It's Too Late to Stop Now

This album sucks!!!!! Van morrrisin more like van BORRISON,,!!!!! bitch

I am very glad to know this exists. Always a fan of Van's performance of "Caravan" at the Last Waltz alongside the Band, I am surprised I never sought out a full live album of his. And too because I really needed this evidence of Van's continued brilliance even after Astral Weeks and through his more pop-inclined, single-focused 1970s. This is an opus. I didn't get to give a deep listen last night. But I had on in the background while hosting a few friends and was truly saddened when the end was reached. A good time was had by all and I look forward to revisiting many, many times. This is immediately my 2nd favorite Van album and up there for best live albums.

Ooh, double live album? Seems like a recipe for disaster to me, especially with how disappointed I’ve been with previous Van Morrison albums on here. But wait, Jazzy, Funky, Soulful. Well recorded, tightly performed and with extra spirit and life. A little shorter (trim the covers) and that’s a 5.

I have precisely no interest in this, whatsoever. Even if it wasn't a double album (boo!) of live tracks (double boo!) I would have zero interest in it. Van Morrison is of utterly no consequence to me, and I genuinely find it hard to believe that he is to anyone else, either.

For a live album from the 70s, this was recorded remarkably well. The band is tight and the arrangements are solid. I appreciated the fact that while there was a certain looseness to the songs, they were still clearly meant to be largely played as written. There wasn't excessive noodling or extended improvisational sections which does plague live albums of this era. The music itself was nice and bluesy with some soul/jazz elements. Because of its live format, Van Morrison was unable to lean into some of his more experimental stuff and the songs come off as very straightforward. While enjoyable, this album was too long as well. However, due to the tightness of the music I feel like this is one of the best live albums of the 70s.

Wow, totally in agreement with Charlie on this one! A great find. Van Morrison is in top form for this album which is RARE, as so much of his discography seems like a mixed bag, never quite reaching the heights of what you know he’s capable of. Here it’s him in top form, and his band is INSANELY tight! It just works! He’s got that one note he loves to wail on over and over, but when he does, I’m like yeah, that’s why I like Van Morrison. Should have known that he would be terrific live, as Astral Weeks sounds like it was essentially a lot of pseudo-live compositions. I’m a big fan of this sound. I will definitely keep it around. 5/5

Un dels grans discos en directe dels '70. Van Morrison en el seu millor moment creatiu (que no personal), després d'una sèrie d'àlbums imprescindibles, recluta una banda de primeríssim nivell amb músics clàssics, de jazz i de rock i s'embarca en una sèrie de concerts que el contemplen en la cúspide de la seva carrera. Versions de clàssics del soul i r&b, i poderoses lectures d'alguns dels seus millors moments en solitari i Them (tot i que no recull l'execució de 'Brown-Eyed Girl')

It seems truly impossible that this could be one of the 1001 most important albums of all time.

This is too long. The band are tight, but I find VMs voice a bit monotonous after a while: not enough variety in his delivery. Well- rehearsed, but a little too obvious for me. The clapping along though Gloria just made me think of those terrible tv 'talent' shows. You know from one song to the next where this is going. One of those albums that is technically great but I found it a bit lacking in actual soul.

thought it was a 70s cop show, then baby making music. Van doesn't know what he's doing. Little bitch.

9th June 2023 Listened during the day on Friday while getting the house ready for Godparent weekend 1 w Sav and Sally and Seb and Justo. Loved this, made me want to listen to more of him. Played him all weekend! Now see where Nathaniel came from.

Before today I was only familiar with Van Morrison's popular songs (Brown Eyed Girl, Moondance), so I looked forward to getting to listen to more of his catalog. I don't know why I never delved any further into his stuff, because I really like the songs I know. This is the definition of a perfect live record. The band (Caledonia Soul Orchestra) is super tight, and you would swear that they had been playing with Van for years. The chemistry between them all was amazing. This album has no overdubs at all on it. Moondance was supposed to be on this record, but there was 1 bad guitar note on the recording, so Van threw it out. He wanted perfection for his live album, and that is what he got! Van dips his toes in folk, blues, soul, and jazz on this record, and is masterful at each! Overall, an epic live album. This is how a live album should be! Everything is perfect. The only critique I could make is that it kind of overstays its welcome with the last two songs (which account for almost 20 mins of run time between them). Both songs consist mostly of increasing volume and tempo, then lulls again while the band canoodles around. It just made the end of the album fall flat for me. I will, however, absolutely listen again!! Favourite songs: Domino, Gloria, Help Me, Ain't Nothin' You Can Do, I've Been Working, These Dreams of You, I Believe to My Soul, Saint Dominic's Preview, Bring It On Home To Me, Here Comes The Night Least favourite songs: Cyprus Avenue, Caravan 5/5

5/5

IMO one of the best live albums.

I’ve been listen’ so hard! What a nice live! Want to listen more albums to understand if it is the best album of Van. Let’s take the Van and ride to nowhere.

Incredibly tight band and a great performer

Spellbinding

I have said before that I had never been a huge fan of Van Morrison, but this sort of thing might change my mind. If you can keep me engaged in a 90-minute live album, you've got me. These were stellar performances with a band that absolutely rocked. The songs were jazzy and rockin' and bluesy all the way through. Gotta give it up for this one.

Un titán Van Morrison en directo. Vinilo.

I'm always kinda lukewarm on Van Morrison but this one is different - my favourite Van record by a longshot; probably the only one (maybe aside from Moondance) that I'd seek out and/or recommend. Just a fantastic (perfect??) live recording - upbeat and engaging, and the tracks are actually *better* live with the full band. Love it, even at the length - if anything the 2nd half is better. Personal highlight: "St Dominic's Preview" 9/10 5 stars. (oh and p.s. fk Van Morrison for what he's become)

Can't believe this is nearly 50 yrs old.

Admittedly I only know of Van Morrison by his most famous song, “brown eyed girl”, and nothing else. I instantly became a fan of his listening to this live album and I will be seeking out more of his discography. This was an amazing recording. I generally dislike live albums due to poor quality, but this exceeded my expectations.

Fantastic live album, really accurate to his studio recordings but feels much more full, alive, and energetic, expressing unique flairs to make everyone stand out. It turned me on to so many deep cuts whose studio versions I had overlooked for too long. Hardly any weak points. Personally, I'd still prefer to listen to Astral Weeks and Moondance for the coherent album experience. But this is about as good as I'd expect a live album from Morrison, or for that matter anyone in his vein of baroque-folky pop music.

Great album

I've never heard a singer's voice sound so similar between their studio and live performances. The live performances of his songs are so much jazzier than his studio work too. This is a really awesome album that I'm glad I found through this book. Favorite tracks: I Just Want to Make Love to You, Caravan, Cyprus Avenue

Say what you want about the man, he's said some stupid things in the past few years and there are too many stories about what a dick he is to have any serious doubts as to whether or not they're true (some of the are actually so hilarious that I'd be disappointed if they weren't) but that being said this is Van at the height of his powers with an amazing backing band. Just incredible, I wish I could have been there but since I wasn't I'm glad someone recorded these shows, this is about as it gets.

Long but beautiful, I'll keep going back to it to absorbe it

I listened to this music during a corporate meeting at work today. Pretty good jam, made the meeting pretty enjoyable overall

Genius! If you don’t appreciate how good this gig must have been. Listen to more Van Morrison and appreciate how much he changed and orchestrated every track to make it unique. Education in live performance

Super groovy live album. Swingt heerlijk.

One of the best live albums and for good reason. Distinct and powerful vocals throughout, great covers as well as originals. Guitar and keys on point throughout the album. Not much else to say.

A fantastic album!! Like the Wiki article said, the performance is so good that even some mediocre studio tracks come to life in this concert recording! This will 100% be in my regular rotation.

Van Morrison is blessed with the kind of voice whereby he could sing the phone book and give it the beauty and authenticity of a hymn. This, however, is not the phone book. And it is a long way from being it. Close your eyes and you are there. The classics are here and , as said, he can make the not so classic sound classic. A journalist once said there are two types of people. Those that like Van Morrison and those that have met Van Morrison. Quite. Hence why you have to close your eyes to let his music take you to a different plane because, by all accounts, it is so superior to the man himself.

Un titán Van Morrison en directo. Vinilo.

Didn’t fancy it this when it came up but it’s brilliant.

Me encantó el directo y su música un verdadero descubrimiento.

Love Van Morrison!

Van the Man awesome as always

I wish Morrison wasn't such a lame troll. I really enjoy his music.

Backed by an unbelievably tight band, Van the Man does what he does best. For 90 minutes straight. What a treat.

Van The Man in his full glory with several tracks from Moondance. This might be the tightest band ever captured on a live record, and the entertainment value is through the roof for the entire 90+ minutes duration.

Van the Man! Awesome live album. Great mix of soul and rock.

I'm normally against double albums, and there is certainly a question raised about a live album (especially if you can cherry pick your own tracks and your favorite covers). Still, this is a pretty amazing backstory and the fact that it is reported that Moondance was thrown off this release list because there was one wrong note played. It is very cool to think that every night of the tour was a different riff on these tracks. Van Morrison is definitely in hit soulful passionate prime and it shows here. There are lots of home runs here. Great album. Its a really powerful set.

This was fantastic. Very long but fantastic. Looking it up on wiki I think the original was just a double album and we've got a 3 volume set on spotify which I think is waaaaay longer but it's hard to tell so I just listened to the whole thing. It's great. I love Van. His songs are energic but also calming and nice, some really cool rock and roll but then nice folky stuff. Just cool.

I was dreading a 90-minute live album, but I was in for a pleasant surprise. So many emotions and different musical genres played here! This would have been great to see.

Awesome album! Van is a maestro!

Phantastic!

kinda think most of his music is too samey but he's got a lot of energy so it's fun to hear him perform anyway

I fully expected to find this double live album a chore, having been so so on Morrison's other albums on the list but was thrilled at how energetic and enjoyable this record turned out to be. Morrison is charismatic and lively and in fine voice and the soul band, notably horns and string, are amazing. Clearly, Van decided that if he was to take a soul band on tour he'd take advantage and sing some soul covers and who can blame him when it sounds this good? His own compositions are excellent, too, and I may need to dig further into his back catalogue. Perhaps that was the missing piece of the puzzle? Move him out of the studio and onto the stage and Morrison comes to life with this vivid, powerhouse of a performance.

Goddamn if this ornery Irishman didn't release one of the quintessential live albums of my lifetime. That's not over praise. That's just fact. Most songs sound better live than they do in their original recorded versions. This is simply a marvel. One of the more pleasant late surprises this list has offered.

Excellent as usual

tolles album, tolle musik zum hinhören!

This 1001 album journey is the first time I’ve really listened to Van Morrison and I have to say, his stuff from this era is some of my favorite music of all time.

can’t believe this mf is irish 10/10

On one listen this felt like a clear 4. It's regarded as one of the greatest live albums of all time and I agree it's very good. But is it worth a 5? Well, I had it on all weekend and it definitely gets better with multiple listens. Van Morrison is clearly enjoying himself on stage and at times you can hear how much the audience is too. Side one take a bit to build because the performer-audience connection is less audible. Morrison and his band (until the songs end) still bring it on Warm Love and Into the Mystic and you can hear the audience energy more on These Dreams of You (piano really starts to shine) and you can hear the band and Morrison improvise too. But the covers really shine and keep taking the performance to another level. Morrison and the band really lean in on the Ray Charles cover I Believe to My Soul as side one ends and then they are electric on Help Me (song two of side two). But it’s as the album pivots from side two to three that the album absolutely takes off, as they transition from the incredible Muddy Waters and Sam Cooke covers (I Just Want to Make Love to You and Bring in on Home To Me) and Domino right before. The energy grabs you and you can feel like you're there. And Morrison turns into the greatest showman with a band that matches. The sax and faux siren on Take Your Hand out of My Pocket, the tender piano and strings and passionate singing on St. Dominic’s Preview and Listen to the Lion (minus those silly accents). And then side four blows the roof off. It sounds like all of it was encore, but man oh man. The crowd goes wild for the two Them hits (Here Comes the Night and G-L-O-R-I-A) and rightly so – Morrison owns the stage at this point, yowling, prowling, and improvising. But his vocal play and his and the band’s connection with the audience on Caravan and Cyprus Avenue, wow. They’re just eating out of the palm of his/their hand as he does call and answer, instrument solos, or stops and starts. The repeated “so you know it’s got soul” in Caravan, the fan call out of “turn it on” and sultry Morrison reply of “it’s turned on already” on Cyprus Avenue before he launches into “it’s too late to stop now”. It makes you wish you were there. So all that to say, yeah, it’s worth a 5.

This is a live album? God damn...

Awesome!

Fantastic vocal delivery and life brought to the performance of these songs. It’s just too long.

Superb rhythm and blues soul. Wonderfully performed. Better than the two Van Morrison Greatest Hits collections? Perhaps.

Does not sound live! Good album

This is a good album but I'm not convinced that it's one I'd ever listen to again.

Yup, quite enjoyed that - I can see why it's celebrated as a great live album! Fave tracks - "These Dreams of You" from the first disc, and "Gloria" -> "Caravan" on the second!

Great album

Some nice easy listening that is not controversial. I think anyone from the age of like 2 to 100 would have a hard time getting worked up and negative about this. I enjoyed all these songs and if I heard them again I wouldn't turn them off. Somewhere between a 3 and a 4 (the live band is very tight, some real skill here). I'm going to go 4 because I'm in a good mood and also my next album in the line up is the notorious Spy vs. Spy.

This was quite an extended concert… while I am not sure I’m this big a Van Morrison fan, the music is great, the performance energetic, the arrangements great. Way up there as a live album, even if it is a lot more than I needed.

Nice takes on some familiar (and not so familiar) tunes. Makes me wish I was there.

I do enjoy me some Van Morrison. This live album didn't really add much to my life, though.

Great live album. Van Morrison is frustratingly inconsistent but is in fine form here.

I was really dreading this one when I saw it. I've had a pretty good run with Van Morrison so far on this list, despite the fact that I find him to be problematic as a person, he makes music that I enjoy more than I thought I would. I was hoping that we could leave it at that, but no, today I got served up a live album. I don't like live albums, and I don't see how I could possibly like a Van Morrison live album And yet, it's one of the best sounding live albums that I've ever heard. It's very clean-sounding, yet maintains the live energy. It's honestly kinda bullshit that that they did this to me and made me give another positive review to a Van Morrison album 4/5

This surprised me with how fun it was. There was so much life and energy on display from everyone here. It was so close to a 5 if Van Morrison didn't get away from himself just a bit too much. But my oh my do I wish I could have been at the Troubadour that night!

The man who stole my virginity, Van Morrison, we meet again. As much as I love the jowly faced old crooner, I simply cannot forget that he took my innocence in a violent act of self pleasure that left me with a lifelong struggle trying to figure out why he did it and who I am.

Well it's almost all the classics and rock solid live performance. It's unfortunate that Morrison has gone down this path of the contrarian British conservative-ish grump, but no need to hold that against this product of a simpler time.

I was a bit hesitant over this one, as I didn't particularly like the solo album I listened to. This is however a great live album. Kinda get Van the Man now.

This is a gutsy soulful performance that is reminiscent of the live LPs we’re received from Sam Cooke or James Brown. Van is confident and creative enough to change up the arrangements or his phrasing and his covers do justice to great artists like Willie Dixon and Ray Charles.

Great album that includes some fantastic songs. Going to take away a star though because I don’t think it needed to be a double album

Jazz. Soul. Blues.

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Ain’t nothin you can do, Warm love, I believe to my soul

I'm a sucker for this sort of shit. Not knowing many of the originals might have helped. This sounds like an incredibly polished live set of performances. I suspect studio twiddling took place at a later date. It feels wholesome, it feels worthy. Which is not something you always want from dumb rock 'n' roll. But a sense of righteousness is never a bad thing.

4 Good shit

Van Morrison...who knew he was this good? Not I...I had pretty much despised Brown Eyed Girl and refused to give other songs listens in the past, but the dude is just great. 4/5

Van Morrison is one of those artists I don’t remember hearing for the first time, but whose music I definitely knew well before I could’ve been expected to. Specifically, I know “Brown Eyed Girl,” “Jackie Wilson Said,” and even “Moondance,” with all its sexual innuendos that surely eluded my youthful ear, were played around the house. As great as his best work is, especially the albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, I’m just not sold on over 90 minutes of live Van Morrison. Sure, this includes a number of his classics. Some of them, like “These Dreams of You” and “Domino,” do not disappoint. But some of the others (I’m looking at you, “Into the Mystic”) are much better listened to straight off the original LPs. His cover of “Bring It on Home to Me” sounds more than anything like Jimmy Fallon impersonating sixties soul through Van Morrison’s voice. I’m not sure why a live album like this one is included on the list when he has so many strong studio albums. But at the end of the day, Van Morrison could probably turn the Wiggles’ soundtrack into a heartfelt 12-minute ballad, so I have to throw a decent rating his way.

This is the best Van Morrison has ever sounded, hands down. And it really is one of the best live albums I've heard. The energy and vitality of the live show comes across perfectly and the band is legitimately on point throughout. The biggest problem is that it's an hour and a half long. That's too much. It's just too much, Van! It's long enough for the novelty of the live show to wear off and the banality of the songwriting to start to show through. Because, while there are some truly legendary performances here, there are also more than a few duds. Cull the 1/3 of these songs that are lame and you've got an absolutely legendary album. As it is, we're sitting at a pretty solid 4-stars which is good enough, I guess.

I listened to the live version and it was solid. I'm sure it would be better in the studio version so rating 4 as an assumption.

Love Van Morrison

Uh oh, now I’m in conflict! I hate live albums but I love Van Morrison. Hmm, what to do what to do? I dig his songs, I’m into it. I really wish it wasn’t live, but these are my jams so I’m grading for that.

A fun listen.

Said to be one of the greatest live albums of all time. 3.8

For a live album from the '70s this seems very well put together. I think it's more of a 3.5 but I'm rounding up to four instead of down to three

Enjoyefd. Shuold listen when I want tohse vibes

Awesome Live album.... Full of energy

Typiquement un genre musical qui met de bonne humeur, c'est entraînant, les instrus sont bonnes. Ça me fait penser à "Everybody needs somebody"

Played this one on the way home then proceeded to listen to Van for the rest of the night. So many great songs and so much variety. For some reason I'd sort of forgotten about him for the past few years. On an unrelated note, Stuart Murdoch from Belle & Sebastian really looks like the younger Van Morrison...

Pretty good!

This was a decent live albums, Van certainly has a tight band and they played the hits. Pretty good overall

ALl the volumes was a bit repetitive but it wasn't awful.

I wasn't really looking forward to this, but wow. There's a liveliness and spirit here that is lacking in his studio produced songs. I guess Van is one of those rare performers who is better live.

Van The Man doing some of his finest material in his own inimitable way. 3.5 rounded up to 4.

This is great and Van Morrison is great, but no idea why its this live album when his studio stuff is fine.

I’m not much of a Van Morrison fan, but this was good.

Solid, but didn’t love as much as I had expected. Maybe it’s the instrumentation that’s a bit too much for me on the live versions.