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Band:Van Morrison DVD:Live at Montreux (1980/1974) Released by:Eagle Vision USA Writer: Dr. J- Media: MySpace Click Album Cover To Buy Now

For those unfamiliar with the “Live at Montreux” DVD series, artists included in the other releases have included greats and legends such as Alice Cooper, Buddy Guy, Carlos Santana, Lou Reed, Marvin Gaye…the list goes on. In a more recent effort “Van Morrison: Live at Montreux (1980/1974)” was released. Perhaps most interesting is the fact that Morrison has, to this date, never released an “official” concert, until now.

The first DVD of the set highlights his 1980 performance at Montreux. The expanded setlist includes “Wavelength”, “Kingdom Hall”, “And It Stoned Me”, “Troubadours”, “Spirit”, “Joyous Sound”, “Satisfied”, “Ballerina”, “Summer in England”, “Moondance”, “Haunts of Ancient Peace”, “Wild Night”, “Listen to the Lion”, “Tupelo Honey”, and “Angelou”. The 15 song set includes some of Morrison’s more memorable cuts – and a few that the older generation likely heard on the radio growing up, but never could name. Morrison’s band is strong and sounds superb. Many of the songs seem to ‘open up’ – not necessarily improve – and allow the musicians to really play the songs. Several solo sections are noteworthy and yes, there’s a little improvisation on “Wild Night” that seems just right and doesn’t loose touch with the song at hand. The final song (encore), “Angelou” was not the big closer, as one may expect, but rather laid back and free-flowing. Morrison’s vocal performance is passionate the entire performance.

The second DVD includes a performance in captured in 1974. The nine song setlist includes “Twilight Zone”, “I Like It Like That”, “Foggy Mountain Top”, “Bulbs”, “Swiss Cheese”, “Heathrow Shuffle”, “Naked in the Jungle”, “Street Choir”, and “Harmonica Boogie”. Interestingly enough, the liner notes mention that Morrison, “…stepped out in the summer of 1974 with a stripped down, spontaneously assembled by Claude Nobs, and entirely new three piece backing band, adding his own guitar and saxophone to the musical mix.” One will note how different the 1974 show is as far as performance, encompassing higher pitched singing in “Twilight Zone”, Morrison’s sax soloing in “Swiss Cheese” and “Heathrow Shuffle”, and the funky “Naked in the Jungle”

All in all, the digital re-mastering is done extremely well. The footage is excellent and the music comes straight out even handed and mixed well. The classic radio standard “Brown Eyed Girl” and the other live staple, “Gloria”, might be missing from the sets, but that makes no difference. Morrison and his bands’ performances are stellar. Stating the obvious, any Morrison fan should grab this if they haven’t already. There will be some of the casual Morrison fans that will enjoy this, as it provides a peek into the earlier spectrum of his career. Good performance, good production, good buy.

Band:Van Morrison DVD:Live at Montreux (1980/1974) Released by:Eagle Vision USA Writer: Dr. J- Media: MySpace Click Album Cover To Buy Now

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