I knew about Van the Man for a long time. Just about everyone knows “Brown eyed girl” and “Gloria” and “Moondance” and “Have I told you lately.” They are pretty good songs (“Brown eyed girl” is a great one, despite that it’s been overplayed; that’s why it’s been overplayed). But he has plenty of songs that have gone way under the radar, and the songs don’t typically end up on greatest hits or essential compilations.
I discovered his Astral Weeks album through Lester Bangs, the infamous music critic (Rolling Stone and Creem magazines) who wrote about the album in his book, Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung. I picked up the album and loved it, more than almost any other album I’ve ever heard, right next to all of Dylan’s albums, and Tom Waits’. Anyway, some of these songs aren’t secrets, but some are close, buried beneath all of his other great albums.
10. And it stoned me – Very Van, very reminiscent, very childlike, the can’t turn back the years kind of yearning, the way the soul burns after old memories, things like that.
9. T.B. Sheets – Good song. Can’t remember exactly why, but I know I like it, and I know it goes about here. (I had to sell my copy of the album for beer money several years ago, in college, and haven’t reacquired it yet.)
8. Into the mystic – Most of his music is quite mystical, and especially this one. Pretty and consuming, this song is sweet and beautiful and all of the other like emotions.
7. Dweller on the Threshold – Typical Van song, kind of sweeping and in the stars, kind of spacey, pretty, dreamy kind of feel, a bigger than yourself, outside of yourself, inside of yourself vibe, all inclusive, expansive themes and lyrics and sounds. A near-epic song. Something about it just misses; otherwise it would be higher on the list.
6. Cypress Avenue – Here starts Astral Weeks. The first of three to make the list. And that’s an impressive feat considering his body of work.
5. Cleaning windows – Very cool. Great imagery. Fun rhythm. Speaks of old blues figures. It has it all. Sights, smells, history, memory – a swell listen.
4. Summertime in England – From a very underrated album, Common One, is this tribute to England, tall grass, sun and other nature, the writers and poets of England, the old ones, T.S. Eliot and William Blake and so on, and, like all Van songs, it wouldn’t be complete without some kind of sexual reference, a mention of a woman (“Come and meet me in the tall grass in the summertime in England”). This song is perfect on all accounts.
3. Madame George – Astral Weeks; see for yourself!
2. Brown eyed girl – Obviously, it has to go on the list. There’s no denying it’s power as a song. If it came out for the firs time today, it would be a hit. It’s not like some oldies that are only good because they have been played for so long that we know the words and are just used to them. This one is, in all facets of the word, a great song.
1. Astral Weeks
