Wait... did the Buckingham Palace Band just play "Respect" at the changing of the guard? That was like a State funeral for deserving royalty, damn it was awesome. Still, I better focus on the living... while they still are.
Speaking of which, here comes the night.... and it's a marvelous one for a moondance, isn't it?
Pardon me if I shoehorn one more August salvo in, so we can get to eight posts for month #8, all symmetrical like.
I was playing this incredible Van Morrison show last night -- the famous Bottom Line one from the Wavelength tour with Bobby Tench wailing away -- and suddenly the Google told me Van is 73 today. So I decided it was too late to stop now, and to finish August in his esteemed honor.
Then I was poking around my files and came upon this pre-FM tape from KPFA here in Berkeley -- I can see the big Campanile tower on the Cal campus you always see in the background in TV interviews, from my window here facing south -- that played like an extension of the NYC one.
One page I was reading said exactly that, that the Berkeley 1979 show back-to-back following the Bottom Line 1978 one is as good as it gets... like they are related.
Well, wouldn't you know I happen to have the 1978 set in perhaps it's ultimate, sonically superior iteration bootwise... as well as the 1979 one from the pre-broadcast reels. So here they are, to provide a sense of wonder to your weekend and give proper respect to a living legend -- this is the fourth time I've blogged this guy! -- on his big day.
Van Morrison
NYC 1978 + Berkeley 1979
1.
The Bottom Line
New York City, NY
11.1.1978
01 Moondance
02 Wavelength
03 Into the Mystic
04 Checkin' It Out
05 Hungry for Your Love
06 Brown Eyed Girl
07 Crazy Love
08 Kingdom Hall
09 Tupelo Honey
10 Natalia
11 Help Me
12 Wild Night
13 Joyous Sound
14 Caravan
15 Cyprus Avenue
Total Time 1:19:48
Van Morrison - vocals, harmonica & saxophone
Herbie Armstrong - guitar
Peter Bardens - keyboards
Mickey Feat - bass
Bobby Tench - guitar
Peter Van Hooke - drums
Katie Kissoon : vocals & percussion
Anna Peacock - vocals & percussion
complete master FM capture, remastered by The 4-Eyed Freak
2.
Berkeley Community Theatre
Berkeley, CA
10.21.1979
01 Kingdom Hall
02 Bright Side of the Road
03 Here Comes the Night
04 You Make Me Feel So Free
05 Warm Love
06 Angeliou
07 Full Force Gale
08 Moondance
09 Tupelo Honey
10 I've Been Working
11 Brown Eyed Girl
12 Wild Night
Total time: 51:27
Van Morrison - vocals, guitar, saxophone
Pee Wee Ellis - saxophone
Mark Isham - trumpet
Tony Marcus - violin, keyboards
Pete Wingfield - piano
Peter Van Hooke - drums
David Hayes - bass
John Platania - guitar
Herbie Armstrong - guitar
Katie Kissoon - vocals & percussion
pre-FM reels from KPFA-FM
both shows zipped together
792 MB FLAC here
It's all just an excuse to share the best unissued music anyway, and you know the caravan is coming very shortly with the first post of a September to remember in just a few days.
Today, however, we both bury a Queen and listen to the Lion -- yes he is a King -- whilst we raise an Irish longlife toast to Van Morrison, born this day in 1945 and still voyaging into the mystic wavelength. Turn it up!--J.
