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VAN MORRISON
How Long Has This Been Going On Live! [no label, 1CD]
Fan compilation. Various dates and venues. Very good audio - mix of radio broadcasts and audience recordings?
Van Morrison’s 24th studio album, How Long Has This Been Going On [1995], was recorded live (but without an audience) at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, London, England, on May 3, 1995, and features a number of jazz standards and a be-bop influenced rendition of Morrison’s classic “Moondance”. According to Van Morrison, “the album took four or five hours to record and Ronnie Scott’s was chosen for the vibe.” Georgie Fame recalled that the album came about after he and Morrison had discussed it for several years when, “I got the band together, and we ran through some ideas one quiet afternoon… that went very well, so Van said, ‘Let’s do it.’” - wikipedia
Geoffrey Himes, rollingstone.com:
Morrison’s new album may feature such jazz-vocal classics as King Pleasure’s “New Symphony Sid” and traditional jazz solos by two longtime collaborators, saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis and organist Georgie Fame, but Morrison devotes himself in true blues style to squeezing as much feeling - in this case, joy - as possible out of the repeating melodies… This is quite a change for a singer who has spent most of the past 25 years wrestling with “the lion inside of me” and contemplating the shadows of Celtic mysticism…
Even songs about heartbreak, such as Louis Jordan’s “Early in the Mornin’” and Cannonball Adderley’s “Sack o’ Woe” (whose lyrics are all about heartbreak and the blues), receive upbeat treatments, as if Morrison were trying to outdo his own horn section by honking and shouting with pleasure. It’s an old blues trick - laughing in the face of trouble - but Morrison does it with such contagious enthusiasm, it sounds fresh again.
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Thanks to robbiem for sharing the tracks at Dime.
robbiem noted:
A few of these songs were played quite sparingly and generally only for a short period directly after the album was released in June, 1995. Consequently, some tracks are of less than stellar quality and, for those, it was because the selection was extremely limited.
Many thanks and much appreciation for all the tapers, masterers and seeders for making this sort of thing possible. Special thanks to prb for being a font of knowledge and clarity.
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Click on the highlighted tracks to download the MP3s (320 kbps). As far as we can ascertain, these tracks have never been officially released on CD.
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Track 01. I Will Be There - with The Danish Radio Big Band 2:43
February 28, 1987; Kulturcafe, Ishoj, Denmark
Track 02. The New Symphony Sid/Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid 17:25
April 30, 1996; The Supper Club, New York
Track 03. Early In The Morning - with The BBC Big Band 3:20
August 6, 1995; Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland
Track 04. Who Can I Turn To? 4:01
October 20, 2012; Europa Hotel, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Track 05. Sack O’ Woe 6:12
August 4, 1999; The Playhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland
Track 06. Moondance 7:04
March 14, 2000; Academy, Birmingham, UK
Track 07. Centerpiece 5:36
May 28, 1999; Carlton Marquee, Hay-on-Wye, UK
Track 08. How Long Has This Been Going On? 4:21
February 17, 2001; Apollo Theatre, Oxford, UK
Track 09. Your Mind Is On Vacation - with The Candy Dulfer Band 2:52
October 18, 1996; The Forum, Leverkusen, Germany
Track 10. All Saint’s Day 2:54
August 1, 2018; Roncalliplatz, Koln, Germany
Track 11. Blues In The Night - with The BBC Big Band 3:25
August 6, 1995; Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland
Track 12. Don’t Worry About A Thing 3:05
May 4, 2002; Olympia Theatre, Dublin, Ireland
Track 13. That’s Life 4:29
November 13, 2003; Musikhalle, Hamburg, Germany
Track 14. Heathrow Shuffle 4:43
July 29, 1974; The Orphanage, San Francisco, CA
Click here to order Van Morrison releases.