When That Rough God Goes Riding

Author: Greil Marcus
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1458758125
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Book Description
Readhowyouwant 16 point large print. Van Morrison, says Greil Marcus, remains a singer who can be compared to no other in the history of modern popular music. When Astral Weeks was released in 1968, it was largely ignored. When it was re-released as a live album in 2009 it reached the top of the Billboard charts, a first for any Van Morrison recording. The wild swings in the music, mirroring the swings in Morrison's success and in people's appreciation (or lack of it) of his music, make Van Morrison one of the most perplexing and mysterious figures in popular modern music, and a perfect subject for the wise and insightful scrutiny of Greil Marcus, one of America's most dedicated cultural critics. This book is Marcus's quest to understand Van Morrison's particular genius through the extraordinary and unclassifiable moments in his long career, beginning in 1965 and continuing in full force to this day. In these dislocations Marcus finds the singer on his own artistic quest precisely to reach some extreme musical threshold, the moments that are not enclosed by the will or the intention of the performer but which somehow emerge at the limits of the musician and his song.

Astral Weeks

Author: Ryan H. Walsh
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735221367
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Book Description
A mind-expanding dive into a lost chapter of 1968, featuring the famous and forgotten: Van Morrison, folkie-turned-cult-leader Mel Lyman, Timothy Leary, James Brown, and many more Van Morrison's Astral Weeks is an iconic rock album shrouded in legend, a masterpiece that has touched generations of listeners and influenced everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Martin Scorsese. In his first book, acclaimed musician and journalist Ryan H. Walsh unearths the album's fascinating backstory--along with the untold secrets of the time and place that birthed it: Boston 1968. On the 50th anniversary of that tumultuous year, Walsh's book follows a criss-crossing cast of musicians and visionaries, artists and hippie entrepreneurs, from a young Tufts English professor who walks into a job as a host for TV's wildest show (one episode required two sets, each tuned to a different channel) to the mystically inclined owner of radio station WBCN, who believed he was the reincarnation of a scientist from Atlantis. Most penetratingly powerful of all is Mel Lyman, the folk-music star who decided he was God, then controlled the lives of his many followers via acid, astrology, and an underground newspaper called Avatar. A mesmerizing group of boldface names pops to life in Astral Weeks: James Brown quells tensions the night after Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated; the real-life crimes of the Boston Strangler come to the movie screen via Tony Curtis; Howard Zinn testifies for Avatar in the courtroom. From life-changing concerts and chilling crimes, to acid experiments and film shoots, Astral Weeks is the secret, wild history of a unique time and place. One of LitHub's 15 Books You Should Read This March

Can You Feel the Silence?

Author: Clinton Heylin
Publisher: Lawrence Hill Books
ISBN: 9781556525421
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
"A terrific, detailed look at Van Morrison's life. . . A must for anyone who enjoys tales of tortured stars behaving badly."--"Entertainment Weekly." 13 photos.

Lit Up Inside

Author: Van Morrison
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571316212
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Book Description
Lit Up Inside contains the lyrics of about one third of the songs that Van Morrison has written over his 50 year career. In this representative selection from the work of one of the most innovative and enduring songwriters of the last century, the reader will find examples of all the features of the world that Van has created through his work: the back streets and mystic avenues; memories of childhood wonder and of adult work; the chime of church bells and the playing of the radio; the generous naming of other artists and the joy of solitude; love and sharp dealing; consolation and grace.

Hymns to the Silence

Author: Peter Mills
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0826429769
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 449

Book Description
A groundbreaking study of every aspect of Van Morrison's artistic career - his influences, lyrical themes, vocal performances, his relationship with America, and more.

Van Morrison

Author: Johnny Rogan
Publisher: Arrow
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 678

Book Description
Johnny Rogan presents a comprehensive portrait of an endlessly complicated man, his music, and the place he comes from. Over the last five decades, Van Morrison's music has embraced rock, folk, blues, country and jazz, and he remains a hugely influential artist as well as a conundrum of a man.

Disgraceland

Author: Jake Brennan
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 1538732130
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Book Description
From the creator of the popular rock 'n' roll true crime podcast, Disgraceland comes an off-kilter, hysterical, at times macabre book inspired by true stories from the highly entertaining underbelly of music history. You may know Jerry Lee Lewis married his thirteen-year-old cousin but did you know he shot his bass player in the chest with a shotgun or that a couple of his wives died under extremely mysterious circumstances? Or that Sam Cooke was shot dead in a seedy motel after barging into the manager's office naked to attack her? Maybe not. Would it change your view of him if you knew that, or would your love for his music triumph? Real rock stars do truly insane thing and invite truly insane things to happen to them; murder, drug trafficking, rape, cannibalism and the occult. We allow this behavior. We are complicit because a rock star behaving badly is what's expected. It's baked into the cake. Deep down, way down, past all of our self-righteous notions of justice and right and wrong, when it comes down to it, we want our rock stars to be bad. We know the music industry is full of demons, ones that drove Elvis Presley, Phil Spector, Sid Vicious and that consumed the Norwegian Black Metal scene. We want to believe in the myths because they're so damn entertaining. Disgraceland is a collection of the best of these stories about some of the music world's most beloved stars and their crimes. It will mix all-new, untold stories with expanded stories from the first two seasons of the Disgraceland podcast. Using figures we already recognize, Disgraceland shines a light into the dark corners of their fame revealing the fine line that separates heroes and villains as well as the danger Americans seek out in their news cycles, tabloids, reality shows and soap operas. At the center of this collection of stories is the ever-fascinating music industry--a glittery stage populated by gangsters, drug dealers, pimps, groupies with violence, scandal and pure unadulterated rock 'n' roll entertainment.

A Sense Of Wonder

Author: David Burke
Publisher: Jawbone Press
ISBN: 9781908279484
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Long before there was a peace process in Ireland, Van Morrison unwittingly did his bit to unite a nation divided. Born in the heart of East Belfast in the North, he is revered as a Celtic soul hero in the South. His music, while rooted in jazz and blues and soul, has an Irish accent--a distinctly Protestant Irish accent. Morrison's songs form a map of this small island--a map of places, people, and cultures, too. They evoke a long-ago Belfast at a time before it became violently divided by sectarian conflict during the Troubles. They laud literary giants James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, and Oscar Wilde. They tell of the immigrant experience, the going away from the land that has long been Ireland's heartache. And they form a map of Morrison himself, revealing more than this notoriously difficult character ever would in interviews or conversations. A Sense Of Wonder is not a biography of Van Morrison. Rather, it is a journey through the Ireland depicted in his songs--a journey that begins in Hyndford Street, where we encounter the likes of John McCormack and The McPeake Family, and culminates in a unique picture of an idyllic, almost mythical Ireland where spirituality trumps organized religion, and art yields a stronger legacy than politics. Drawing on original research and interviews with a wide range of characters--from collaborators and associates of Morrison to Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson and actor Liam Neeson.

When That Rough God Goes Riding

Author: Greil Marcus
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1610390180
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 153

Book Description
"Van Morrison," says Greil Marcus, "remains a singer who can be compared to no other in the history of modern popular music." When Astral Weeks was released in 1968, it was largely ignored. When it was rereleased as a live album in 2009 it reached the top of the Billboard charts, a first for any Van Morrison recording. The wild swings in the music, mirroring the swings in Morrison's success and in people's appreciation (or lack of it) of his music, make Van Morrison one of the most perplexing and mysterious figures in popular modern music, and a perfect subject for the wise and insightful scrutiny of Greil Marcus, one of America's most dedicated cultural critics. This book is Marcus's quest to understand Van Morrison's particular genius through the extraordinary and unclassifiable moments in his long career, beginning in 1965 and continuing in full force to this day. In these dislocations Marcus finds the singer on his own artistic quest precisely to reach some extreme musical threshold, the moments that are not enclosed by the will or the intention of the performer but which somehow emerge at the limits of the musician and his song.

Van Morrison

Author: John Collis
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 9780306808111
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description
In an age when image and self-promotion increasingly dominate the rock industry, Van Morrison remains a proud, belligerent outsider. An intensely private man and a revelatory performer, he has communicated more deeply within the limits of rock songwriting—and has been less responsive to the obsessional inquiries of the media—than almost any other artist. Ever since connecting with classic American jazz, blues, and gospel music during his Belfast youth, Van Morrison has stayed one step ahead of fellow musicians, fans, and critics. From the explosive teenage days with Them, through the creation of 1968s seminal Astral Weeks, to the vocal and spiritual experimentation of Veedon Fleece and Into the Music, Morrison has never stopped developing complex lyrical and instrumental visions that defy easy classification. Enjoying commercial success, the recognition of a younger generation, and collaborations ranging from John Lee Hooker to Tom Jones, he continues to dazzle and beguile his audience.In this definitive survey of Van Morrison's life and music, John Collis charts the scale of his achievement and the sources of his creativity, and provides stimulating assessments of his music. Drawing on interviews with those closest to Morrison at every stage of his career, with a full discography and many rare photographs, Van Morrison: Inarticulate Speech of the Heart offers unique insight into one of rock's greatest singer-songwriters and most instantly recognizable voices.