CD cover
(click on cover image
for larger version)

An Archival Group CD-R Tree Production
Sometimes It Reaches Up To The Moon
(Grand Opera House
Belfast, Northern Ireland
March 12, 1983)

No label
(Initially treed circa May, 2001)

CD 1

  1. Share Your Dreams (Bianca Thornton)
  2. Hungry For Your Love (Katie Kissoon)
  3. Go To The High Place In Your Mind (John Allair)
  4. Inarticulate Speech of the Heart / Dweller On The Threshold
  5. Bright Side of the Road
  6. It's All in the Game
  7. She Gives Me Religion
  8. Beautiful Vision
  9. Vanlose Stairway
  10. Celtic Swing* (slight mic noise at start)
  11. Northern Muse (Solid Ground)
  12. Cleaning Windows
  13. Haunts of Ancient Peace
  14. Higher Than The World
  15. Celtic Ray
  16. Aryan Mist
    Total time: (73:18)

CD 2

  1. Cry For Home
  2. Rave On, John Donne
  3. Full Force Gale
  4. Tupelo Honey
  5. Gloria
  6. What'd I Say

    Nostell Priory Festival, Festival Ground, Nostell Priory
    near Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, August 25, 1984
    (guest of The Band)
  7. More and More
  8. Caravan

    "Wogan" BBC-TV, London, December 8, 1989
  9. Whenever God Shines His Light (w/Cliff Richard) Hammersmith Odeon, London, May 13, 1987
  10. Moondance (w/The Gil Evans Orchestra)

    National Stadium, Dublin, September 9, 1988
  11. Celtic Excavation
  12. Vanlose Stairway
  13. Queen of the Slipstream
  14. What Would I Do

    "The Schooner" RTE TV Broadcast 26 December 83
  15. untitled excerpts in suite form
    Total time: (70:44)

Administration & Liners:
From the Ignatz Archives for the Archival Group. Tree administered by the legendary dcat. Inquiries to the vantrades mailing list.

Notes:
In this excellent audience recording, we can hear for the first time a complete and unedited Grand Opera House concert from Belfast March 12, 1983. The released version featured a confusing and random assortment of songs drawn from over the 4 night gig. The broken rather than linear result arguably hinders a true appreciation of Van's gifts. But here, the true power of Van's performance is finally realized, an invocation no longer hidden. It reaches up to the moon.

To complete the opera is a collection of rare 80's arias. Little known is Van's reprise of his legendary "Last Waltz" performance with a two song walk-on (including "Caravan") during The Band's set at 1984's Nostell Priory Festival. The "WOGAN" BBC broadcast of 1989 found him shining his light with Sir Cliff Richard. Next is an orchestrated jazz performance of "Moondance" with the Gil Evans Orchestra. A four song set from the rare Dublin September 9, 1983 performance follows. This portion of the show was reclaimed through archival efforts after a faulty tape mechanism marred the master recording. Finally, I've selected a number of passages from the seldom seen Irish TV film "The Schooner." Because of the brevity and discontinuity of the excerpts, some of the more defined pieces have been incorporated here in one longer self-consistent suite (of sorts).

Sources:
Disc 1; Disc 2 tracks 1-6: Gen1>DNR>CDr
Disc 2, tracks 7-8: Gen2>DNR>EQ>CDr
Disc 2, track 9: Gen1>CDr
Disc 2, track 10: Gen2>DNR>EQ>CDr
Disc 2, tracks 11-14: Gen1>digital pitch correction>DNR>EQ>CDr
Disc 2, track 15: Gen2>DNR>CDr

Van Tree Policy:
Please respect the efforts and the wishes of the dedicated bands of volunteers who put countless hours of time and energy into producing and treeing these rare live performances: please do not offer any of these tree volumes for sale.

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