308. Van Morrison - It's Too Late To Stop Now (1974)
















Track Highlights

Disc: 1

1. Ain't Nothin' You Can Do
2. Warm Love
3. Into The Mystic
4. These Dreams Of You
5. I Believe To My Soul
6. I've Been Working
7. Help Me
8. Wild Children
9. Domino
10. I Just Want To Make Love To You


Disc: 2
1. Bring It On Home To Me
2. Saint Dominic's Preview
3. Take Your Hands Out Of My Pocket
4. Listen To The Lion
5. Here Comes The Night
6. Gloria
7. Caravan
8. Cypress Avenue

Review

Well, as you've probably noticed, while I tolerate Van Morrison I have never been a massive fan of him. But with this album, that most articulate of singers kind of surprised me. This is a very good live album indeed.

From what I've seen of Van Morrison live he isn't that impressive, but this album is one of the best live albums I have had the pleasure of listening to. Morrison is no more articulate than usual, but that is part of his charm. His back up band is pretty amazing, however, and the album relies on them as much as on the Van man himself.

This is a double album and therefore pretty long, but you really don't feel it that much, it is never boring and it is always surprising. Van also has a number of covers in this album, and they are slightly unrecognisable but also very good versions of the songs which he made his own.

Basically if you need one Van Morrison album in your library this one is basically it. It is better than any of his studio albums and it gives you a smorgasbord of the best period in Morrison's career. So a really worthy album, get it at Amazon UK or US.

Track Highlights

1. Cypress Avenue (this is actually a misspelling as it should be Cyprus Avenue)
2. Caravan
3. Into The Mystic
4. Listen To the Lion

Final Grade

9/10


Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Unlike most live rock albums, there was no studio overdubbing allowed by Morrison, which resulted in the exclusion of "Moondance" from the album due to one wrong guitar note. Morrison strictly adhered to his concept of authenticity in presenting the live performance but his musical perfectionism prevented him from including "Moondance". "It's common practice to go back and fix things, but not with Van," bass player David Hayes said, "I think that's what makes it one of the best ever."

The London Rainbow concert was the first BBC simulcast in 1974 being broadcast simultaneously on BBC 2 television and Radio 2 stereo so that viewers with strategically sited loudspeakers could enjoy "stereo TV".

Cyprus Avenue, but from another live concert, not half as good: