Music Arcades: Van Morrison: It's Too Late to Stop Now

I don't say this very often, but Yay! How lovely to have an excuse to play this again. A couple of years ago, I said of Fragments of a Rainy Season, "one of the two live albums I know that absolutely defines what a live album should be." It's Too Late to Stop Now is the other. Like Fragments it has all the dynamics of a real show, building slowly to a climax and then holding you there for as long as possible — even though this must be down to smart editing since the album was recorded at at least three different gigs on two continents. Wikipedia gives the recording dates as 24 June - 24 July 1973, and one of the venues was the Rainbow Theatre in London. Meanwhile Vanomatic says the 23 July Rainbow show clocked in at a mere 51 minutes, compared with over 90 minutes for the album. So (a) the album is not a faithful reconstruction of a stable setlist, and (b) even in his greatest period, Van had off nights where he just wasn't feeling it.

When I first got the album, it was the 16 minutes that comprise Listen to the Lion, Here Comes the Night and Gloria that counted as the most sublime moments. Back on that Northumberland road trip in 1990, the tape I was playing in the car scrolled round to Listen to the Lion and the conversation tailed off. At the end of the song, Caroline turned to me, her jaw dropped into her lap, "That was just breathtakingly incredible". Ah, she wasn't all bad…

For years and years, I went to Van gigs hoping against hope that I might hear Listen to the Lion played live. Seven weeks ago, at the Albert Hall, I finally got to hear it. I walked out in the middle, to ensure I didn't have to get the last train home. I realised that Van can split open any song and let infinity flood through, so the repertoire is really beside the point with him. I've seen him make showstoppers of Vanlose Stairway and Summertime in England, and I've also seen very pedestrian performances of those same songs. Listen to the Lion '09 was nothing special.

Anyway, none of that changes how I feel about those 16 minutes. Still astonishing. I made the unwise move of trying to listen to that section of the CD while working. Impossible. I broke off to indulge in some air-conducting, and the hydraulics in my chair have never been tested like that before.

But now I'm older and wiser, I realise how wrong it is to focus on just those three songs. What comes before and after is damn near perfect, too. It ought to be impossible to follow that exquisite version of Gloria, especially with Caravan, a song I can easily tire of, but Van keeps the vibe going the way only he can.

At least, I say "only he can", but it's struck me since I got a couple of James Brown live albums that the stagecraft of both men has much in common, right down to the way Van shouts to Jack Schroer to take a sax solo, just as JB would shout to Maceo — and Van even played It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World on A Night in San Francisco. I'm kind of surprised that more people haven't remarked on the similarities, though I see Pitchfork agrees with me.

Right, I'm off to put my headphones on and immerse myself in disc 2 again. Oh, before I go: there are videos of Van live in 1973 on YouTube. Just had a quick look — as with the DVD of Fragments of a Rainy Season, best avoided.