Van Morrison

1970-04-26

Fillmore West, S.F., CA

1

A+

 

 

Moondance (4:38)

Glad Tidings (3:42)

Crazy Love (2:55)

Come Running (4:23)

The Way Young Lovers Do (3:18)

Everyone (3:03)

Brown Eyed Girl (2:05)

Medley: Stoned Me / These Dreams Of You (7:47)

Into The Mystic (5:14)

Cyprus Avenue (6:07)

Total time: (45:18)

 

The quality is quite execellent-- most likely sourced from a KPFA fm broadcast [NOTE: Joe Cocker's set was

 

also

broadcast]. There are several CD Bootlegs of this show— Into the Man, Moonlight Serenade, and Rocks His

Gypsy Soul: Van Morrison Gets His Chance to Wail Volume 3 (on Gold Standard).

 

Review by Russell Parkinson:

[The Fillmore West] one hour show features Van and what will be the

Caledonia Soul Orchestra performing all the Moondance album except for

"Brand New Day". Also included are two songs from Astral Weeks and an

obligatory "Brown Eyed Girl".

 

The sound is either radio broadcast or soundboard and is very good,

especially considering the recording is nearly 30 years old.

 

The show kicks off with an excellent lively rendition of "Moondance". "Glad

Tidings" follows and although a quicker version than on the album this song

remains, for me anyway, filler. A lovely soulful "Crazy Love" is next. Van

sings this in his normal voice rather than falsetto. A six minute improvised

"Come Running" misses rather than hits. In the middle of this song the band

and van move off into a sixties rock organ/guitar kind of thing with some

improvised lyrics. On first listening it sounds great bit after a while I

find it disrupts a good song. Interesting but ultimately a bit

disappointing.

 

"The Way Young Lovers Do" is a blast, a great lively version with excellent

horns and piano. Everyone joins Glad Tidings in the filler category. "Brown

Eyed Girl" is pretty standard. A good "And it Stoned Me" runs into an

equally good "These Dreams of You". The Last Waltz version of "Caravan" has

always been my favorite but this one comes close. A thoroughly enjoyable

version of a great song.

 

Van winds up with the longest "Cypress Avenue" I've heard. Heavy on organ

and guitar you get to hear the ending twice! After the usual "its too late

to stop now!" van introduces the band and reprises the whole ending from

"and you were standing there." amazing. Van then encores with a superb

version of "Into The Mystic". Very soulful, this must be close to being the

best version of this song out there.

 

RATING

That organ/guitar thing sometimes dates this show but overall its a great

boot. Not quite essential, mainly due to the narrow range of material

played, I would give this a "Highly Recommended". If you are a big

"Moondance" fan then it's probably a must.

 

Part of The Van Morrison Website