Van Goes Hollywood

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Irish Voice Entertainment

Van Goes Hollywood

October 10, 2008

Off the Record by Mike Farragher

VAN Morrison shocked fans with the announcement that he will perform back to back Hollywood Bowl shows on November 7 and 8 at which he’ll run through his classic Astral Weeks album in its entirety.

According to Irish music mag Hot Press and a press release, Van will perform Astral Weeks at the Hollywood Bowl with many of the musicians who participated in the original studio sessions 40 years ago. Tickets go on sale on Sunday, October 5 from ticketmaster.com if you are in the area.

“This is a welcome opportunity for me to perform these songs the way I originally intended them to be,” Van enthuses in a statement. “It’s about the world of creation and of the imagination. That is what a song is, a little movie with melodies and music built around it, poetry in moving pictures in the mind.

“In the sixties and seventies the record companies did not support the music, so I never got to take these songs on tour, and I certainly did not have the money to do it. These songs are as timeless and fresh right now as the day they were written, and I am happy about taking them to the Hollywood Bowl.”

This is also a welcome change for fans like me, who have been waiting for Van the Man to mix it up a little. Ever since he released great CDs like Back on Top last decade and through his recent Magic Time, Morrison could be counted on every couple of years to release a tidy collection of well-manicured blues tunes that capitalized on the low registered growl that has set into his voice.

But after a half dozen albums at about 10 songs an album, it has felt a bit like hearing the same blues tune 60 times.

Don’t get me wrong. There is some great writing and playing here! With a few exceptions, however, his latter day releases have little in the way of the Celtic mysticism and acoustic jazz meanderings of the immortal Astral Weeks.

Back then, Van was a mythological Celtic poet, the long, red hair framing his earnest face. He was completely uninhibited at the time, easily overwhelmed and lost in the music and free form prose.

It was unlike anything produced out of Ireland before or since. In a weird way, tracks like “Sweet Thing” and “Ballerina” were just as soulful as anything coming out of Detroit.

The romantic longing in these melodies would prove to be lucrative 40 years later, as it seems that no chick flick soundtrack would be complete without a track from Astral Weeks on it. The prospect of Morrison revisiting immortal tunes and getting lost in the spaces once again, now older and wiser, is something that puts goose bumps on my arm even as I write this.

Van also intends to use these shows as a stocking stuffer for his fans. The two shows will be edited down into an Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl album, which will emerge just before Christmas on Morrison’s new Listen to the Lion label.

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