CD-R & Tape Trees: sharing the music
The trees on Cyprus Ave |
REES ARE ONE OF THE MANY WAYS
that live music propagates itself. For the sake of posterity, this section lists some
(but by no means all) of the CD-R and tape trees which once circulated privately
among Van fans. Note that the trees described here are audio material only; a few trees
of digitized video material were also circulated (as noted below). Members of the
vantrades Mailing List are perhaps
the ones best qualified to answer detailed questions on these Discography entries.
A Note On Tree Policy
I think it is worth noting that there was (and presumably still is) a very strict policy
which surrounded this kind of live, non-commercial material: if and whenever it circulated,
it was always on the condition that it was not to be offered up
anywhere for sale. As one of the dedicated "tree people" once put it:
"If Van's music is pure 'soul' to us, how can we, in effect, 'sell our souls'?"
Vanlose Stairway (VLS)
VLS began producing (and sharing) quality Van material, both audio and video,
in 1999. No longer active, VLS was self-described as "a low budget operation",
operating from "the VLS bunker";
their webpage provides the only
remaining evidence of their glory days.
Celtic Soul & Just A Hobby
Celtic Soul Productions shared the wealth of Van Morrison's music through a series of
scaled-down "trees". They downsized circa 2002 with the launch of their "Just A Hobby"
offshoot, and further downsized in 2005. The only remaining trace of Celtic Soul
Productions can be found here.
Van Morrison CDR Network
In its heyday the Van Morrison CDR Network was a completely volunteer, not-for-profit
undertaking, founded purely for the purpose of getting rare Van Morrison music into the hands of VM fans worldwide.
"Standing In The Shadows"
The "Standing In The Shadows" trees were an occasional project of the illustrious dcat,
and consisted of esoteric collections Van-related material that were almost impossible to
obtain elsewhere. At the time of their initial appearance these trees were tape-only.
Evil Genius Inc.
The original, legendary Van Morrison Tape Tree was an ongoing project of Evil Genius Inc.,
a dedicated band of Van enthusiasts and members of the Van Morrison mailing list.
Volumes 1 through 12 of this series were originally produced for trading on 90
minute tapes: they were converted to CDR from the original tapes during the winter
and spring of 2002 (Volumes 13 and 14 were produced in CD-R format for tape tree
branches).
Other Notable Van-L CD-R Trees
The vantrades mailing list was once quite active in the trading of CD-R shows, so much so
that the shows documented here represent just a fraction of the Van live music which has
circulated. I have tried to include entries which describe those CD-R trees that I think
are of special interest. It could be because of above-average quality sound, or "beyond
the call of duty" attention paid to cover graphics and/or liner notes, or "shouldn't be
missed" performances by Van. Essentially this section of the Discography provides a
"tip of the iceberg" illustration of the sheer number of live performances which Van has
given over the many decades, as well as giving a sense of the ongoing interest of "Van
fans" everywhere to hear more live Van.
Treed video material
As noted elsewhere, all (or almost all) commercial Van Morrison videos are out
of print and unavailable. However the demand for such material is out there, and
with the increasing availability of video-editing software, DVD burners, and VCD
format CDs, Van fans began to convert what little Van-related video they had
into digital format, and began to circulate it privately. The quality of this
material varied widely, and depended on things like the quality of the original
source tape, the attention paid during the digital transfer, and the skill of
the person(s) doing the digital conversion. Those caveats aside, such efforts
were perhaps the only means available for Van fans to preserve this material and
make it available amongst themselves. Given the wide variability of the
digitized video material in circulation (it was quite common for there to be
several different-quality digital "takes" circulating from the same commercial
original) it has proven difficult to provide standardized Discography entries
for treed video material in this section of the Discography.
COPYRIGHT ADVISORY: For the avoidance of doubt, this website does not condone bootlegging, and the bootleg references contained here are included for reference purposes in the context of the history of pop-culture; legal action is routinely taken by Exile Productions against those found to be infringing copyright and performers rights in Van Morrison performances and recordings.
Part of the van-the-man.info unofficial website