In playing my Best of Van Morrison disk recently, whether it’s in the car or over at the Supper Club, I’ve had a couple of people ask me where some of the less popular tracks came from. Apparently some of them haven’t yet run across the Bang Sessions. This double album, as Wikipedia confirms, featured a young Van Morrison working under some duress first with producer Bert Berns, then his widow. While the first disc is considered the meat of the album – the second features tracks on royalty checks and how he wants a danish – both have solid offerings. Among the standouts are Spanish Rose, an alternate version of Brown Eyed Girl, Joe Harper Saturday Morning, Shake it Mable, La Mambo and more.
So if you’re a Van fan, or just like that kind of music, the Bang Sessions are highly recommended. And the good news is that you can pick it up DRM free, courtesy of emusic.com here. Long live emusic.
