"This is what the Band would sound like if they woodshedded on Cyprus Avenue instead of Big Pink...."

I was YouTubing the other night. Could not sleep. I'm at the age where I can feel my head nodding off, about to crash into my laptop keyboard during the workday, but come 11pm my blood starts racing through my veins and I start pacing and worrying and my dog gets that look in his eye that says"here we go...."

So yea, I was flicking through YouTube and saw an ad or a trailer or something about the Kenneth Branagh film "Belfast", which I watched a few months back. It's a lovely coming of age film that featured a Van Morrison soundtrack, including a brand new song called "Down to Joy"....a breezy, instantly memorable song reminiscent of Morrison's classic sides. I immediately went diving for it on Spotify, but Van, ever the curmudgeon, refused to allow its release on streaming services. So I found it on YouTube, and its 3 minutes and 40 seconds were undoubtedly the highlight of my day. And night.

Funny how the older you get the less it takes. I'm remembering Holden Caufield in "Catcher in the Rye", talking about his teacher. "You take somebody old as hell, like old Spencer, and they can get a big bang out of buying a blanket.."

That's me these late nights. Scared. Alone. Anxious. But getting a big bang out of a new Van Morrison song.

And then I remembered what I did with this column a few months back. How I dove into The Band's second album because of something I heard in a podcast while I was cutting my grass. And, you know, I got a big bang out of that. So now with this Van thing, why not try it again?

Well, other than the fact that Van is an asshole? Which I can still overlook when I'm listening to "Saint Dominic’s Preview" or "Tupelo Honey". Not so much with his current work, which is mostly the him finding 12 different ways to say "hey you kids get off my lawn....and take your covid vaccines with you..." over generic blues shuffles.

Yea, Van is one of those Covideers. During the pandemic he actually cut a few ghastly sides with Eric Clapton, another anti-vaxxer. Both of them ranted and raved like a couple of MAGA incels, but everybody now kinda pretends that it didn't really happen. Which I think is the proper response.

Recent Van records have featured songs such as "They Own the Media" and "Why Are You on Facebook?", which features the following chorus...

Why are you on Facebook?
Why are you on Facebook?
Why are you on Facebook?
Why are you on Facebook?
Why are you on Facebook?
Why are you on Facebook?
Why are you on Facebook?
Why are you on Facebook?
Yeah

Coming from the same guy who wrote these lines...

And I will raise my hand up into the nighttime sky
And count the stars that's shining in your eye
And just to dig it all and not to wonder, that's just fine
And I'll be satisfied not to read in between the lines

And I will walk and talk in gardens, all wet with rain
And I will never, ever, ever, ever grow so old again

.....one can only assume that he's lost his fucking mind. That fact that Van was promoting the song "Why Are You on Facebook?" on all his social media accounts, which include Facebook, was not something he found troubling. Nor was the fact that after an outcry he had to clarify that the "They" in "They Own the Media" were not in fact Jews… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯…..which has a bit of the racist “I have a lot of black friends” feel to it but whatever.

One critic described Van's recent music as a "self-absorbed descent into COVID lunacy", which sums up things as neatly and succinctly as Morrison's own songs used to.

It's well known that Van has always been paranoid and temperamental. And maybe just a wee bit batshit. He scowls at a largely fawning press when he deigns to talk to them at all, which isn't often. He's forever accusing other artists of ripping him off, an interesting take for a guy who has himself creatively borrowed from more than a few black singers. He's capable of transcendence one night…..and bringing a clock onstage the next, with a timer set to his agreed upon set length. When it reaches 0:00 he'll simply walk offstage, even if he's still in the middle of a song. But where before you could spin this sort of thing as the eccentricities of a misunderstood genius, recently he's more like a dog straining on a leash. He's not just being a dick naturally. He's working hard at it.

His latest album is called “What’s It Gonna Take”, and it’s so bad that it answers its own question. It’s 79 minutes of trolling. It’s his first ever record that didn’t chart in America. Hell, it didn’t even chart in Ireland. The only people listening to this fucking drivel are the guys who spent the lockdown picking fights with teenage cashiers over mask mandates.

But still, I can put on a record like Astral Weeks or Into the Music and forgive him all his trespasses. These records are part of my DNA, and can’t be erased. He's as great a popular singer and songwriter as the 20th century has ever produced, and I'll stand on the dinner tables of Ray Charles and Bob Dylan and repeat that.

And Moondance. My God. Like the Band's second record, Moondance is perfect. Over 50 years on it stills feel timeless. Like it existed somewhere in the ether and was just waiting for somebody weird enough to claim it. It's rock and roll and R & B and it's jazz and it's pop and it's Irish folk music, all lashed together into what Van eventually called Caledonia Soul. This was music about healing, and music that can heal. Spiritual and mystical and childlike and even a little bit randy....this is what the Band would sound like if they woodshedded on Cyprus Avenue instead of Big Pink.

So I think it's time I dive into Moondance, track by track. Man, that'll give me something to look forward to. What say you? If you want to join me, click below…

In a bit...

--tf

Track 1 Side 1 - And It Stoned Me is here.
Track 2 Side 1 - Moondance is here.
Track 3 Side 1 - Crazy Love is here.
Track 4 Side 1 - Caravan is here.
Track 5 Side 1 - Into the Mystic is here.
Track 1 Side 2 - Come Running is here.
Track 2 Side 2 - These Dreams of You is here.
Track 3 Side 2 - Brand New Day is here.
Track 4 Side 2 - Everyone is here.
Track 5 Side 2 - Glad Tidings is here.