Harvest of Blues
(bootleg CD)

1. Baby Please Don't Go (Sonny Boy Williamson) (2:55)
2. TV Mama (Lou Willie Turner) (2:58)
3. A Change Is Gonna Come (S. Cooke) (5:01)
4. Help Me / Nightshirt (Sonny Boy Williamson / Rice Miller a.k.a Sonny Boy Williamson II) (5:42)
5. Take Your Hand Out Of My Pocket / Little Red Rooster / Early In The Morning (Sonny Boy Williamson / W. Dixon / Traditional) (7:23)
6. Fever (John Davenport & Eddie Cooley) (3:35)
7. Georgia On My Mind (Hoagy Carmichael) (5:49)
8. Shake Rattle & Roll (Jesse Stone) (3:34)
9. I Put A Spell On You (Screamin' Jay Hawkins) (3:13)
10. It Fills You Up (4:24)
11. It's A Man's Man's Man's World / When The Clock Strikes Twelve (Brown & Newsome / Bo Didley) (9:57)
12. Shenandoah (traditional; arranged by Van.Morrison & Paddy.Maloney) (4:03)
13. Irish Heartbeat (5:43)
14. The Healing Game (6:42)
    Total time: (71:01)

Track 12 performed with the Chieftains on the Late Late Show (special tribute programme to Michael Flately) RTE Studios, Montrose, Donnybrook, Dublin, Ireland 27 March 1998 (introduction by Gay Byrne).

Tracks 13 & 14 performed at the Rose of Tralee Festival Brandon Convention Centre, Tralee, Co. Kerry, Ireland 25 August 1998 (introduction by Marty Whelan).

Musicians:
Van Morrison: vocals, harmonica
John Scott: lead guitar
Nicky Scott: bass guitar
John Savannah: Hammond organ
Pee Wee Ellis: saxophone
Matt Holland: trumpet
Liam Bradley: percussion
Geoff Dunn: drums

Liner notes:
"I've been listening to this music ever since the age of three."

And Van's been playing it almost as long - the blues, the whole blues, and nothin' but the blues.

This album is dedicated to the music that moves The Man and all of us, from Ireland to Idaho and every whistlestop in between.

Jammed solid, with a very low stage and a busy side bar, Van's venue at the 8th Harvest Time Rhythm and Blues Festival could have passed for any blues- soaked backstreet bar in the Western World. And isn't that what the music is all about getting down and close to the crowd, feeling the heat of bodies writhing, grooving to the clapping of hands, drinking in the sweet sounds of saxophone, Hammond organ and guitar wailing in unison.

Putting this CD on your changer is like walking in for a shot of whiskey and getting a double instead. You just have to sit back and listen as Van warms you through and through, as he takes you away and away and away.

Close your eyes and you'll be there with the other seven hundred or so souls lucky enough that night to get a taste of the blues the way only Van and his band can deliver them (the bonus tracks from Irish TV are pretty damn good, too.

Part of the van-the-man.info unofficial website