The Essential Van Morrison

The Essential Van Morrison
Compilation album by Van Morrison
Released	August 28, 2015[1]
Recorded	1969
Genre	Rock, pop
Length	2:36:54
Label	Legacy Records (Aus), Sony Music Japan
Producer	Dick Rowe, Lewis Merenstein, Van Morrison, Ted Templeman, Mick Glossop, Georgie Fame
Van Morrison chronology

The Essential Van Morrison is a two-disc compilation album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released on August 28, 2015.[2] It is part of Sony BMG's Essential series of compilation albums and includes tracks from Morrison's solo output, as well as tracks from his days with Them. The tracks consist of some of Morrison's biggest hits and popular album tracks from 1964 as leader of the Northern Irish band Them through his 2009 release Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl. The liner notes were contributed by David Fricke.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
All About Jazz	[4]
American Songwriter	[5]

The Green Man Review says that the Northern Irish singer and songwriter has spent the past 50 years fusing American jazz, pop, blues, soul and rhythm & blues with Anglo-Irish folk music to create something that's been dubbed Celtic Soul. The Essential is a two-disc, 37-track collection from Sony Legacy celebrates that half-century of song, as part of a huge new reissue project.[6]

Vintage Rock says that with the Essential Van Morrison is a double-disc, 37-track career-spanning anthology that kicks things off in grand style as a thorough introduction to Van Morrison. It all starts with those early Them nuggets like "Gloria" and "Here Comes The Night" before moving onto to Morrsion's first solo hit "Brown Eyed Girl." Of course, "Astral Weeks," the title track of his second solo album changed the game entirely, leading to a career of musical exploration that transcends those early R&B and pop flavorings to more organic strains of country music, jazz, Celtic folk and rock.[7].

Roz Milner from Bearded Gentlemen Music says:

What is about Van Morrison that inspires such loyalty and passion? While I’m sure there are a casual Van fans, most people I know either fall into two camps: they know of him, but just a couple of the big singles or they’re hopelessly in love with the man’s music.
When I say hopelessly in love, I mean absolutely, completely, in-over-their-head and hopeless kinda love. I’ve traded emails with a guy who keeps track of what music he listens to and he’s literally listened to Van Morrison thousands of times. I know people who collect albums, outtake compilations and bootlegs for the guy. [8]

Track listing

Disc one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Originally from	Length
1.	"Gloria"	Van Morrison	The Angry Young Them (1965)	2:38
2.	"Here Comes the Night"	Bert Berns	Non-album single (1965)	2:46
3.	"Spanish Rose"	Van Morrison	Blowin' Your Mind! (1967)	3:06
4.	"Brown Eyed Girl"	Van Morrison	Blowin' Your Mind! (1967)	3:05
5.	"Astral Weeks"	Van Morrison	Astral Weeks (1968)	7:03
6.	"The Way Young Lovers Do"	Van Morrison	Astral Weeks (1968)	3:12
7.	"Moondance"	Van Morrison	Moondance (1970)	4:34
8.	"Crazy Love"	Van Morrison	Moondance (1970)	2:35
9.	"And It Stoned Me"	Van Morrison	Moondance (1970)	4:31
10.	"Into the Mystic"	Van Morrison	Moondance (1970)	3:26
11.	"Domino"	Van Morrison	His Band and the Street Choir (1970)	3:08
12.	"Wild Night"	Van Morrison	Tupelo Honey (1971)	3:34
13.	"Tupelo Honey"	Van Morrison	Tupelo Honey (1971)	6:56
14.	"Jackie Wilson Said"	Van Morrison	Saint Dominic's Preview (1972)	2:59
15.	"Warm Love"	Van Morrison	Hard Nose the Highway (1973)	3:23
16.	"Fair Play"	Van Morrison	Veedon Fleece (1974)	6:16
17.	"Caravan" (recorded on November 25 1976 at the Winterland Ballroom with The Band)	Van Morrison	The Last Waltz (1978) [lower-alpha 1]	5:46
18.	"Hungry For Your Love"	Van Morrison	Wavelength (1978)	3:45
19.	"Cleaning Windows" (recorded in March 1983 at the Grand Opera House, Belfast)	Van Morrison	Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast (1984) [lower-alpha 2]	4:22
Total length:				1:17:16

Disc two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Originally from	Length
1.	"Bright Side of the Road"	Van Morrison	Into the Music (1979)	3:44
2.	"And the Healing Has Begun"	Van Morrison	Into the Music (1979)	7:59
3.	"Tore Down a la Rimbaud"	Van Morrison	A Sense of Wonder (1985)	4:07
4.	"Someone Like You"	Van Morrison	Poetic Champions Compose (1987)	4:04
5.	"Irish Heartbeat"	Van Morrison	Irish Heartbeat (1988) [lower-alpha 3]	3:52
6.	"Whenever God Shines His Light" (featuring Cliff Richard)	Van Morrison	Avalon Sunset (1989)	4:54
7.	"Have I Told You Lately"	Van Morrison	Avalon Sunset (1989)	4:19
8.	"Real Real Gone"	Van Morrison	Enlightenment (1990)	3:38
9.	"Enlightenment"	Van Morrison	Enlightenment (1990)	4:05
10.	"Why Must I Always Explain?"	Van Morrison	Hymns to the Silence (1991)	3:51
11.	"Days Like This"	Van Morrison	Days Like This (1995)	3:11
12.	"That's Life"	Dean Kay, Kelly Gordon	How Long Has This Been Going On (1995)[lower-alpha 4]	3:48
13.	"Rough God Goes Riding"	Van Morrison	The Healing Game (1997)	6:15
14.	"Precious Time"	Van Morrison	Back on Top (1999)	3:45
15.	"Once in a Blue Moon"	Van Morrison	What's Wrong with This Picture? (2003)	3:28
16.	"Magic Time"	Van Morrison	Magic Time (2005)	5:05
17.	"Playhouse"	Van Morrison	Pay the Devil (2006)	4:11
18.	"Sweet Thing" (recorded on November 7/8 2008 at the Hollywood Bowl)	Van Morrison	Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl (2009)	5:33
Total length:				1:19:58

Download and streaming bonus track
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Originally from	Length
19.	"Close Enough for Jazz" (with Joey DeFrancesco)	Van Morrison	You're Driving Me Crazy (2018)	3:45

Personnel

Van Morrison – vocals, guitar, harmonica, production, rhythm guitar, tambourine, backing vocals
Al Gorgoni and Hugh McCracken – guitars
Eric Gale – bass
Gary Chester – drums
Paul Griffin – piano
Garry Sherman – conductor, organ, actual arranger, musical supervisor
The Sweet Inspirations – back-up vocals for "Brown Eyed Girl"
Jay Berliner – classical and steel-string acoustic guitars
Richard Davis – double bass
Warren Smith, Jr. – percussion, vibraphone
Connie Kay – drums
Barry Kornfeld – acoustic guitar on "The Way Young Lovers Do"

Them

Peter Bardens – keyboards, organ (track 1)
Billy Harrison – guitar (track 1)
Alan Henderson – bass (track 1)
John McAuley – drums, piano, harmonica (track 1)

Charts

Chart (2015)	Peak position
US Billboard 200[9]	101
Australia ARIA Charts[10]	23
Belgium Ultratop[11]	176
Dutch Album Top 100[12]	88
New Zealand Recorded Music NZ[13]	6
Spanish Productores de Música de España[14]	82

Release history

Country	Date	Label	Format
Worldwide	August 28, 2015[15]	Sony Music, Legacy Records[16]	CD, digital download

Certifications


Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[17]	Gold	100,000
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^{^}shipments figures based on certification alone

Notes

"Caravan" originally appeared on the album Moondance (1970).
Van Morrison's studio recording of "Cleaning Windows" is found on the album Beautiful Vision (1982).
The song "Irish Heartbeat" was originally released in March 1983 on Van Morrison's album Inarticulate Speech of the Heart, this version is the 1988 re-working by Van Morrison and The Chieftains.
"That's Life" was originally recorded in 1963 by Marion Montgomery and was made famous by Frank Sinatra's hit 1966 version.

gollark: It says there's lots of uneconomical-to-extract phosphorous. It would become economical if we actually ran out of easier sources probably.

gollark: Since most plants can't fix atmospheric nitrogen, since they're bad.

gollark: I'm pretty sure they're mostly nitrogen-based and something something Haber-Bosch.

gollark: What's the constraint on making fertilizer? Methane?

gollark: Aren't there a lot more fossil fuels than we could burn without imploding the climate anyway?

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[Caravan-9] "Caravan" originally appeared on the album Moondance (1970).

[Cleaning_Windows-10] Van Morrison's studio recording of "Cleaning Windows" is found on the album Beautiful Vision (1982).

[Irish_Heartbeat-11] The song "Irish Heartbeat" was originally released in March 1983 on Van Morrison's album Inarticulate Speech of the Heart, this version is the 1988 re-working by Van Morrison and The Chieftains.

[That's_Life-12] "That's Life" was originally recorded in 1963 by Marion Montgomery and was made famous by Frank Sinatra's hit 1966 version.

[1] Van Morrison – The Essential Van Morrison (2 Disc)

[2] Van Morrison – The Essential Van Morrison at Target

[3] The Essential Van Morrison at AllMusic

[4] Van Morrison – The Essential Van Morrison at All About Jazz

[5] Van Morrison – The Essential Van Morrison at American Songwriter

[6] Van Morrison’s The Essential Van Morrison Album Review at The Green Man Review

[7] Van Morrison – The Essential Van Morrison – CD Review at Vintage Rock

[8] No More Casual Vanning: A Look At The Essential Van Morrison at Beared Gentlemen Music

[13] Billboard 200 – Van Morrison – The Essential Van Morrison

[14] Australian Charts – Van Morrison – The Essential Van Morrison

[15] Belgium Charts – Van Morrison – The Essential Van Morrison

[16] Dutch Charts – Van Morrison – The Essential Van Morrison

[17] NZ Charts – Van Morrison – The Essential Van Morrison

[18] Spanish Charts Van Morrison – The Essential Van Morrison

[19] Van Morrison – The Essential Van Morrison at Sanity

[20] Van Morrison – The Essential Van Morrison at JB Hi-Fi Australia

[United_KingdomVan_MorrisonThe_EssentialalbumCertRef-21] "British album certifications – Van Morrison – The Essential". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved June 5, 2020.

Van Morrison
Them	The Angry Young Them Them Again The Story of Them Featuring Van Morrison
Studio albums	Blowin' Your Mind! Astral Weeks Moondance His Band and the Street Choir Tupelo Honey Saint Dominic's Preview Hard Nose the Highway Veedon Fleece A Period of Transition Wavelength Into the Music Common One Beautiful Vision Inarticulate Speech of the Heart A Sense of Wonder No Guru, No Method, No Teacher Poetic Champions Compose Irish Heartbeat Avalon Sunset Enlightenment Hymns to the Silence Too Long in Exile Days Like This How Long Has This Been Going On Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison The Healing Game Back on Top You Win Again Down the Road What's Wrong with This Picture? Magic Time Pay the Devil Keep It Simple Born to Sing: No Plan B Duets: Re-working the Catalogue Keep Me Singing Roll with the Punches Versatile You're Driving Me Crazy The Prophet Speaks Three Chords & the Truth
Live albums	It's Too Late to Stop Now Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast A Night in San Francisco The Skiffle Sessions - Live in Belfast 1998 Live at Austin City Limits Festival Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl
Compilations	The Best of Van Morrison The Best of Van Morrison Volume Two The Philosopher's Stone Van Morrison at the Movies - Soundtrack Hits The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3 Still on Top - The Greatest Hits The Essential Van Morrison The Authorized Bang Collection
Videos	Van Morrison in Ireland Van Morrison The Concert
DVDs	Live at Montreux 1980/1974 Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl: The Concert Film
Unofficial Bang albums	T.B. Sheets Bang Masters Payin' Dues The Complete New York Sessions '67 The Complete Bang Sessions
Tribute albums	No Prima Donna: The Songs of Van Morrison The Van Morrison Songbook Vanthology: A Tribute to Van Morrison
Discography Albums Songs List of artists who have covered Van Morrison songs Related topics List of awards and nominations received by Van Morrison