a few Van Morrison B-sides

a birthday post for Mr. Van Morrison:



"Mechanical Bliss" - B-side of "Joyous Sound"; Warner Bros. - 1977

A pretty rare track, from an album of the same name - recorded in '75 or thereabouts - that never was released. Too bad, I liked it way better than the A-side.

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"It's All In The Game" - B-side of "Cleaning Windows"; Mercury (U.K.) - 1979

Essentially the first half of the medley with "You Know What They're Writing About" (from Into The Music), this is Van's cover of the '50s Tommy Edwards hit. It's one of Van's finest moments on record (my opinion), and I prefer to listen to it the way it is on this single. I actually heard this single played on a jukebox in some bar once, which was a very cool thing - I felt like I was in a movie or something.

Public Image Ltd

Anybody here like Public Image LTD? I sure did, at least before Johnny boy kicked Keith and Wobble out and everything turned to crap.

Anyway, if you dig PiL and haven't heard these, it's worth checking out. Different mixes, stuff like that.



"Death Disco" / "And No Birds Do Sing" - Virgin - 1979

- the A-side was eventually renamed 'Swan Lake' on Second Edition.




"Memories" / "Another" - Virgin - 1980

- the B-side is basically 'Graveyard', but with vocals.




"The Flowers Of Romance" / "Home Is Where The Heart Is" - Virgin - 1981

- I'm pretty sure the B-side is a Second Edition outtake.

Nick, Gene & The Third Booth

some random additions:



Brinsley Schwarz - "(What's So Funny 'bout) Peace, Love And Understanding" United Artists - 1974

A classic slice of pre-punk British pub-rock, before Elvis Costello drained all the tongue-in-cheek hippie pathos and turned it into a hit. Exceptionally tinny production by Dave Edmunds (I guess the Flamin' Groovies sound was intentional). I love the spoken word "We MUST have peace...".

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Gene Pitney - "Take It Like A Man" Musicor - 1962

An obscure B-side. I've been digging through my collection of his singles, and this one stands out. There's a tortured creepiness about it, which was sort of his trademark. Pitney was the 1960s' Morrissey.

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The Third Booth - "I Need Love" Independence - 1967



The greatest 45 ever made - this makes me feel glad to be alive every time I hear it. Everything can be found here: Ramones, Spacemen 3, BJM... you name it. Not particularly original or competent, because it doesn't need to be (like all great rock music). The only reason for its exclusion from the Nuggets series must be that it would have rendered all the other tracks unnecessary.

Shellac & Spacemen 3

Shellac - "Doris" / "Wingwalker"
Touch & Go, 1993

This is the first Shellac record I bought, prompted by hearing a 30-second clip of "Wingwalker" on Sound Opinions (a long, long time ago). The albums that came after are all good enough, but nothing else they did quite matches this.

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Spacemen 3 - "Walking With Jesus" / "Take Me To The Other Side" (demo) / "Walking With Jesus" (demo)
Earworm, 2003

Nothing too special here: A Perfect Prescription A-side, backed with two Forged Prescriptions tracks, you gotta love the packaging. Even if one of the songs is repeated (face it, they could release an entire album of "Walking With Jesus" versions, and it would still be cool). Trippy.