love and a few of his newer ones of which I am not a huge fan. But one album that never made the transition to CD (until last year) was his live concert titled "It's Too Late to Stop Now", which was released in 1974. Before I knew this was released on CD,  a fellow record collector from the RCG who goes by weletthegoldfishgo offered to sell me a copy of this album on vinyl. I accepted that offer and was blown away with what I had just purchased. From the first note to the last, Van takes his performances to a level I had not heard before in any studio recordings.

From the opening notes of "Ain't Nothin' You Can Do" to the last words in the 10 minute plus version of "Cypress Avenue", Van strives and hits his stride in the various recorded performances. The songs were taken from several shows of that tour, including Los Angeles, Santa Monica and London. One interesting note about this album was that there were no overdubs or corrections to any of the music.A rarity in live recordings. What you hear is what was played. The only song absent from the masters is "Moondance" due to one note wrongly played during the performance.

 

Some outstanding performances of some of his classics including "Warm Love", "Caravan" and "Into the Mystic" are present as well as my favorite track on the album "I Believe to My Soul" which was originally written and recorded by Mr. Ray Charles.Amazing job on his version of that song as well.

Side one

1. "Ain't Nothin' You Can Do" 
2. "Warm Love"
3. "Into the Mystic" 
4. "These Dreams of You"
5. "I Believe to My Soul" (Mr. Ray Charles)

Side two

1. "I've Been Working"
2. "Help Me" 
3. "Wild Children" 
4. "Domino" 
5. "I Just Want to Make Love to You"

Side three

1. "Bring It On Home To Me"
2. "Saint Dominic's Preview"
3. "Take Your Hands Out of My Pocket"
4. "Listen to the Lion" – 8:43

Side four

1. "Here Comes the Night" 
2. "Gloria" – 4:16
3. "Caravan" – 9:20
4. "Cyprus Avenue" – 10:20

Van seems to control what video footage is released, and I do not believe, but will need to confirm, available video footage of this particular show, so instead, I'll share some of my favorite performances.

Here is Van with The Band during The Last Waltz perfomance which included many stars accompanying The Band.

Another great song, originally recorded on Saint Dominic's Preview, "The Way That Young Lover's Do"

And, finally, a rare, live version of Van performing "I Believe to My Soul". Amazing.

Thanks for checking out Vital Vinyl this week. Hope you enjoy.