Under the radar, a new Van Morrison album has arrived. On Morrison’s website, the release of Live at Orangefield, had been promised for a while, and last month, on vinyl and CD, on Van the Man’s Orangefield Records, it went on sale.
I subscribe to iTunes, and with any artist whose work I’ve downloaded, I will usually find that performer’s latest effort on the “New Releases” tab of my Apple Music homepage. But not always with Morrison, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member who has released an astounding 45 studio albums since 1967.
Morrison, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, also has cut six live albums. His first one, It’s Too Late to Stop Now–an expanded edition was issued in 2016–is one of the best live albums ever. His second live collection, Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast, obviously was recorded in his hometown.
As was Live at Orangefield. The Belfast Cowboy’s first live performance took place with his skiffle group in 1959 at Orangefield High School when he was a student there. In 2014, the school closed, and to salute the school–and even more so Belfast–Morrison, with his always tight band, returned.
A Facebook Morrison group–Van, by the way, is no fan of Facebook–alerted me that Live at Orangefield was available to download. Apple didn’t notify me. Possibly, because both musically and in interviews, Morrison was probably the most strident opponent among entertainment industry figures of the COVID lockdowns, that online slight was intentional. Three Morrison singles, one recorded with Eric Clapton, attacked government COVID-related restrictions. The triple-vinyl album, Latest Record Project Volume One and its follow-up, What’s It Gonna Take?–continued the pushback.
While there were some favorable reviews, most critics savaged, unfairly, that output. Rock critics are mostly an intellectually vapid lot–and like sportswriters, most of them prefer writing about politics when the opportunity arises. Morrison, despite his legendary status, offered those mental midgets a ripe target. But history has been kind to this septuagenarian rebel. At the very least, the COVID lockdowns were an overreach. Still, in the media and the music business, Van Morrison, is almost certainly purposely ignored.
In a Google News search, as of this writing, I could only find two reviews of Live at Orangefield.
And that’s a pity, because Live at Orangefield is an essential Morrison work. While Morrison has a reputation as an aloof and ornery fellow–which is either not true or it is possibly an exaggeration pushed by those self-worshipping rock critics–he offers some charm here.
In a mostly spoken-word piece on this album, “On Hyndford Street,” Morrison calls out to the crowd, “If any of the guys from ‘the street’ are here, give me a shout if you remember this one.”
Playing ’round Mrs. Kelly’s lamp Going out to Holywood on the bus And walking from the end of the lines to the seaside Stopping at Fusco’s for ice cream [loud cheers follow] In the days before rock ‘n’ roll.
I looked it up–I don’t know if the establishment I found online is the same Fusco’s that Morrison and his pals used to patronize, but there is a Fusco’s in Belfast.
Van the Man was born on August 31, 1945 at 145 Hyndford Street. And particularly with “On Hyndford Street,” which as originally released on the Hymns to the Silence double album, but also on other tracks here, listeners get the feeling that they are participating in a walking tour of Belfast–with Morrison as a tour guide.
I’ve only seen Morrison once in concert–he was fantastic. Morrison has a reputation for not playing many of his hits from the overexposed “classic rock” era. But Van is a performer, not a fossil, and if he had fossilized his career, then he’d be on the stale casino circuit along with Lynard Skynard, which carries on even though that band has no original members left on its roster. But they play the hits, as do the Van Morrison tribute bands.
But there are some of those Van hits on Live at Orangefield. The album opens with the instrumental “Celtic Excavation,” and then segues to “Into the Mystic.” Belfast of course is a seaport. I don’t know if this stanza is about Belfast, but it could be.
And when that foghorn blows I will be coming home And when the foghorn blows I want to hear it I don’t have to fear it.
Another hit, albeit a minor one, “Cleaning Windows,” follows. Morrison’s job before becoming a full-time musician was toiling as a window washer in Belfast. Then comes “Orangefield” and “Moondance.”
Other Belfast-related songs include “Got to Go Back” and “Northern Muse (Solid Ground).”
Another highlight here is “That’s Life,” the Frank Sinatra song, which Morrison recorded with Georgie Fame in 1995. Lyrically it’s an important addition to the set list, and musically too. In the 2000s and the following decade, much of Van the Man’s output had a jazzy and swing feel. New age jazz is a genre Morrison worked with in the 1980s; several of the songs I mentioned earlier utilize that sound.
Live at Orangefield is an essential collection for the Morrison fan, and it’s a good place to start, particularly if you enjoy jazz-flavored popular music, if you want to learn more about this fantastic musician.
And if you live in Belfast–then, man, what are you waiting for?
One more thing: Smart people listen to Van Morrison.
Live at Orangefield is available in vinyl and CD forms at Van Morrison.com. And you can download it at iTunes and stream it on Spotify.
With the nomination of Sen. J.D. Vance as Donald Trump’s running mate, of course there is renewed interest in his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, and the Ron Howard movie based on it.
I’ve yet to read book, but I saw the movie in 2020 on Netflix, which distributed the film, and I thought it was a captivating look at Vance’s life.
Both the book and the movie draw on Vance’s upbringing in the southwestern Ohio post-industrial city of Middletown. His maternal grandparents were from Jackson, Kentucky–in the Appalachian portion of the state, which is where Hillbilly Elegy begins. The young Vance (Owen Asztalos) gets a quick lesson in the importance of family loyalty after losing a fight. The Vances, unfortunately, are quite the dysfunctional family, particularly his drug-addicted mother, Beverly (Amy Adams). Eventually, Vance ends up in the care of his grandmother, Bonnie “Mawmaw” Vance (Glenn Close), a chain-smoking, cussing, mean, but ultimately loving authority figure.
The movie contains many flashbacks as the adult J.D. (Gabriel Basso), a US Marine veteran who is a Yale law student, finds his promising future tangled up with his troubled past. His girlfriend, Usha (Freida Pinto), provides him much needed emotional support.
As I said earlier, this is a captivating film, and Howard, a gifted director, makes skilled used of imagery, including perhaps his favorite, water, and a stunning symbolic use of the Middletown rail bridge tunnel.
However, by 2020, Vance was vocal about his conservative beliefs, and he had moved from the Never Trump camp of the Republican Party to being a supporter of the 45th president. Which, in my opinion, led to movie critics, a group which politically consists mostly of leftists, to offer a large dose of negative reviews of Hillbilly Elegy. The Chicago Sun-Times’ Richard Roeper was a notable exception, he gave the movie a four-stars-out-of-four review.
An even worse response came from the 2021 Golden Raspberry Awards, better known as the Razzies. The bad movie answer to the Academy Awards nominated Hillbilly Elegy for three Razzies: Worst Director (Howard), Worst Adapted Screenplay (Vanessa Taylor), and Worst Supporting Actress (Close). However, Close, was also nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the same role, and Hillbilly Elegy also garnered a Best Makeup and Hairstyling Oscar nomination.
Was this hatred was triggered by Vance’s politics?
I am certain of that, because also that year, Razzie “winners” included the documentary Absolute Proof, which questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election. Mike Lindell of My Pillow fame “won” Worst Actor for his role in that movie, and Rudy Giuliani “won” for Worst Supporting Actor for his brief role in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.
Voters for the Razzies are not required to see the movies they vote on. Other “winners” of Razzies, not surprisingly, include other conservatives, among them are Ronald Reagan, Dinesh D’Souza, and Jon Voigt.
I apologize for that brief diversion, but the Golden Raspberry Awards needs a serious and prolonged slapping around.
To summarize, don’t believe the critics. Unless you are an unhinged leftist suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, Hillbilly Elegy is well worth your time.
The lessons from Hillbilly Elegy are conservative ones. Family bonds, hard work, and perseverance, while not a guarantee of success, make success more likely.
I suspect that left-wing critics will have one more group lash-out at Hillbilly Elegy.
And from the only presidential term of Joe Biden comes another lesson: Don’t believe the media. Even movie reviewers can’t be trusted.
Hillbilly Elegy is available for streaming on Netflix, where as of this writing is ranked #4 in the movie category. It is rated R for violence, drug use, and foul language.
And today’s is a good day to get a jump start on great songs about dad. Some of these will be familiar to you, others not, and it’s that last category that will make things interesting, I hope.
Most popular music songs are about relationships. You know, boy meets girl or girl loses boy. XTC, well, not so much. But they recorded some such tunes. XTC’s principal songwriter, Andy Partridge, had a troubled relationship with his mother, but less so with his father. Still, there also was conflict between the male Partridges. He sings here, “This civil war, why are we in it?” Musically, “Hold Me My Daddy” is also a successful leap out of XTC’s comfort zone, it incorporates an Afro Pop style.
The Man is Black’s relationship with his father, Ray, was portrayed in a harsh light in the movie Walk the Line. But the truth between the two is murky. For his Live at San Quentin album, Johnny Cash crooned of a dysfunctional father meeting his son in the Shel Silverstein-penned song, “A Boy Named Sue.”
Often sons–and daughters–seek out their mothers when they need guidance. But automobiles are a dad thing, which is why Chuck Berry speaks to his father about getting a new car. Released in 1965, “Dear Dad” was Berry’s last charting American single until the immature and silly “My Ding-a-Ling,” a number one hit for the legend, seven years later.
Because he has a nasty history of car accidents, Billy Joel is not the type of dad to ask for advice on automobiles, unless, of course, it involves filing an insurance claim. “Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)” was written for his daughter, Alexa Ray, for his 1993 album, River of Dreams, his last collection of new material in the pop music genre.
The best parents make the most out of a challenging situation. Loretta Lynn tells the story about her dad here. And of course, this song was the title of the Hollywood movie about her storied life.
John Hiatt is yet another one of those artists who hasn’t gotten the support he deserves. “The Rest of the Dream” covers fatherhood, childhood, marriage, and fatherhood again. It’s a multi-generational epic that clocks in under five minutes.
Arguably, this is a Mother’s Day song, because “And When I Die” was written by a woman, Laura Nyro. But the best-known version is by Blood, Sweat & Tears. David Clayton-Thomas sings lead here, and the western-movie style instrumentation puts this song on high on my list. Yee-hah! Coincidentally, in 1963, Johnny Cash released an album titled Blood, Sweat, and Tears.
Steve Goodman, best known for his “City of New Orleans,” wrote many other memorable songs. Obviously, “My Old Man” is about his father, a World War II veteran, who died at 58. Sadly, Goodman passed away at a much younger age–he was 36 when cancer claimed him.
Take a peek at these moving lyrics:
I miss my old man tonight And I wish he was here with me With his corny jokes and his cheap cigars He could look you in the eye and sell you a car That’s not an easy thing to do But no one ever knew a more charming creature On this earth than my old man.
Three months ago, here at Da Tech Guy I compiled another musical collection, 13 Great Songs about Getting Old. Cat Stevens, who decades ago changed his name to Yusuf Islam, wrote and sings the only tune that made both of my lists, “Father and Son.” Sometimes the ultimate show of love for a parent is to let a child go.
Cat’s in the Cradle: Harry Chapin.
From Cat Stevens to another Cat. One of music’s all-time great storytellers, Harry Chapin sings about the typical father of the Baby Boom era. A great provider, yes, but many dads then were too busy for their children. Tragically, Chapin never found out if his son would have “grown up just like me,” that is, not having time for him years later. Chapin, like Goodman, died young, at 38, in an automobile accident.
Did I miss a favorite of yours? Probably. Let me know in the comments.
Plot: Lindsey Pepper Bean has a really cool life in the really cool city of Finetime with her really cool friends inside their really cool social media bubble but there something horribly nasty going on in their seemingly perfect world but can the Doctor and Ruby convince her of it and get her out in time?
Writing: There is a reason why the Russell T. Davies Era was so successful and this episode really nails it. He takes a simple recognizable concept (the dangers of living inside of a social media bubble) and turns into into the most colorful (literally the world, the people and the color schemes all cry Barbie Movie) deathtraps that the Doctor has ever confronted. The number of twists and turns this episode (particularly the character of Rickey September) really makes it interesting although the amount of time spent discussing her urine production is weirdly troubling but also is a nod to the idea of the trivial trumping what actually matters in life. All in all a fine effort.
Acting: Ncuti Gatwa has pretty much delivered as the doctor so far and I’ve reached the point where I expect a solid performance (even in meh episodes like the Devil’s Chord) from him and he doesn’t disappoint. A lot is being made of his end scene and I’ll talk about that later but on the whole he delivers an excellent performance. Millie Gibson really grows on you as a companion and although she doesn’t have the big role that she had in last episode (73 Yards) she once again shows that she, like Karen Gilliam is more than just a great set of legs (One of the few episode that don’t show them off). While the main cast is good in the end the entire episode is completely dependent on the performance of Callie Cooke as Lindsey Pepper-Bean who has the almost impossible task of making us want to see her saved while conveying the image of a shallow, scared rich pampered kid to the point of annoyance and beyond. She keeps us locked in and makes it work which makes the moment where she shows her only moment of creative thought and uses it horribly even more impactful. Also kudos to Tom Rhys Harries as the pop star who actually has depth and is in many ways the hands of the Doctor who can’t piece the bubble to do it himself.
Best AND Worst Moment: While everyone is pointing to the end speech here the best and worst moment of this episode comes before that, it’s the best because of the writing and drama of it and the worst because it’s as horrible as it gets. It really defines the episode and the protagonist much more than anything else. I’m not going to say what it is, you’ll have to watch the episode.
Flashback moment: All I could think of just before the final big speech was this moment from Voyage of the Damned when Mr. Copper turns to the 10th Doctor and says: “Of all the people to survive, he’s not the one you would have chosen, is it? But if you could choose, Doctor, if you could decide who lives and who dies… that would make you a monster.” because the irony is that Rickston was much more worthy then Pepper-Bean.
Annoying moment: While it’s a given and clearly established that Lindsey would have been completely incapable of saving any of her fellows you might think that the Doctor might be doing SOMETHING to get a few of those people just starting to get trapped in.
Big Finish Flashback (s): The monsters reminded me of the Slithergees from the excellent Big Finish Seventh Doctor episode Flip/Flop who were sightless and needed humans to guide them. These creatures were also sightless and needed their prey to literally walk into their mouths. The situation was also analogous to the 6th Doctor Lost Story episode Paradise Five where people are in a trap but don’t know if and finally the 3rd Doctor Story The Transcendence of Ephros where a bunch of people on a dying planet don’t want to be saved.
Doctor without the Doctor Moment: When Rickey September sees what’s happening in the home world and doesn’t share it to keep Lindsey focused on staying alive.
Fooled me completely moment: I presumed that this was basically a farm run by these creatures and was completely surprised to find out who the real “killer” was.
Funniest exchange:
Fifteenth Doctor: Well, what if it can? What if it wants you to walk right into them? Lundy:Why would it do that? Fifteenth Doctor:Imagine if that Dot has achieved sentience and then it has to spend all day hovering and listening to you lot chattering away. I’m… I’m not being rude, but I think it’s learnt to hate you.
Plot hole (s): If we are to believe the Doctor’s conclusion above then, given the fate of their homeworld, we must conclude that their entire home world was built by a bunch of annoying shallow useless prats. It would seem unlikely that sad prats would have reached this point of advancement. Furthermore if a bunch of useless prats could build such a world and civilization then it’s possible that despite all odd the bunch of useless prat who survived might actually survive again.
Totally Missing the Conservative Point #1: The fact that the scene where the Doctor pleads with the survivors to let him save them was filmed has caused people who see everything in terms of race decide that the survivors didn’t want to go with the Doctor over his race, in fact the choice to film that first suggests that Davies intended that reaction, but alas there is the little matter of the rest of the story where it is made completely clear that all of these people are the children of the richest of the rich who consider it a great hardship to work 2 hours a day before partying the rest of the time. This screams class, which given England’s social structure and history makes perfect sense. These are the type of useless rich people who their parents would have bought commissions in the army to get rid of them. They see the Doctor as inferior not because of race, but because of class, he’s not one of them. Oddly enough something conservatives have been warning about
Totally Missing the Conservative Point #2 All through the episode the Doctor and Ruby try to save Lindsey by getting her to see what’s outside of the bubble and right now that’s the situation in England where Pro-Terrorist mobs have pretty much been able to take over the streets when they want with the police not enforcing the law on them. This doesn’t even count the various situations of crime were laws go unforced because of the fear of being called racist. The elites and the government inside their bubble refuse to see or acknowledge the danger while British girls and now British Jews are endangered. The allegory of the home world destruction to where England is heading is both telling and completely ignored by apparently all
Totally Missing the Christian Allegory / Conservative Point #3: As a devout Catholic watching the Doctor plead with Lindsey and the other prats to come with him and be saved I couldn’t help but think that this is what Christ and the Church does every single day. The Doctor spends the episode trying to make Lindsey she the world as it really is. Christ does the same. The Doctor does his best to steer Lindsey past the dangers of the world. Christ does the same. In the end the Doctor offers to save all of them, even though he concludes they are shallow and selfish but that doesn’t matter he’ll still save them if they wish. Christ is the same in the end offers us salvation for our sins, regardless of if we deserve it. All we have to do is just take it, but because he wants brothers and sisters rather than slaves he won’t force the choice on us. If we choose to reject that saving hand he will let us go saying Thy will be done. That is as complete an allegory to Christianity as there is and most viewers will completely miss it.
Bottom line: Great episode and more meaningful than the writer might have thought or intended Five stars
Ranking in this season
Well you knew where this was going from the spoiler I gave you:
Episode ranking as I see it (not including specials nor Dot and Bubble which I’ll review this week)
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