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VAN MORRISON SLAMS 'MEANINGLESS' BEATLES


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VAN MORRISON SLAMS 'MEANINGLESS' BEATLES

 

van_morrison_1846909.jpg

 

Irish singer VAN MORRISON has criticised legendary band THE BEATLES - insisting the Fab Four were "peripheral" in the history of music.

The veteran star is adamant the Hey Jude hitmakers should not be held up as the pioneers of pop, because there was great music before the band's 1960s heyday.

He says, "You measure things in terms of the Beatles. We don't think music started there. The Beatles were peripheral. If you had more knowledge of music, it didn't really mean anything. To me, it was meaningless."

 

 

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It didn't even occur to me that some of you wouldn't know who Van Morrison is..I'll assume you're kidding, but just in case...

 

ptJT8Zs3ZF0

 

I'm a big fan of both, and probably the only group I want to see more than Van Morrison in concert is Slipknot out here in ~17 hours.

 

I'm sorta hoping it's an Irish/English thing, but at first, I was afraid ol' Van was getting a little senile.

(Or maybe feeling the need for some controversial remarks to garner attention for his latest release..Astral Weeks Live At the Hollywood Bowl)...

 

But I can see his point, a little.

Even the members of the Beatles tired of all the hoopla given them and made it almost impossable for them to enjoy performing....If anything, they pioneered the excesses in Hype (reluctantly)..but were talented enough to overcome it.

 

Near as I can remember (I was two), they started getting popular after they started copying Little Richard...But then with the help of George Martin, Brian Epstein, and later...LSD, they evolved to new and highly influential stuff..(Plus they were my Favourite Band for the first dozen or so years of my life).

 

If you really don't know Van Morrison, check out his stuff...He's sorta Jazz lately, and he mumbles worse than ever...But there's still lots of soul there.

 

 

 

Them..G.L.O.R.I.A

Them - Baby Please Don't Go (1964)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still On Top - The Greatest Hits CD DISC 1:

1. Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)

2. Dweller on the Threshold

3. Whenever God Shines His Light - (with Cliff Richard)

4. Moondance

5. Bright Side of the Road

6. Brown Eyed Girl

7. Wavelength

8. Crazy Love

9. Someone Like You

10. When Will I Ever Learn to Live in God?

11. Tore Down a la Rimbaud

12. Wild Night

13. Gloria - (with Them)

14. Real Real Gone

15. Into the Mystic

16. In the Garden

17. Saint Dominic's Preview

18. Stranded

Still On Top - The Greatest Hits Songs DISC 2:

1. Precious Time

2. Domino

3. Here Comes the Night - (with Them)

4. Little Village

5. And It Stoned Me

6. Days Like This

7. Have I Told You Lately?

8. Cleaning Windows

9. Baby Please Don't Go - (with Them)

10. Back on Top

11. Vanlose Stairway

12. Celtic New Year

13. Irish Heartbeat - (with The Chieftains)

14. Healing Game, The - (alternate take)

15. Full Force Gale

16. Warm Love

17. Did Ye Get Healed?

18. Tupelo Honey

19. Wonderful Remark

Still On Top - The Greatest Hits Album DISC 3:

1. Hey Mr. DJ

2. In the Forest

3. Queen of the Slipstream

4. Rave on John Donne

5. Hymns to the Silence

6. Crazy Jane on God - (with Moving Hearts)

7. Rough God Goes Riding

8. Steal My Heart Away

9. One Irish Rover

10. Listen to the Lion

11. Streets of Arklow

12. Beauty of the Day Goes By, The

13. Take It Where You Find It

14. Coney Island

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I love The Beatles as much as the next guy but until they started hanging with Dylan and experimenting with drugs their stuff was very very bland pop music that was no where near the caliber of Elvis or some of the stuff before them.

 

If you ask me and nobody did the stuff The Stones put out during that same period was better is better and will always be better then The Beatles.

 

The Beatles took what Elvis had started with the fan craze and ran with it and that has helped build their status up more then their musical ability. I will also say this; those 4 cats needed each other because anything they did by themselves or with their crazy wives pails in comparison and some of it is borderline junk.

 

For the record Van Morrison has one of the best voices ever but some of his song writing is plain turdish. I still kills me when I see that guy sing because I can’t believe that voice is coming out of that pudgy old man.

 

The way I look at The Beatles is kind of like the way I view Nirvana. I get their place in music history and I understand why people love on them so much. However at the end of the day musically I think they get way more credit then they deserve and if people were truly honest they would realize that there were bands during the same era that were better. (The Stones and Pearl Jam)

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The Beatles were the greatest there ever were. This is a fact, and as such is not open to debate.

 

Greatest What? Based on what?

It's getting nearly impossible to make blanket statements like that and sound believable.

 

One nice thing the Beatles did was have a "Clown"? as a Drummer..I was told by my older Brothers that I was already a better drummer as a 6th grader than Ringo..I just remember wanting to someday be almost as good as either of my brothers who had both played in College marching bands.

 

Anyway..the clown thing endeared them to lots of fans..and as David Evans (The "Edge" from U2) stated somewhere..One of his main early influences was a simple "3 chord" outfit (The Ramones).

It made them believe in themselves even when they were bad and just starting out.

(Something I think Van missed in his analysis of the importance of the Beatles).

 

 

 

A lot of what you decide to be your "Best band ever" depends on which Blues artist they ripped off.

 

My favourite early Blues artist is probably Willie Dixon.

Who I never heard of before tracing Led Zeppelin's Roots.

 

The Beatles Ripped off Chuck Berry and Little Richard..

The Rolling Stones Ripped off Muddy Watters..

The Who ripped off James Brown..

Near as I can tell..Lemmy? ripped off Eddie Money.

 

One thing that separates the Beatles from bands like the Stones and The Who is the way they continued to evolve...I can count maybe a dozen songs by the Who or the Stones that I absolutely love..But they are pretty similar to each other..And their average stuff really sucks hard in most cases...Whereas...with the Beatles..It was like being able to enjoy several genera at the same time..And I probably only heard five bad songs from them, ever.

 

Van Morrison probably has over 40 songs that I really love..But some of his bad ones make you want to drink..

His influences are so subtle..maybe some Leadbelly and some Ray Charles??

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