What I have been listening to : Van Morrison - The Bang Collection

 I haven’t written about Van Morrison, so here goes. When I was coming of age, music critics were male and white and usually so were their favorite records. Moondance and Astral Weeks were considered some of the best albums ever, and I have to admit that the moment I listened to them, I had to concur.

Morrison like many of his peers was having a bit of renaissance in the late 80s/early 90s. Rolling Stone and everyone else feted 1988s Irish Heartbeat (his collaboration with the Chieftans) and my local radio station played the heck out of “Real Real Gone” (a # 18 placing on the US Rock Chart) from 1990s Enlightenment.

The 90s were good for his songs. Rod Stewart and John Mellencamp had big US hits with “Have I Told You Lately” ( # 5) and “Wild Night” (# 3)

Morrison’s records have always been events even with the weird misstep of 2021s “Latest Record Project Vol 1” with an “old man yelling at clouds” kind of song titles like “Why Are You on Facebook” and “They Own the Media”

Now when it comes to listening to music, I get my ideas from different places but friends’ references are still near the top. Which is where I first heard of the Bang Collection.

It contains recordings of Morrison that had become Van’s 1967 solo debut Blowin Your Mind- that album contains perhaps the most evergreen of pop songs “Brown Eyed Girl”, and a second disc of outtakes from the same sessions. Now, Van says he didn’t expect these recordings to be released as his solo record and because they did without his knowledge, he felt he couldn't trust producer Bert Berns and Bang Records.

It is the third album of the Bang Collection, though that is the part most people talk about. Morrison recorded an album worth of songs to fulfill his contractual obligation. The songs are mostly fragments pulled off the top of Van’s head and played on an out of tune guitar.

There are songs that only seem to consist of silly noises (Chickie Coo) silly lyrics (Scream and Holler and a half dozen of its variations) and just silly (Blowin Your Nose, You Say France and I Whistle, Want a Danish?, Ring Worm). If Van didn’t want anyone to make money off his record, he was trying his darnedest to make sure of that. (Morrison biographer Ryan Walsh compares the album to the lo-f simple music commonly made by outsider artist Jandek)

And now of course, almost 60 years ago, the audience says “Jokes on you. We are into that”.

And lest we think that Van was just being contrary, Neil Diamond had the same issues with Berns and as the story goes after Bern’s’ untimely death, the Bang label was ran by mobsters.

But these often bootlegged recordings of Van banging out 32 songs in an hour- are now part of a 2017 official release.

If you want a nice story and sample check out the episode of Bizarre Albums podcast that focuses on the record.

It also explains some of the inside jokes of how Van felt about an album being released (Blowing Your Nose" a riff on "Blowing your Mind") the silly dance songs (reference to Berns hit “Twist and Shout”) and the saga of George who goes to Boston to record (as sang by George Ivan “Van” Morrison)

I am not a huge fan of podcasts, but I often check out the Bizarre Records podcast (the brainchild of Emo band Motion City Soundtrack drummer Tony Thaxton) - it isn't perfect, usually skimming the surface of its topics- but it can’t beat it for the fascinating content and a brief listening time (usually 15-20 minutes an episode)


Anyway, thanks to the friend who turned me onto the album. I have got a real kick out of listening to it.