Oct. 31, 1974 review: Van Morrison at the Century Theater

 


I was a big Van Morrison fan in the early 1970s (saw him at the Lion’s Share, a club in San Anselmo, Calif., in August 1971, which remains one of my all-time favorite evenings) and like fans everywhere, I was a bit jarred by his transition in 1974, when he shed his big Caledonia Soul Orchestra in favor of a stripped-down live show and more reflective songwriting, as heard in that year’s “Veedon Fleece” album. 

Oct. 31, 1974 

New Morrison Sound

Takes Getting Used To 

          Can this really be the legendary Van Morrison? This ruddy, chubby little guy with the wispy red hair and the wire-rims and the old leather coat?

          It took a couple of minutes Wednesday night at the Century Theater to get used to the idea. After all, it’s been four years and that upbeat opening song isn’t familiar. But who else can flash on the wistful intensity of “Street Choir?” It’s him, all right.

          But he’s a different man this time around. Brusquer, less at ease, less content to linger on his storehouse of lazy talismanic phrases. More intent on rhythm. And blues. He’s anything but laid back.

          And he’s got a different band. In place of the sprawling Caledonia Soul Orchestra are three extraordinarily efficient jazz-oriented session musicians who’re tighter than a nervous tick.

* * *

KEYBOARD, bass, drums, all riding on the high-speed precision click of the high-hat. Infinity’s the limit on where they’ll go. The crack of the snare drum keeps booming out reminders. Third curve of the syncopation. Pow! They’ve got it.

          It’s dynamite on his Ray Charles goodie, “I Believe to My Soul,” where he takes a big sax solo. And on “Take Your Hand Out of My Pocket.”

          And it’s good with shadings on light jazzy tunes like the intricately personal “Listen to the Lion” and a new thing called “It’s Not the Twilight Zone.”

* * *

BUT IT ALL tends to have destructive effects on Morrison’s gentler, more country-oriented numbers, like “Warm Love” (done up heavily staccato) and “Bulbs” off his new “Veedon Fleece” album. More destructive than his guitar tuning turning sour.

          That sets you wondering when you’re up and dancing and cheering for Morrison’s genius back for one encore (“Moondance” with “Fever” in the middle) and a second encore (the fabled “Gloria”). What became of the Morrison who wrote “St. Dominick’s Preview?”

          That noted a cappella singing group, the Persuasions, started the evening off, also stepping very quickly, also not so inclined to break from the security behind first tenor Jesse Russell, who took all the solos and all the chances.

          Russell got to deliver the hard-times rap and sing “The Ten Commandments of Love” to the admiring lady in the front row. And the harmonies rolled on behind him, rich and deep and lusciously full. They still don’t need no band.

* * * * *

IN THE PHOTO: Van Morrison in performance in 1974.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE: Van Morrison’s band would be the same one that accompanied him in Anaheim, Calif., a couple weeks later – drummer Peter Van Hooke (later with Mike + the Mechanics), well-traveled British blues keyboardist Pete Wingfield and Detroit-born Jerome Rimson, a blues and jazz bassist who did a lot of high-profile session work in the U.K. and went on to play with Van for 10 years. 

Once again, setlist.fm doesn’t include the Buffalo date in its 1974 concert history. Although he played a somewhat different lineup of songs every night, the evening’s agenda probably was pretty close to the one four nights earlier in Providence, R.I.: 

Naked in the Jungle

Street Choir

Warm Love

Bulbs

Into the Mystic

Help Me (Sonny Boy Williamson cover)

I Believe to My Soul (Ray Charles cover)

Listen to the Lion

Wild Night

You Don’t Pull No Punches, But You Don’t Push the River

I’ve Been Working

Keep Your Hand Out of My Pocket (Sonny Boy Williamson cover)

Twilight Zone

Moondance (with Fever snippet)

Brown Eyed Girl

Gloria

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

July 6, 1974 Review: The first Summerfest concert at Rich Stadium -- Eric Clapton and The Band

Image
  This was the summer that rock ‘n roll came to the brand new Buffalo Bills stadium in Orchard Park . There was a lot of official nervousness about this kickoff event.   July 6, 1974   Hassle-Free Clapton Concert Scores a Pleasant Success             Rich Stadium got its baptism in rock ‘n roll Saturday evening and it all went off so well that the home of the Buffalo Bills football team should be bouncing to the big beat for many summer nights to come.           It was a star-studded event – stars above and stars on the stage. The Band, honed to near perfection as a live act, cranked out a happy, raucous set. And guitar idol Eric Clapton, who announced that he was drunk (indeed, he was very drunk), took a laid-back set that left many of his worshippers perplexed.           But the real heroes of this show – the first of four in the Summerfest ’74 series at the stadium – were promoter Jerry Nathan and his Festival East organization. * * * THEY TURNED the near-impossib
Read more

Feb. 2, 1974: The Blue Ox Band

Image
  One of the major local rock bands of the day and predecessor to some equally wonderful aggregations down the line.   Feb. 2, 1974 Blue Ox Wants Aggressive, Bitey Sound   AS BLUE OX themselves will tell you, a lot depends on the crowd.                    One night they’ll be sitting there in the Bona Vista on Hertel Avenue like good old boys and girls on the bayou, bobbing in their private dreams to the Grateful Dead’s “Truckin.’”           A few nights later, at an even more tender hour, the tiny dance floor is full of folks boogieing their heads off to the very same tune. * * * “IF YOU LISTEN for a whole night,” guitarist-organist Charlie O’Neill says, “we go through all kinds of styles. But sometimes the slower stuff is rough when you’ve got a bunch that wants to bounce around.”           Variety, for Blue Ox, has been a matter of trading and balancing between a club crowd’s boogie urge and the band’s own preference for subtler, more complex tunes, including a fe
Read more

August 9, 1976 review: Elton John at Rich Stadium, with Boz Scaggs and John Miles

Image
  Now that all the organizational issues for Rich Stadium concerts were ironed out, Mother Nature decided to throw a curve. August 9, 1976 Elton John Pours It On For Rain-Soaked Fans Elton John was amazed. “I thank you for standing out in the rain and sitting out in the rain,” he remarked as he strode out in a Stars & Stripes Uncle Sam outfit in Rich Stadium Saturday afternoon for the first of three encores. “You deserve a medal of honor.” Instead of medals, the drizzle-soaked, wind-chilled crowd of 52,560 got a whale of a concert from the supermost superstar of the ‘70s. In fact, such was the energy of that first encore – everybody shouting along to the chorus of “Saturday Night’s All Right for Fighting” – that the rain faltered and it seemed like the sun would awaken for a guest appearance. But it didn’t. It was miraculous enough that Superfest 10 beat the deluge. The promoters rushed to fit it all in, forestalling an epidemic of rockin’ pneumonia and the boogie-w
Read more