VAN MORRISON : WONDER

 

Disc One (70:24)

  1. Days Like This
  2. Tore Down A La Rimbaud
  3. Russian Roulette
  4. For Mr Thomas
  5. Crazy Jane On God
  6. Raincheck
  7. In The Afternoon
  8. How Long Has This Been Going On?
  9. Melancholia
  10. Wonderful Remark
  11. Vanlose Stairway / Trans Euro Train
  12. Moondance
  13. Just Like A Woman
  14. Summertime In England

Disc Two (71:00)

  1. Tupelo Honey / Crazy Love
  2. See Me Through / Soldier Of Fortune / Thank You Falletinme Be Micelf Again
  3. Have I Told You Lately
  4. I'm Not Feeling It Anymore
  5. Troubadours
  6. Jackie Wilson Said
  7. The Healing Game
  8. Solid Ground
  9. Satisfied
  10. Whenever Cliff Shines His Light
  11. See Me Through / Soldier Of Fortune / Thank You Fallentinme Be Micelf Again / Burning Ground

Label : Doberman

Venue : NEC Arena, Birmingham, UK

Recording Date : June 24, 1998

Quality : Audience recording (A+)

Review (Cuttsy) : Both [this boot and Soul] are from the English dates of the on-going tour of Europe. Soul contains the whole of the Sheffield show with nine additional songs from the Newcastle concert. Wonder is the whole of the Birmingham show with additional six songs from Manchester's Nynex and two from Wembley Arena. IMHO the Birmingham and Sheffield shows were the best of the English concerts so the content couldn't be better. Packaging is nice consisting of the "Don't you dare miss it" tour promotional leaflet and the concert dates. This is a very good quality audience recording and is better than some of the other productions [from this label] that I've heard. Generally the sound is well balanced with good bass (not muffled or boomy) but perhaps a little too much emphasis of the treble. Much of the disks stand up surprisingly well to the scrutiny of a reasonable Hi-Fi. On the whole the balance between music and audience is good giving a feeling of being there without the audience intruding on the music. The only main disappointment is some of the Newcastle recordings with a more rowdy chatty audience (presumably Dylan fans). From an audience recording I don't think you could expect much better than these. The Band is VTM, Mat Holland, Pee Wee E, Nicky Scott, Johnny Scott, Liam Bradley, Geoff Dunn and John Savannah throughout. Performance is mostly tight although backing vocals occasionally strained. Van's performances are great, at times in real soulful voice. The whole of the Birmingham show is wonderful especially as it includes a majestic "Just Like A Woman". Definitely one for the autorepeat button. Given the presence of this song and several of the TPS songs (including, I think, the first performance live of "Mr Thomas") these boots should be on everyone's list. There are lovely performances of "That's Life", "In The Afternoon", "Vanlose", "Have I Told You Lately" and "The Healing Game". Also of note is "A Change Is Gonna Come". That said, Wonder contains an interruption from Van in "The Burning Ground" in response to a cry for "Brown Eyed Girl": "That was then this is now", "This is fun". Well maybe it was fun but there's subsequently plenty of F'ing and Blinding from Van in the background before the end of the same song. I'm not sure why. Overall these boots are pretty good. If you see them, get them.