Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony
Music Entertainment, has acquired the rights to the most complete discography
of contemporary music legend Van Morrison ever assembled under one label
imprint.
The Van
Morrison musical acquisition spans more than 50 years of music, encompassing
some 50 album, video and compilation titles from 1964 to the present. The new
Legacy Van Morrison archive includes all of Morrison's solo works from 1971 to
the present as well as the recordings made with the groundbreaking rock band
Them from 1964 through 1966.
33 Van
Morrison album titles will be made available as digital releases and through
all streaming services beginning Friday, August 28.
That same
day, Friday, August 28, Legacy Recordings will release the Essential Van
Morrison, a 37-track career-spanning anthology, available digitally and as a
2CD physical album.
Later this
year, Van Morrison's early recordings as the singer, frontman and principal
songwriter for the seminal band Them will be available on Legacy Recordings.
In the
upcoming months, Legacy will launch the label's ongoing Van Morrison library
release project with new compilations, deluxe Legacy Editions of classic album
titles and a digital rollout of the full Van Morrison catalog.
Most of the
Van Morrison catalog has never been available for streaming and many titles
have long been unavailable online through iTunes or other DSPs. Much of the
catalog has been out-of-print in any format, with some titles being unavailable
for as long as 15 years.
Forthcoming
new Van Morrison releases on the Legacy label will include a new
career-spanning single CD compilation and deluxe Legacy Editions of classic Van
Morrison solo albums: Saint Dominic's Preview, It's Too Late to Stop Now, Hard
Nose the Highway and Enlightenment.
A half
century's worth of recordings, endlessly innovative and unique in the annals of
rock and pop music, Van Morrison's discography incorporates elements of blues,
jazz, folk, gospel, skiffle, pop, soul and R&B to create a sound and
sensibility immediately identifiable as Van the Man's. One of the most
fascinating and uncompromising artists of the rock and roll era, Van Morrison
brought Northern Irish soul to the world as one of the most transcendent
singers, writers and performers to ever grace a stage or recording studio.
"Van
Morrison is one of the great singers, performers and musical artists in the
history of recorded music," said Adam Block, President, Legacy Recordings.
"He continues to touch the hearts and souls of millions with the emotional
power and spiritual truths of his songs. Legacy Recordings is proud to partner
with Van to help him protect and curate his astounding catalog and to be given
the opportunity to bring his music to whole new generations of fans around the
world."
Inspired at
an early age by Muddy Waters, Ray Charles, Lead Belly and Solomon Burke, the
Belfast-born Morrison was just 18 when he joined the R&B combo Them in
1964. Known for spontaneous, energetic performances, Them represented the
Northern Irish element of the 1960s British Invasion, breaking into the
pantheon with the indelible "Gloria," presaging punk with an anthem
subsequently covered by The Doors, Patti Smith and many others.
Van began
his solo career with a Top 10 pop smash, the radio perennial "Brown Eyed
Girl," but soon moved in compelling new directions. He boldly crossed
numerous musical genres in the decades that followed, investigating country
music (Pay The Devil, 2006), jazz (What's Wrong with This Picture?, 2003), New
Orleans R&B (Into The Music, 1979), traditional Celtic folk (Irish
Heartbeat, with The Chieftains, 1988) and straight-ahead rock (Days Like This,
1995), among many others.
Morrison's
first recording for RCA Records, 2015's Duets: Re-Working The Catalogue
featured collaborations with Steve Winwood, Mark Knopfler, Mavis Staples, Taj
Mahal, Michael Buble and others on new versions of hidden gems from his
multi-faceted discography.
Tracks from
Van Morrison's discography have been consistently licensed for film and
television with notable examples including"Into The Mystic" in the
film Patch Adams, "Days Like This" in As Good As It Gets and Them's
"Gloria" in The Outsiders.
Legacy
Recording's new Van Morrison deal covers studio and live recordings released
from 1971 to the present, as well as all his recordings with Them. Combined
with Morrison's solo debut Blowin' Your Mind, which features "Brown Eyed
Girl," Legacy's holdings encompass the largest Van Morrison musical archive
ever assembled.
Van Morrison
has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1993) and the
Songwriters Hall of Fame (2003) and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame in 2010.
Winner of a
BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music (1994), Van Morrison
holds six Grammy Awards (1996-2007) and an Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime
Achievement (1995).
Morrison has
been named one of Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time (2004, #42),
100 Greatest Singers of All Time (2008, #24) and 100 Greatest Songwriters of
All Time (2015, #22). Van the Man has two albums on Rolling Stone's 500
Greatest Albums of All Time and four songs--including "Brown Eyed
Girl" (#109) and "Gloria" (with Them) (#208)--on Rolling Stone's
500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
An
internationally successful artist with chart-topping hits on both sides of the
Atlantic, Van Morrison has six gold and three platinum/multiplatinum
certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America. In the UK alone, Van has charted with more
than 20 Top 20 albums, including an astounding 13 titles placed in the Top 10.
On Friday,
June 12, 2015, Van Morrison was awarded an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth
II during her annual Birthday Honours celebration. Newly-titled Sir George Ivan
Morrison, the artist received the United Kingdom's highest individual honor for
his "services to the music industry and to tourism in Northern
Ireland."
"Throughout
my career I have always preferred to let my music speak for me, and it is a
huge honor to now have that body of work recognized in this way," said Van
Morrison in a statement given in response to the news, reported the BBC.
On June 18,
Morrison received the Johnny Mercer Award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala
in New York City.
Van Morrison
will celebrate his 70th birthday on August 31, 2015 with "Van Morrison:
Live on Cyprus Avenue," two concert performances serving as part of the
closing event of the Belfast EastSide Arts Festival 2015.
Van Morrison
Material included under Legacy Recordings Auspices
Them
The Angry
Young Them / Them (1965)
Them Again
(1966)
Them
featuring Van Morrison (compilation, 1972)
The Story of
Them featuring Van Morrison (compilation, 1997)
Van Morrison
Available
Digitally and Streaming on Friday, August 28
St.
Dominic's Preview (1972)
Hard Nose
the Highway (1973)
It's Too
Late to Stop Now (Live) (1974)
Veedon
Fleece (1974)
A Period of
Transition (1977)
Wavelength
(1978)
Into the
Music (1979)
Common One
(1980)
Beautiful
Vision (1982)
Inarticulate
Speech of the Heart (1983)
Live at the
Grand Opera House, Belfast (Live) (1984)
A Sense of
Wonder (1984)
No Guru, No
Method, No Teacher (1984)
Poetic
Champions Compose (1987)
Irish
Heartbeat (w/the Chieftains) (1988)
Avalon
Sunset (1989)
Enlightenment
(1990)
Hymns to the
Silence (1991)
Too Long in
Exile (1993)
A Night in
San Francisco (Live) (1994)
Days Like
This (1995)
How Long Has
This Been Going On? (1995)
Tell Me
Something: The Songs of Mose Allison (1996)
The Healing
Game (1997)
The
Philosopher's Stone (2CD outtakes compilation, 1998)
Back on Top
(1999)
The Skiffle
Sessions: Live in Belfast (Live) (2000)
Down the
Road (2002)
What's Wrong
with This Picture? (2003)
Magic Time
(2005)
Pay the
Devil (2006)
Keep it
Simple (2008)
Astral Weeks
"Live at the Hollywood Bowl" (Live) (2009)
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