VAN MORRISON "Down The Road" Rare 2002 UK Import LP
$
190
$ 190
Sold For
Aug 21, 2011
Sold Date
Aug 16, 2011
Start Date
$ 10
Start price
17
Number Of Bids
USA
Country Of Seller
eBay
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Description
Van Morrison / Down The Road - Polydor Records 589-177 (Stereo)(UK)(2003) ...This auction is for a limited edition Double Record on Import vinyl. It was only available as an Import pressing and is no longer in print.
Down the Road mixes R&B and jazz with bits of country and folk, all conjured from the singer's 1950s youth. Lyrically, it deliberately makes use of blues clichés and catch phrases to tell its tales of struggle, recollection, and regret. The album cover depicts the front of a record store, Music and Memorabilia, with a window full of LP covers by blues, R&B, jazz, and old rock & roll artists, and the music inside corresponds to that picture. A key song is "Whatever Happened to PJ Proby?," in which Morrison identifies himself with trendy British pop singers of the early '60s, including Scott Walker and Screaming Lord Sutch.
Track listings and review below...
Detailed item info:
Track listingRECORD 1:
(Side One) 1. Down the Road
2. Meet Me in the Indian Summer
3. Steal My Heart Away
4. Hey Mr. DJ
(Side Two)
1. Talk Is Cheap
2. Choppin' Wood
3. What Makes the Irish Heart Beat
4. All Work and No Play
RECORD 2:
(Side One)
1. Whatever Happened to PJ Proby?
2. Beauty of the Days Gone By, The
3. Georgia on My Mind
4. Only a Dream
(Side Two)
1. Man Has to Struggle
2. Evening Shadows
3. Fast Train
Details Contributing artists: Acker Bilk, Geraint Watkins Producer: Van Morrison Distributor: Universal Distribution Recording type: Studio Recording mode: Stereo
Album notes Personnel includes: Van Morrison (vocals; acoustic guitar, harmonica, alto saxophone); Ned Edwards (acoustic & electric guitars, background vocals); Mick Green (acoustic & electric guitars); Johnny Scott (electric guitar, background vocals); Rosie Wetters (violin); Jake Walker (viola); Lee Goodall (flute, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, background vocals); Martin Winning (clarinet, tenor saxophone); Acker Bilk (clarinet); Matt Holland (trumpet, flugelhorn); Richard Dunn (piano, Hammond B-3 organ); Fiachra Trench (piano); John Allair, Geraint Watkins (Hammond B-3 organ); Pete Hurley (bass); Colin Griffin, Bobby Irwin (drums); Aine Whelan, Crawford Bell, Karen Hamill, Olwin Bell, Siobhan Petit (background vocals).
Recorded at The Wool Hall, Bath, England. Includes liner notes by Ben Sidran.
Audio Mixer: Walter Samuel.
Liner Note Author: Ben Sidran.
Recording information: Wool Hall, Bath, Somerset, England.
Photographer: Peter Thorpe.
Arrangers: Fiachra Trench; John Scott; Aine Whelan.
Like Woody Allen (if you'll indulge the analogy), Van Morrison is an artiste seemingly bound to a heavy-duty work ethic, churning out one release after another at a startlingly regular, workmanlike pace and only occasionally hitting some majestic artistic heights. DOWN THE ROAD might seem like a slow starter, but hear it through and it will gradually but definitively distance itself from the crowded, often samey pack of VM releases immediately preceding it. While the first few tunes are forays into folk-rock, R&B, and balladry of a sort far from uncommon in the Morrison repertoire, things pick up considerably midway through.
"Talk is Cheap" is an uncompromising blues tune that could be a BLONDE ON BLONDE-era Dylan outtake. "Choppin' Wood" bears an Ivory Joe Hunter-like backing, but the lyrics compare favorably to Van's '80s fave "Cleaning Windows." The Cab Calloway-style minor-key blues of "Whatever Happened to PJ Proby?" support quirky lyrics lamenting the loss of British rock cult figures Proby and Screaming Lord Sutch. Perhaps most impressive is "Man Has to Struggle," which manages the considerable feat of mating humanist philosophy to a soul groove. You never can tell what a mercurial sort like Van has up his sleeve.
Editorial reviews ...Finds Van patrolling his own comfort zone, revisiting familiar licks and topics...n
Mojo
4 stars out of 5 - ...Reflective...Morrison fondly evokes his greatest hits...[He] turns his autumnal fire into spring fever, yearning for love with the potency of a man in the prime of life - and voice.
Rolling Stone (20020606)
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