Van Morrison, A Period of Transition (1977)
You need more Van Morrison albums than you probably think you do. But you don’t need anywhere near as many as Van Morrison obviously thinks you do. But you need more than just the two or three alleged classics – for my money there’s about 10 albums you should hear/have. And that list grew a while back when I heard this. I was working in a music store a while back – I’d never even heard of this album when we found the disc with no cover (a regular thing back in those days, some discs went missing, some covers went for a walk; though it’s hard to figure the gangsta-rap and metal fans, notorious for stealing covers, made off with A Period of Transition, anyway…) I decided I was going to play the album in-store anyways, even though I could not sell it. I took two orders for it by the time it had finished playing; one from a Van fan who had never heard this particular album; one from someone who recognised Dr John’s playing (he plays keys, some guitar and produces). It was as much a ticket into Dr John’s musical world for me as it was a re-entry to what makes Van Morrison great when he’s, er, great. Dr John speaks about this in his autobiography (a good read). He says Van was a prick, all the typical stories; hard work, etc. He says he figures the reason people put up with him/agree to work with him is because when he opens his mouth to sing you suddenly hear the voice of an angel; you hear a god-given talent, something you just can’t hear from anyone else. Something like that anyway, as is always the way the good Dr tells it better. But I love this album and was chuffed to find a vinyl copy of it recently. Back on high rotate. A gem I reckon.

Sample Track: You Gotta Make It Through The World

The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown