The story of Van Morrison's earliest solo recordings is a fascinating one. Bert Berns, a hustler, songwriter and record producer for his own Bang Records brought Morrison to the United States to record after his tumultuous tenure fronting the Belfast based rhythm and blues band Them. The poppiest material of Morrison's career, the Bang recordings encompassed his love of blues and soul, and the music they recorded had a claustrophobic small band feel, occasionally using female background singers in a call and response format. "Brown Eyed Girl" is the song that everyone remembers, it's a masterpiece of giddy pop music that was a top ten American hit during the summer of 1967. That wasn't the only excellent piece of music recorded at these sessions, and the first disc on the collection is the strongest, comprising the master recordings for these sessions. The harrowing song "T.B. Sheets" about trying to deal with a friend who is dying from tuberculosis, which stretches out to over nine minutes and an early version of his iconic songs "Beside You" and "Madame George" show the path he would take into his career to come. "Midnight Special" is a traditional folk song that was associated with the great songster Lead Belly, who was a formative influence in Morrison's youth, and here they move into a joyous setting with the background singers and tight band pushing the music forward relentlessly. Experiments with a Latin tinge on "Spanish Rose" and the chunky rhythm of "Chick a Boom" show that Morrison and Berns were willing to try a wide range of music in search of another hit. Disc two takes a deeper dive into these sessions, which place alternate takes of the master recordings and use snippets of studio chatter to frame the songs. Some of the tracks like alternate take of "T.B. Sheets" are quite different, and the disc ends with several takes of "Brown Eyed Girl" showing how the hit was painstakingly put together. The third disc is the most controversial, thirty one no-effort contractual obligation songs recorded for Berns's widow after his sudden death and Morrison was desperate to escape the Bang contract to move to Warner Borthers. Morrison felt he was being exploited and turned in songs like "Blowin' Your Nose" and "The Big Royalty Check" to fulfill his contract and be sure there was nothing that could be released for profit. The material has been bootlegged over the years, but this is the first time it has been legitimately released. For the serious fan of Morrison's work, this is an excellent collection and highly recommended, but for the less devoted, the Bang Masters album remains in print.
The Authorized Bang Collection - amazon.com
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