Van Morrison News

Bert Berns' Seven-Year Itch

"Okay…so you scratch your head, you look at the guy who represents the company and he's dead serious. Furthermore, he's telling you all the sweet things a weary producer loves to hear: 'Money's no object…Get all the down cats you need…Just give 'em soul.' So you finish scratching your head and you reach for the nearest phone. You're cooking, you're really cooking! So you call Teacho Wiltshire to make the arrangements, and he says 'okay.' Then you get tensed up because it hits you like a rock about all the things you'll need – songs, the right artists, the right sounds…Give 'em soul. The next couple of days your desk is piled up with all the great R&B records of the past, including a few original things which will knock everyone out. And then, right smack between all that sweet confusion, all the empty and grotesque coffee containers and crushed cigarette butts, it was there. I mean pow!" -

The Complete Last Waltz Recreates the Band's Farewell Concert

Dubbed The Complete Last Waltz , the evening featured all 41 songs performed at the original concert (only some of which made the final cut for the accompanying, famed concert film) complete with special guests, such as Wilco's Nels Cline performing the role of Eric Clapton.

Mike Ragogna: Conversations With Keith Harkin and The Pines, Plus Larry and His Flask's Video Exclusive

So it looks like you're traveling around the country playing all sorts of dates right now.

Van Morrison, Sligo Live, Ireland

But the highlights are really to be found at the long, late-night sessions in McHugh's, Foley's, Hargadon Bros, Kennedy's, the Snug and innumerable other Sligo bars, where fiddlers, pipers, singers, box players, veterans and new blood all vie for supremacy, poetry and whiskey, and the kind of spirit that inspired Sligo resident W B Yeats to write "The Fiddler of Dooney".

New Music Monday: Heart, Van Morrison, Charlie Hunter, Donny McCaslin, Diana Krall, Grateful Dead

New Music Monday finds a couple of old-line favorites returning in Heart and Van Morrison, another terrific Grateful Dead reissue in the Dick's Picks series, and two cool left turns from Diana Krall and Charlie Hunter.

Van Morrison – Born to Sing: No Plan B (2012)

Recorded live in the studio with a core six-piece band, Morrison's 34th album — and his return to Blue Note — perhaps unsurprisingly has a jazzier atmosphere than his most recent studio effort, 2008′s Keep It Simple.

SNL: Ray Charles and Van Morrison

Album: Van Morrison, Born to Sing – No Plan B (Blue Note)

Critiquing the capitalist "global elite" in "Educating Archie", pondering the death of God in "If in Money We Trust", and affirming the value of art over money in "End of the Rainbow", he's found deserving targets for his grumbling – even "Goin' Down to Monte Carlo", he's offended by the "phoney pseudo-jazz" playing in a restaurant, an emblem for the emptiness of wealth.

Van Morrison: Homeward bound

Parked outside Morrison's family home, Bailie explains how the young Van received an unparalleled education in jazz from his father, George, whose job at the Belfast shipyard meant that he had access to rare import American records, allowing him to build up a vast library.

EXCLUSIVE: Win Van Morrison Tickets!

To celebrate this auspicious occasion we've teamed up with the good people at Tourism Ireland to offer a trip for two to the vibrant city of Belfast to see Morrison perform an intimate gig at the Europa Hotel.

Van Morrison to release new album

Van Morrison is to release a new studio album in October, his first since 2008's Keep It Simple.

Van Morrison announces new album 'Born To Sing: No Plan B'

Morrison previously released the Grammy nominated What's Wrong With This Picture? on Blue Note in 2003.

Van Morrison to Release "Born to Sing: No Plan B" on Oct. 2

And it involves the fact that sometimes Plan B is not an option.

Van Morrison Announces Release Of New Album 'Born To Sing: No Plan B'

Van says: "With most record companies being so corporate I am happy to be working with Don Was and the team at Blue Note. To have such a creative music person as the head of my recording label assures me that all the effort taken to write and record this new album will be rewarded with a music based focus and marketing approach. I look forward to many recording projects with Don and Blue Note." Don Was adds: Over a career that spans 4 decades, Van Morrison has developed a body of work that is unparalleled in its consistent excellence.

Van Morrison Announces September Concert At Glasgow Royal Concert Hall & Tickets

Van Morrison Tickets for his new date are on sale from 9am on Friday 22nd June. The blue-eyed soul shouter has already confirmed a show at London's Hammersmith Apollo for the end of the month, before heading over to Europe for a summer of festival appearances.

Van Morrison, Hampton Court, review

To the joy of all present, Morrison really was feeling it, stretching out this and other tunes into exquisitely extended speculations.

Zak Smith - S/T

Some, but not all, things get better with age.

Word Podcast 212: talking to authors about the Stones, Otis Redding, Van Morrison, showbands and the London Underground

Stanley Booth went on the road and down to Muscle Shoals with the Rolling Stones in 1969 and eventually wrote all about it in the ultimate access all areas on tour book, The True Adventures of The Rolling Stones ; Paul Charles is one of the UK's leading live music agents and he's also the author of The Last Dance , a new novel set against the background of the Irish showband scene of the 60s; Andrew Martin is a journalist and author who's taken his fascination with railways of all kinds into fiction as well as fact.

Download: The Band with Van Morrison – Live in Nostell 1984 Bootleg

The Band drummer and backing vocalist Levon Helm died last night in New York City after a struggle with cancer.

'The Five-Year Engagement' EP Shows Off Love For Van Morrison & Pedro Almodovar Films

Alright, you hopefully read our Tribeca Film Festival review of Nicholas Stoller' s " The Five Year Engagement " this morning.

Van Morrison set to headline Green Man Festival

Van Morrison is set to join Feist in headlining this years Green Man festival.

Van Morrison to headline Green Man Festival 2012 - ticket details

Van Morrison will headline this year's Green Man festival.

Van Morrison To Headline Green Man 2012

Van Morrison has been unveiled as the headliner for this summer's instalment of Green Man. Little acorns, tiny oaks...

Green Man Festival announce new additions, including Van Morrison

Green Man Festival have announced a wave of new acts to join the likes join Feist, Islet and of Montreal at the 10th anniversary event this Summer.

Book Notes - Kevin Fox - "Until the Next Time"

In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.

The Life and Times of “Comfortably Numb”

Pink Floyd's The Wall is being released February 27 in an expanded Immersion Edition that charts the development of this landmark release.

Soul Serenade: The Band (With Van Morrison), “Caravan”

35 years ago tomorrow, one of the most important events in the history of rock and roll took place at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.