Saturday 19 July 2008

Van churns out another one!

KISS, or Keep It Simple, Stupid, is long-standing tenet in the IT business that I've been involved in for the past 40 years or so. As the title of Van the Man's latest album implies, I'm not sure who's the stupid one - us - for buying it, or him. He says that he's returning to his roots though to me it sounds like he's saving himself the bother of working for a living and is just repeating what he's done before. That said, on stage last year, his performance was great.

I wondered what was going on earlier this year when he and/or his record company pulled all of his classic videos from YouTube. Now I understand. He didn't want us to remember how great he was.

Sorry Van. You need to go back to the drawing board, and reinvent yourself. This just dosn't cut the mustard.

3 comments:

  1. WEB SHERIFF
    Protecting Your Rights on the Internet
    Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013
    Fax 44-(0)208-323 8080
    websheriff@websheriff.com
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    Hi John / DnS,

    On behalf of Exile Productions and Exile Publishing, thanks for your plug (as it were) and thanks, at least, for your comments about Van Morrison's live performance ... .. and, if your readers would like to check-out Van's latest album for themselves, up-to-the-minute info on Keep It Simple and Van's 2008 shows is, of course, available on www.vanmorrison.com and www.myspace.com/vanmorrison and, for a limited period, you can still see Van's exclusive BBC sessions at http://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/vanmorrison/video/.

    As regards YouTube, we’re also pleased to announce that an increasing archive of exclusive film footage of Van Morrison performances has now been made available for fans on Exile’s official YouTube channel at http://uk.youtube.com/user/OfficialExileFilms ... .. again, please do check-it-out.

    All The Best,

    WEB SHERIFF

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  2. Thanks for stopping by, Web Sheriff. It's good to know the internet is safe, while you're around.

    Thanks for the YouTube link - I took a look. A dozen songs from seems to have been a relatively recent concert. Exclusive they may be, but classic they are not.

    I like to read my own version of history, and not be limited to one person's view of what it should be. We all gave a little bit of our hearts when we've listened to Van's music over the years, and, I think, we've gained some rights over this wonderful collection of musical art. Our memories were encapsulated in and are intimately entwined with so many of those songs, as performed at the time. As we know, they were removed earlier this year from YouTube and elsewhere. They represented our view of our own history, and it was wrong to take that away. The legalities are another matter, I'd rather not discus, here. Let's stick to the music.

    Unfortunately, I didn't find John Lee Hooker singing Gloria, again.

    John

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  3. WEB SHERIFF
    Protecting Your Rights on the Internet
    Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013
    Fax 44-(0)208-323 8080
    websheriff@websheriff.com
    www.websheriff.com

    Hi Again John,

    Many thanks for your comments / for taking the time to reply ... .. as for Exile's channel on YouTube, Rome wasn't built in a day and we're glad to say that, as the weeks pass, you'll be able to see more-and-more Van clips and rare footage and, in fact, a couple more clips were added just last night ... .. so it's less a question of writing / re-writing history and more a question of working through a mammoth archive.

    Best Regards,

    WEB SHERIFF

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