Veedon Fleece

Veedon Fleece is an album of Van Morrison left in October 1974.

The native singer of Belfast durably exiled himself with the the United States as of the age of blackjack years, yielding initially to the will of his producer Bert Berns in order to launch his career solo, then with that of American the Janet Planet which he married a little later. Six years later, a round in Europe passing by the Ireland as its divorce revive its interest for this country and lead it to briefly remain there during October 1973. On this occasion Van Morrison traverses its native island on board a rented car, under the continual influence of an overflowing inspiration; so much so that at the end of its short holidays, it composed eight of the ten songs of its next disc Veedon Fleece . In connection with this enigmatic title, Van has one day tempted to be explained: “I do not have the least idea of than that wants to say. In fact it is a name of anybody. I have a whole set of characters in my head which I try to exploit in one way or another. Veedon Fleece is one of them and about a blow, I spoke about it in one about these songs; it like is spouted out of my conscience (untranslatable: “ it' S like has stream off consciousness thing ”). ”

But the main character of this disc is without any doubt Ireland or more precisely a very personal vision of this country, deformed by time, the distance and especially the marvellous imagination from Van Morrison. The evocations of a happy childhood in full shift ( Country Fair ), of a populated nation writers and cathedrals ( Fair play , You Don' T Sweater No Punches, Goal You Don' T Push To rivet ) or the surrealist description of a ground where the grass off does not push in Streets Arklow give an idea thickness of the prism through which Van wanted to sing its native land. This choice could certainly be interpreted as a delicate illustration of the pain which often the exile and the uprooting cause. The subject is clearly tackled besides in the song Linden Arden Stole The Highlights where the history of Linden Arden is told, a heavy drinker of Whiskey inhabitant San Francisco which decapitates with the axe a long string of gangsters come in the intention to remove it. One finds this topic, treated with more lightness however in Bulbs in connection with a vibrating life shared between the two continents, and to a lesser extent in Who Was That Masked Man or Cul Of Bag .

Ireland is not either foreign with the musical context of Veedon Fleece , since this one is enamelled references to the Celtic traditional music. To arrive from there there, Van Morrison had to sacrifice its group, the Caledonia Soul Orchestrated , without same leaving with its members time to promote the disc which made their glory: the album live It' S Too Late to Stop Now . In his place, the singer chose the engagement of many musicians of different horizons, of which a small portion will form the Caledonia Soul Express train , his future group. The arrival of the excellent flutist Jim Rothermel, who appears mainly responsible for the new Celtic orientation of the music, is particularly notable. The album also is very marked by the fabulous partitions of the cords composed by Jeff Labes, perhaps most beautiful of all the career of Van Morrison. In addition, the exceptional absence of coppers and the abundance of acoustic instruments (the double bass replaces several times the low electric one) made say to some that Veedon Fleece was a direct continuation of Astral Weeks . The voice of Van Morrison however evolved/moved considerably since the recording of the preceding disc It' S Too Late To Stop Now in summer 1973. It makes watch of more than virtuosity than ever, and thus highlights a new voice rounder and fuller than before, which breaks and is blown sometimes. This palpable tiredness announces the three years of silence discographic that Morrison will observe starting from the exit of Veedon Fleece . At the conclusion of this period its voice will not be impressed any more of lassitude, but will be definitively transformed.

The attitude of Van Morrison towards this disc is remarkably ambiguity: it placed it little before its exit on the same level as Astral Weeks , and then seemed more or less to repudiate it, while having almost never sung extracts on scene. It is obviously very difficult to explain this behavior; it is perhaps not useless however to specify that it is certainly about the work of this artist whose gestation was most painful, and which it was descended in flames by the floret from the specialized press: the American magazine Rolling Stone and English Melody Maker . The statute of masterpiece is largely disputed to him still today.

This disc reached the 53e place of the American classification of the record sales. Only the simple which was extract is Bulbs .

Musicians

Van Morrison - song, Guitar
David Hayes - low Guitar
John Tropea - guitar
Jeff Labes - keyboards
Joe Macho - low guitar
Jim Rothermel - Flute
Nathan Rubin - cords
Terry Adams - cords
Schroer Jack - Soprano saxophone
Allen Schwarzberg - battery
Dahaud Schaar - battery
David Shaw - Clarinet, percussions
James Trumbo - keyboards
Ralph Wash - guitar

Arrangements of the cords and the flutes: Jeff Labes

Product and composed in its totality by Van Morrison

List tracks

"Fair Play" - 6:12
" Linden Arden Stole the Highlights" - 2:36
" Who Was That Masked Man" - 2:42
" Streets off Arklow" - 4:32
" You Don' T Sweater No Punches, Goal You Don' T Push the River" - 8:48
" Bulbs" - 4:15
" Bottom of Sac" - 5:42
" Comfort You" - 4:21
" Like Young stag My Love" - 2:18
" Country Fair" - 5:35

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