VAN MORRISON – TUPELO HONEY LP – Nr MINT A1/B1 UK WILD NIGHT

Van Morrison – Tupelo Honey
(Polydor Records 1989   8391611)
Matrix No’s: A1/B1 – UK Pressing

Sleeve in Nr MINT condition

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are a few light surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)

Sir George Ivan Morrison, OBE (born 31 August 1945), known as Van Morrison, is a singer and songwriter from Ulster, with a reputation for being at once stubborn, idiosyncratic, and sublime. His studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It’s Too Late to Stop Now, have been critically acclaimed. In 2016, he was knighted for his musical achievements and his services to tourism and charitable causes in Northern Ireland.

Known as “Van the Man”, Morrison started his professional career when, as a teenager in the late 1950s, he played a variety of instruments including guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone for various Irish showbands covering the popular hits of the day. He rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as the lead singer of the Northern Irish R&B band Them, with whom he recorded the garage band classic “Gloria”. His solo career began under the pop-hit oriented guidance of Bert Berns with the release of the hit single “Brown Eyed Girl” in 1967. After Berns’ death, Warner Bros. Records bought out his contract and allowed him three sessions to record Astral Weeks (1968). Even though this album would gradually garner high praise, it was initially a poor seller; Moondance (1970), however, established Morrison as a major artist, and he built on his reputation throughout the 1970s with a series of acclaimed albums and live performances. Morrison continues to record and tour, producing albums and live performances that sell well and are generally warmly received, sometimes collaborating with other artists, such as Georgie Fame and the Chieftains. In 2008, he performed Astral Weeks live for the first time since 1968.

Much of Morrison’s music is structured around the conventions of soul music and R&B, such as the popular singles “Brown Eyed Girl”, “Jackie Wilson Said (I’m in Heaven When You Smile)”, “Domino” and “Wild Night”. An equal part of his catalogue consists of lengthy, loosely connected, spiritually-inspired musical journeys that show the influence of Celtic tradition, jazz and stream-of-consciousness narrative, such as the album Astral Weeks and lesser-known ones such as Veedon Fleece and Common One. The two strains together are sometimes referred to as “Celtic soul”. He has received six Grammy Awards, the 1994 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, and has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Tupelo Honey is the fifth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released in October 1971 by Warner Bros. Records. Morrison had written all of the songs on the album in Woodstock, New York, before his move to Marin County, California, except for “You’re My Woman”, which he wrote during the recording sessions. Recording began at the beginning of the second quarter of 1971 at the Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco. Morrison moved to the Columbia Studios in May 1971 to complete the album.

The namesake for the album and its title track is a varietal honey produced from the flowers of the tupelo tree found in the Southeastern United States. The album features various musical genres, most prominently country, but also R&B, soul, folk-rock and blue-eyed soul. The lyrics echo the domestic bliss portrayed on the album cover; they largely describe and celebrate the rural surroundings of Woodstock and Morrison’s family life with then-wife Janet “Planet” Rigsbee.

Tupelo Honey received most of its success in America; it charted at number 27 on the Billboard charts and in 1977 it was certified gold by the RIAA. It failed to reach any of the European or other world-wide charts. The album yielded two hit singles, the hymn-like title track, as well as the R&B-flavored “Wild Night”. The third released single, “(Straight to Your Heart) Like a Cannonball”, was less successful and did not enter the Billboard Hot 100. The album received mostly positive reviews from music critics at the time of its release, but Morrison’s biographers were less favorable towards it in later years.

Track listing

All songs written by Van Morrison, unless otherwise noted.

Side one

1. “Wild Night” – 3:33
2. “(Straight to Your Heart) Like a Cannonball” – 3:43
3. “Old Old Woodstock” – 4:17
4. “Starting a New Life” – 2:10
5. “You’re My Woman” – 6:44

Side two

1. “Tupelo Honey” – 6:54
2. “I Wanna Roo You (Scottish Derivative)” – 3:27
3. “When That Evening Sun Goes Down” – 3:06
4. “Moonshine Whiskey” – 6:48

Personnel

Musicians

• Van Morrison – rhythm guitar, harmonica, vocals, backing vocals
• Ronnie Montrose – electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, backing vocals
• Bill Church – bass
• Rick Shlosser – drums
• Connie Kay – drums on “Starting a New Life”, “Tupelo Honey”, “When That Evening Sun Goes Down” and “Old Old Woodstock”
• Jack Schroer – alto, tenor and baritone saxophones
• Mark Jordan – piano, electric piano
• Gary Mallaber – percussion, vibraphone
• John McFee – pedal steel guitar
• Ted Templeman – organ on “Tupelo Honey”
• Bruce Royston – flute
• Luis Gasca – trumpet
• “Boots” Houston – flute, backing vocals
• Ellen Schroer – backing vocals
• Janet Planet – backing vocals

Production

• Producers: Van Morrison, Ted Templeman
• Engineers: Stephen Barncard, David Brown, Doc Storch
• Art direction: Ed Thrasher
• Photography: Michael Maggid
• Horn arrangements: Van Morrison, Jack Schroer
• Flute arrangements: “Boots” Houston on “Like a Cannonball”, Bruce Royston on “Tupelo Honey”