Veedon Fleece

I'm on a two-week fall break from work, which means I have some extra time to sit in front of Garage Band with my guitar and record some songs, or at least ideas for songs. It makes sense that my minimal, amateur songwriting mostly takes place in spurts when I am not working. This happens for some of my friends as well. (Check out Charlie Hely's Wednesday for an excellent example.) But I was surprised to read this morning a 1978 interview with Van Morrison, in which he describes a similar process. In not-the-most-nuanced way of describing his songwriting muse, Morrison says, "When you make an album you write some songs. You might have four songs and maybe you write two more, suddenly you've got enough songs for an album." Van the Man. You just blew my mind with your math.

Apparently this was how Morrison put the set of songs together that would become Veedon Fleece, released in 1974. That spontaneity is one reason why the album is often compared to 1968's epic Astral Weeks. There is an element of so-called stream-of-consciousness in the songs. But the albums are actually more similar for their sound. Both feature auxiliary instruments (strings, flute) that float around songs that meander within a simple structure. Astral Weeks will always be my favorite Van Morrison album. Nonetheless, Veedon Fleece holds up on its own quite well. Morrison's voice is high and strange and his lyrics are fresh, as when he croons "... the architecture I'm taking in with my mind." And I could listen to "You Don't Pull No Punches, But You Don't Push the River" all day. Actually, considering I have another week of this break, I might just do that.