Having listened to hundreds of white R&B singers from the British Invasion, I'm starting to think that Van Morrison cuts it as quite possibly the best of the lot. There's something otherworldly to his Howlin' Wolf inspired snarl that transports his performances beyond pastiche (i.e. Mick Jagger) or overcompensation (i.e. Steve Marriot) and into the upper echelon of blues greatness (P.S, I very much dig those guys as well, don't attack me just yet...) His work with Them in the 60's/his first solo album (the one that features 'Brown Eyed Girl' and the dreaded 'psychedelic jacket' Van so despised) rank among my favourite British garage/soul material, and this album (the second by Them, hence the 'Again' bit) is a great showcase for Van's protopunk credentials as well as his future folkier material first introduced on the epic 'Astral Weeks' in '68. Released in 1966, the group at the time was a mix of rotating members and I can't find any details of the exact personnel playing on the record (apparently Jimmy Page is on here, somewhere...) so I'll have to skip this section today. Moving along swiftly, Lets get into Side One...
'Could You Would You' opens up the album, a funky Morrison original with some killer high note wailing in the lead vocal and a chunky rhythm section supported by floating Farfisa organ in the background, very cool stuff with nice Stax Soul edge. A groovy cover of 'Something You Got' follows, easily matching Wilson Pickett's version from the same year (dare I say it, this sounds meatier, sorry Pickett...) 'Call My Name' is next, written by Producer Tommy Scott who gets a few more credits on the LP. This one's a moody folk rocker with more stomping rhythm and Van's passionate vocals, but also a bit of Zombies-ish darkness creeping in. 'Turn On Your Lovelight' is some great R&B, raw and raucous, seething in bar band attitude and Ray Charles good-timey atmosphere (love that surfy drum breakdown midway thru). Back to the darkness next with a beautifully Jazzy 'Put A Spell On You', great vibes work and haunted Sax (played by Van I believe). Van's surely channelling Nina Simone on this one, with her excellent cover coming out the year before this album's release, dig that scat bit near the end! And now, a complete 180 to the fuzzed-out garage classic written by Tommy Scott, 'I Can Only Give You Everything', an absolute stomping blast that for me makes the album well worth owning on its own merits. This is pretty much the basis for the American Garage sound we've covered so far on this Blog, mega fuzz guitar riffing (by the way, that is the riff from Beck's 'Devil's Haircut', the cheeky bugger...), tinny farfisa, Dave Clark Five One Beat and a lead singer screaming his heart out, pure rock n' roll excellence. 'My Lonely Sad Eyes' is another Van original and is stepping closer to the sound he's best known for; folk/soul pop tunes coupled with wonderfully poetic lyrics. 'I Got A Woman' closes Side One with more of that Ry Charles rave-up quality, great piano work on this one (whoever it may be...) You may have noticed by this point that there's quite a few songs for one side of an album (eight on each here), and you'd be right, this is around 45 mins which for the time was an EPIC length (most LP's were only 30 mins until 67/68, just thought I'd let you know, maybe its only me that cares bout this kinda thing...).
A smashing take of Mr Brown's 'Out of Sight' opens Side Two and its another funky number with more solid drum/basswork (yes I know we've heard this track before on the Raiders album a few weeks back, I'm afraid we're going to see a lot of overlap in the covers department between the British and American groups of the time). A cover of Dylan's 'Its All Over Now Baby Blue' is next, and for those of you who are Chocolate Watchband fans, this is where they got their arrangement from (swapping the keyboard riff for a glorious 12 string of course...). This has a majestic quality to it I can't quite pin down, probably the mix of tones laid down here, from background farfisa, to upfront strummed acoustics, all enveloped by Van's soulful vocals that enhance the beauty of Dylan's original lyrics tenfold, a stone cold classic. 'Bad Or Good' (another Van original) is next, sorta gospel-ish with call and response vocals and backroom piano lines a plenty, Van preaching in full on Ray mode. Tommy Scott gets another tune next here with 'How Long Baby', quite an old school 50's style ballad that Van absolutely rips through, also featuring a great Steve Cropper influenced tremolo-guitar solo (is that Jimmy Page? We'll find him someday...) The early rock n' roll spirit carries on next with a cover of Fats Domino's 'Hello Josephine' that the band knocks out with a kicking mix of honky-tonk piano and trebly guitar. 'Don't You Know' is a surprising return to Jazz, featuring flute, shuffling drums and some tight piano playing (another Scott original too, he's a great writer, although I'm sure Van had more original tunes at the time, maybe he was holding off for his solo career...). Speaking of his solo stuff, 'Hey Girl' is a real set-up for the emotional ballad side of Van that would emerge two years later with 'Astral Weeks', even the instrumentation is the same! Beautiful flutes, distant piano, echoey drums and Van striding above it all, a true timeless masterpiece. 'Bring Em' On In' closes out the record with YET MORE of that great R&B party sound and what seems like some improved lyrics from Van. A pretty cool ending to a superb LP, check it all out below and I'll see you next time when I'll be checking out the debut of some well known petite-headed cockneys (might write it on a 'Lazy Sunday', who knows...)
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