It's Too Late to Stop Now

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It's Too Late to Stop Now
It's Too Late to Stop Now cover
Live album by Van Morrison
Released February, 1974
Recorded Summer 1973
Genre Folk rock, R&B, Rock
Length 92:33
Label Warner Bros. Records
Producer Van Morrison, Ted Templeman
Professional reviews

All Music Guide 4.5/5 stars link

Rolling Stone 5/5 stars link

Robert Christgau (A) link

ARTISTdirect 4.5/5 stars link
Van Morrison chronology
Hard Nose the Highway
(1973)		 It's Too Late to Stop Now
(1974)		 Veedon Fleece
(1974)
Singles from It's Too Late to Stop Now
  1. "Ain't Nothin' You Can Do" b/w "Wild Children"

It's Too Late to Stop Now is a live album by Van Morrison, released in 1974. Frequently named as one of the best live albums ever recorded, It's Too Late to Stop Now was recorded during what has often been said to be Morrison's greatest phase as a live performer.[1][2][3][4][5]

Morrison said about touring during this time period:[6]

I am getting more into performing. It's incredible. When I played Carnegie Hall in the fall something just happened. All of a sudden I felt like 'you're back into performing' and it just happened like that...A lot of times in the past I've done gigs and it was rough to get through them. But now the combination seems to be right and it's been clicking a lot.

During the ending of the over ten minute long dynamic performance of "Cyprus Avenue" an audience member shouts out, "Turn it on!" and Morrison good-naturedly replies, "It's turned on already." At the very end he finished the concert with a final heartfelt, "It's too late to stop now!" giving the album it's title.

John Collis calls this album, "one of the most impressive of all attempts to squeeze the stage excitement of a rock performer on to vinyl."[7]

The performances on the live album were from tapes made at the beginning of the tour in Los Angeles and also in London and Santa Monica. The London Rainbow concert was the first BBC simulcast in 1974 being broadcast simultaneously on BBC 2 television and Radio 2 stereo so that viewers with strategically sited loudspeakers could enjoy "stereo TV".

The January 29, 2008 re-issued and re-mastered version of the album contains a live take of "Brown Eyed Girl" not included on the original release.[8]

Contents

[edit] Music

A mixture of songs that inspired his own musical development, together with some of his own compositions, allied to a backing band and orchestra (The Caledonia Soul Orchestra) and several performances (as noted in the album's liner notes} — recorded in concerts at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, California, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and at The Rainbow in London — results in what Myles Palmer of the Times reviewed as demolishing "all barriers between the soul, blues, jazz and rock genres."[9]

Unlike most live rock albums, there was no studio overdubbing allowed by Morrison, which resulted in the exclusion of "Moondance" from the album due to one wrong guitar note. Morrison strictly adhered to his concept of authenticity in presenting the live performance but his musical perfectionism prevented him from including "Moondance".[10] "It's common practice to go back and fix things, but not with Van," bass player David Hayes said, "I think that's what makes it one of the best ever."[11]

A version of Morrison's recently written song, "I Paid the Price" was performed at the televised London Rainbow concert but was not included on the album. Clinton Heylin remarked on this song:[12]

Absent from It's Too Late to Stop Now are any songs indicating the death of a great romance. Indeed there is no evidence that he even cut a version of "I Paid the Price" — his most direct and personal song about the break-up with Janet. Though it contains its share of hard feelings couched in a wild accusatory tone — "your forced superiority, your azure delusions of grandeur/are [not] gonna cut you free...you're as cold as ice, you're not Miss Nice/and I paid the price" — such feelings fell on stony ground.

[edit] Track listing

All songs by Van Morrison, unless noted

[edit] Disc one

  1. "Ain't Nothin' You Can Do" (Malone, Scott) – 3:44
  2. "Warm Love" – 3:04
  3. "Into the Mystic" – 4:33
  4. "These Dreams of You" – 3:37
  5. "I Believe to My Soul" (Charles) – 4:09
  6. "I've Been Working" – 3:56
  7. "Help Me" (Williamson, Bass, Dixon) – 3:25
  8. "Wild Children" – 5:04
  9. "Domino" – 4:48
  10. "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (Dixon) – 5:16

[edit] Disc two

  1. "Bring It on Home to Me" (Cooke) – 4:42
  2. "Saint Dominic's Preview" – 6:18
  3. "Take Your Hands Out of My Pocket" (Williamson) – 4:04
  4. "Listen to the Lion" – 8:43
  5. "Here Comes the Night" (Berns) – 3:14
  6. "Gloria" – 4:16
  7. "Caravan" – 9:20
  8. "Cyprus Avenue" – 10:20

[edit] Bonus track (2008 CD reissue)

  1. "Brown Eyed Girl" - 3:24

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Production

  • Producers: Van Morrison, Ted Templeman
  • Arrangers: Van Morrison, Jeff Labes (strings), Jack Schroer (horns)
  • Engineers: Donn Landee, Myles Wiener, Biff Dawes, Jack Crymes, Gabby Garcia, Chris Chigaridas, Bill Broms, Bob Harper
  • Mixing: Donn Landee

[edit] Recording

  • Troubadour, Los Angeles, California
  • Santa Monica Civic, Santa Monica, California
  • Rainbow Theatre, London, England

[edit] Charts

Album - Billboard

Year Chart Position
1974 Pop Albums 53

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Rogan, No Surrender, p. 282
  2. ^ MOJO Best live albums of all time. Muziek. Retrieved on 2007-09-04.
  3. ^ Top 50 Live Albums. Stylus. Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
  4. ^ VOX The Greatest live albums ever. rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-11-04.
  5. ^ BBC Review of the remastered CD reissue. BBC. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
  6. ^ Collis, Inarticulate Speech of the Heart, p.137
  7. ^ Collis, Inarticulate Speech of the Heart, p.136
  8. ^ Van Morrison Official Website
  9. ^ Hinton, Celtic Crossroads, p.160
  10. ^ Yorke, Into the Music, p.115
  11. ^ Rogan, No Surrender, p.292
  12. ^ Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence? p. 265

[edit] References

  • Collis, John (1996). Inarticulate Speech of the Heart, Little Brown and Company, ISBN 0-306-80811-0
  • Hinton, Brian (2000). Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison, Sanctuary, ISBN 1-86074169X
  • Rogan, Johnny (2006). Van Morrison:No Surrender, London:Vintage Books ISBN 9780099431831
  • Yorke, Ritchie (1975). Into The Music, London:Charisma Books , ISBN 0-85947-013-X
  • Heylin, Clinton (2003). Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography, Chicago Review Press ISBN 1-55652-542-7

[edit] External links

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