I must admit Astral Weeks has never done it for me, but when I first heard Veedon Fleece I was blown away (& still am) & also to a lesser extent 'St Dominics Preview'. Am I the only Van fan 'not to 'get' AW?

I love all of his 70s stuff (& a lot of the later stuff too) other than AW.

each to his own I suppose.

st domonics preview was the 1st van lp that truly inspired me.

however it was and is tb sheets which knocks me for six everytime i hear it - a very hard listen in places - but ultimately a journey somewhere special.

funnily enough mr rowland  i never felt that what you did with dmr resembled (in sound at least) what van was doing.

certainly there was a feel of a similar event taking place.

in honesty i always dis liked dexys m r  - 'jackie wilson'  45 and felt that 'precious' should of been that 45" .. (record companies eh!!#)

i always disliked the der der der da chant from jws that became 1982s version of fans chanting geno throught a concert.

i hate the fact some DEXYS fans still think the jocky wilson image was a mix-up.

vinni

Funnily enough that was my experience of Don’t Stand Me Down. I was around 17, doing my ‘A’ Levels and stacking shelves part-time in a local supermarket. My neighbour did me a favour and went to town to buy the album for me. After Too-Rye-Ay I was well excited, but on hearing the new offering I was kind of dumbstruck – didn’t know what to make of it, although This Is What She’s Like stood out. Even after a few listens I was still unsure what to think, but then it gradually began to click and the majesty of it all came to me. That album has stayed with me in the intervening years and has helped me through some pretty trying times. I’m not professing to be a musical expert (my knowledge of melodies, tunes, riffs, chords etc. is practically non existent), but what I do know is that that album totally relates to me and when I hear some of those songs they take me to another place. In fact, some of the songs on My Beauty do the same thing – Rag Doll, Reflections of My Life and I Can’t Tell the Bottom From the Top. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that Rag Doll and This Is What She’s Like are on a par with Elvis Presley’s epic live version of Suspicious Minds. On a slightly different point, I saw Liam Gallagher singing on TV last night and I thought ... ‘The best band in the world? Fuck me, Kevin Rowland can sing the arse off him!’

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Phil

It's too late to stop now was actually the first thing I ever heard by Van Morrison, before Astral weeks, before Moondance. A guy who worked in the local record shop gave me a cassette of it, I was very young still , maybe 15. It remains not just my favoutrite Van album but one of my favourite albums ever.

As for other Van albums, I've always considered No Guru, no method, no teacher to be an extremely underated affair.

Neil.s ( Stone Foundation )

My life was crashing around me, I was driving through Dewsbury, it was a hot summers day, you know one of those - the best day of the year, early summer when you are still unused to the heat, and the summer haze seems amazing.  And I put on Astral Weeks - it took me to another place.  And for 45 minutes or so, nothing mattered, just the music.  

I still remember that.  It may seem trivial, but it really meant a lot to me... a few magic minutes in a really bad time. I don't know what it did for me, but it could have kept me sane or more.   And you know, if you can have a magical experience in Dewsbury well - shows the quality of the music - ((not the prettiest town (but a good place all the same))....

Van is someone who as a songwriter i'm always trying to reach towards (the bench mark), i really related to what you said on the radio show about not being able to play his records for a while because they we're just so good and it became disheartening.

His music has always felt so natural to me, like breathing or going for a walk, but with this heavenly touch to it, it's as near to perfection on records like "Tupelo honey" and "His band and the street choir" and of course "It's too late to stop now" as i think music can possibly be.

I've just brought the new live at montreux DVD which features two totally different line up's from 74 and 80, but they still both capture the essence of what van is about, soul, raw emotion, and a totally comitted passion in what he's singing about and what he's playing. I thinks that's why eventually, although too young at the time, i really fell in love with the dexy's sound, because it reminded me of the first time my father played "Saint dominic's preview" a record on heavy rotation during my childhood years. Soulfull, passionate and music that i felt was really ment by the people playing it.

One of the greatest van records for me that on first hearing it completely wrapped me up in the narative and the beautifull flowing sounds, is "Common one" summertime in england is van at his soulfull best. Me and neil s saw him a few years ago and he was as  fantastic as ever and long may it continue.

Neil Jones

s.f

My first introduction to Van Morrison was also 1977 but was a different album that had just come out then called “A Period Of Transition” On that album was a song called “Joyous Sound” that summed up to me, that great emotion both musically & lyrically that  you have when you’re falling for someone. It was an old school mate of mine, Phil Green, that played the album to me on one of our regular meetups to swap what we were listening to. At that point I was hearing lots of great music, infact that year stays really strong to me in terms of musical out put. I was listening to Johnny Guitar Watson, David Bowie then a whole lot of new bands that I would go & see at a punk venue in Birmingham called “Barberellas” In this intimate club you would get to see just about every up & coming punk band there was from “Xray Spex” to “The Jam”, a far cry from the progressive rock bands booked in to play the Odeon. But I can remember me & my mate being torn one night between seeing Van  who was playing at The Hippadrome or “The Clash” who were playing at the Top Rank with a new band supporting them called “The Coventry Specials” a punk/reggae outfit later to become “The Specials”

Me mate Phil chose to see Van and me the latter. Well I think we both got a good deal there that night !!!

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The next Van Morrison album that really touched me, came out around 1983

“ Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart” I loved the sound of this album, the production seemed different somehow from all else I’d heard of Van Morrison & still does with more synthesisers used than normal mixed with the Celtic sound of Van! A beautiful warm & haunting sound in my estimation, especially “September Night” the closing track, were Van uses his voice in a completely different manner that cuts with a yielding emotion expressing without lyrics almost like a saxophone which, in my mind, Van is one of the most expressive of that instrument.

But that's how you make me feel Kevin! -You should know..