veedon fleece

Alfred, Moondance and Astral Weeks -- both insanely great yet completely different -- are the ones to start with. His Band and Street Choir and Into the Music are next. The two you have are great as well. "Cannonball" is one of my very fav overlooked songs.

jazzbo is on the mark about Heylin's bio painting a rather unflattering portrait of the man. but if being such an asshole is what it takes to write "madame george" he can be as much of an asshole as he wants to be.

speaking of which, Heylin has high praise for the common on album--which I've never heard. my van collection stops somewhere around into the music. is common one good? Or what?

Veedon Fleece I've never been nuts about. How does Hard Nose The Highway compare?

Probably.

i don't think astral weeks compares to this at all

Dawgs, I am feeling the Veedon Fleece!

astral weeks : freewheelin ::
veedon fleece : blood on the tracks

I'm getting more of a pastoral, New Morning feeling from the Veedon Fleece. And speaking of the Veedon Fleece, how the heck does one push the river, anyway?

it's really good esp. "you don't pull no punches..." which may be my favorite of all his songs but it's still a slight notch below astral weeks

Van today is certainly capable of pushing the river now.

but ANYways, it's becoming my favorite Morrison album. It's pastoral in the Nick Drake rather than New Morning sense (I'm not fond of NM; it's Dylan's Young Americans, only it's country and not so good).

Whatever. I'm writing a 100,000 word blog entry comparing the Veedon Fleece to New Morning.. I'll get the entire Veedon Fleece community on your ass, dawg. Contradict me at your own peril.

This is the Van disc I come back to the most right now. It's chock full of idiosyncratic Van greatness. Lyrics that almost but not quite make sense, check. Weird song titles, check. Strange literary obsessions, check. Beautiful tunes, check.

For some reason though I always think he hits higher notes on this album than on any other (check Linden Arden). Works for me.

I think they should reissue it, but add "The" to the title. The Veedon Fleece sounds so much better, and I really think that could put the album over the top in terms of sales.

Love Veedon Fleece, top 5 Van easy - haven' listened in years though. Wonder if Common One is as great as it seemed to me at the height of my VM obsession.

The Veedon Fleece: I like your thinking. I reckon "Heroes"-style quotes would be good too. Also, for a few hundred thousand extra units they need to fix the cover - horrible, horrible colours.

For some reason though I always think he hits higher notes on this album than on any other (check Linden Arden). Works for me.

Yeah, and the falsetto on "Who Was That Masked Man?" is fantastic!

First, Common One holds up really well. Whatever made it seem weird on first listen makes it even weirder and better all these years later.

As for Van's vocal range, I've been trying to pinpoint where his voice left a step. I don't think he'd ever attempt the falsetto of "Masked Man" these days. Even on Wavelength he still has the ability to reach the higher notes and his voice still has that crisp snap in it. Common One has interesting textures, but it seems like with Beautiful Vision his voice is starting to get that "Head Cold" sound. (Listen to a later album like Days Like This and the whole thing sounds like he was sining with the flu...not bad, but not the guy you remember). Anyone else notice the tonal shifts in his voice?

And as for re-titling the album for better sales: YES! How's about "Van Morrison and His Honorary Quest for The Veedon Fleece"? It could be sold at Renaissance Faires and as an adjunct to Harry Potter or something....maybe draw a wizard cap on him and give the dogs some helmets...with magicians and warlords in the background...

Alfred OTFM about Nick Drake pastoral instead of New Morning. But yeah, it's the best Van album for me easy. Also, "LINDEN ARDEN STOLE THE HIGHLIGHTS!!!"

That song ("Linden Arden...") is so good it's insane. They should replace all the shitty Van comps that they usually have in bar jukeboxes with Veedon Fleece.

http://sixbucksamonkey.vox.com/library/audio/6a00cd97849482f9cc00e398ab06e90004.html

I found Robyn Hitchcock's version of Linden Arden Stole the Highlights from the Oceanside single. (Still haven't heard his version of "Fair Play"). It's nowhere near as good as Van's. He doesn't have the range. But it's still interesting to hear, considering how unusual the song is in the first place.

And as for re-titling the album for better sales: YES!

Does anybody here work for Old Navy? Cause if you do, I've got an idea for a promotional Van Morrison tie-in that's going to knock your socks off. Dig this, baby: The Old Navy/Van Morrison Veedon Fleece.

This is going to take off, I can feel it. I can see the print ad: Come Here My Love. Let the Veedon Fleece Comfort You.

Does anybody here have Van's agent's number?

I'm all for the Old Navy connection. Just PLEASE don't let Van model the Veedon Fleece himself.

What is a Veedon Fleece (or The Veedon Fleece, I like it, get that person a marketing job) anyway?? And why are William Blake, the Eternals and the Sisters of Mercy looking for the Veedon Fleece??

Google doesn't know but ILM must.

I remember reading that Van admitted to not knowing what it was, so if he doesn't know...I guess he liked the way it sounded. He also got annoyed that an interviewer asked him if he still had the dogs that are on the cover. He said they weren't his dogs. So the man is a complete FAKE. I love the album but just knowing that those dogs were props, exploited for Van's personal gain, well, there goes another blow against Integrity Rock!

Really need to listen to this one again. Good memories of playing it on vinyl back in high school. "Linden Arden" and "Cul De Sac" were my favorite. "Cul De Sac" seems like the only instance on the album of Van in his frontman role - stops and starts and crescendos and so on.

I like the dogs on the cover.

So the run of Streets Of Arklow > You Don't Pull > Bulbs is one of the greatest trios of musical history

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HbFOrTRFL.jpg
goddamn that dog is so big and van morrison is so small.

This is my favourite Van album by a long way. It starts off a bit middling with Fair Play, but what comes next more than makes up for that. Linden Arden is a heartbreaking tale of an Irish gangster in the US, and it segues beautifully into another song about a gunman in hiding, and some of his finest lyrics: "You're such a rare collector's item, once they've thrown away what's trash."
I can't describe the power of You Don't Pull No Punches. Lyrically its a lot of mythic mumbo jumbo interspersed with calls to various poets - nothing he hasn't done a thousand times since - but what his voice does with it is sublime. It's the last time on record that Van's tenor reaches those heights. The economy of the instrumental arrangement is also a thing of beauty, with I think a violin and a flute in the mix. Get down to the real soul.
The second side is also full of sweet, melancholy songs, marred only by an indifferent final track.

Great post. But I will stick up for Fair Play. Great vocal, classic Van lyrics, perfect piano fills.... Maybe it should have been sequenced after You Don't Pull No Punches rather than first up. Seems like he buried the lede by putting Linden Arden as the second tune. Just an amazing set of tunes.

YouYou YouYou YouYou YouYou YouYouYouYouYouYouYouYouYouYouYou will goA back

Buhnbuhn buhn Buhnbuhn buhn Buhnbuhn buhn Buhnbuhnbuhn

this album is perfect. I had a strange deal with henoch schonlein purpura in undergrad, and I had to take steroids to keep it under control. The steroids made it difficult to sleep, so I'd often listen to this on repeat at night to try and ease things down. Probably got through 3 or 4 listens per day. It is my favorite late night nostalgic drinking album these days.

any time I turn onto a street with only one inlet/outlet my mind goes YOU CAN DOUBLE BACK

You KNOW

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

van's simulating going down on some veedon fleece at the end of "cul de sac", no?

whole lotta OOP 70s Van *finally* made it to iTunes in the past few months, including this album, St. Dominic's Preview, & Tupelo Honey

... o wait, looks like I spoke too soon re: Tupelo Honey ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

tupelo honey is barely ever in print, idk why

Not too much of Veedon Fleece seems to have made it into Van's live shows in the 70s. Except "Bulbs." Great groove going on this version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eVZIVir1ZE

In response to the original post, bit of both perhaps...

I took it to record club: https://devonrecordclub.com/2016/11/20/van-morrison-veedon-fleece-round-97-toms-selection/

^nicely done. I'll still rep for Fair Play as I did a few years ago.

this is my fav van morrison by far as well

hard nose the highway is not terrible yugi ex!!

For real, veedon def the better album but I dunno if there's anything on it I'd take over snow in San anselmo

There's a million songs about California but van's are the only ones that make me wish I was there.

I've been to Arklow, it doesnt deserve a song that good. Yeah, this is my fave Van album. love it

I may have been a bit harsh on HNTH...I didn't give it that many spins before I got rid of it to be honest, but it didn't draw me in in the way Veedon Fleece did.

snow in san anselmo is so great

yeah, that one and purple heather are faves from Hard Nose. There's some filler on there, but I always enjoy that album.

Album is excellent. But "You Don't Pull No Punches..." is certainly my favorite Morrison track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRnFg3ltxgE

Just heard that - and the track before it- I’m a record store last weekend after not having paid attention to this album in years and was totally knocked out.

Let's say Van's music is like Brazilian pop music.

Astral weeks is Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66. It's actually really good and unique! But man, kinda tired of it by now. Pretty overplayed.

Veedon Fleece, on the other hand, is like the first time I heard 'Taj Mahal', but evey single time.

I love you, Veedon Fleece!

In a totally non musical context I’ve used the phrase “don’t push the river”. Never any recognition for one of Van’s best.

Astral weeks is Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66. It's actually really good and unique! But man, kinda tired of it by now. Pretty overplayed


no

Put me in the ground the day I tire of Astral Weeks. I may only play it once every year or two, but the first five seconds goes through me every time.

But Vernon Fleece might be as good.

astral and veedon are p distinct vibes to me, astral v much psychedelically overwhelmed at all the lightness and darkness of creation, veedon a few years older and content to watch the grass move and occasionally trip into the cosmic mystery behind it (plus a heartbreaking two-song fugue about paranoia). a side-by-side comparison would prob prove me wrong but veedon *feels* like the quieter album

anyway, couldn't live without either

or common one, or into the music, or saint dominic's preview, or it's too late to stop now, or

sometimes i'm like "maybe into the music is the best one"

You and others stanning for Veedon Fleece and Common One during the VM poll turned me on to the greatness of those albums and now I just love them, too. So thanks!

Grooving to Cul De Sac. It's kinda buried in the middle of side 2 but it's a jam.

massive jam confirmed

This album is just completely totally utterly amazingly the best thing he ever did. Fuck it's SO GOOD.

^hello and welcome to the small but amazing group of VF stans

And we say Geronimwhoa

if i'd seen any of this 74/75 shows, the fact that he played a maximum of 2 tracks from this at any of them would have killed me

side a of this record is one of the best sides of any record. side b (for bulbs) ain't no slouch, either.

fair play to this album imo

This album makes me feel emotions.

Bulbs is one of those songs I put on playlists a lot because people who have never heard it before instantly love it.

My wife created an account on Discogs and bought a NM first pressing for me last Christmas. <3

Not to be too dramatic (ok, yes, too), but the part in Cul De Sac when Van says "you, you, you" and the band all comes down at the same time on three successive beats I feel like time is going to stop between each of them.

a loved one is going through an extremely difficult time, i am merely going through it with them in spirit, and this seems like the only music that can keep me company. i'm coming out of it a bit now, which is probably why i'm posting again, but for several hard days veedon fleece was the only thing worth listening to.

veedon fleece was the only thing worth listening to.

this is kinda sorta the case under normal circumstances for me.

worth mentioning — if you haven't checked out Van's mid-90s rarities comp The Philosopher's Stone, there are a bunch of outtakes from the same era / similar vibe.

^a couple of tunes from Philosopher's Stone to check out (praying to the formatting gods that this works):

Not Supposed To Break Down
Contemplation Rose
Try For Sleep

You just sit there like a butterfly
You're well protected by the glass
You're such a rare collector's item
When they throw away what's the trash
You can hang suspended from a star
Or wish on a toilet roll
You can just soak up the atmosphere
Like a fish inside a bowl