Tupelo Honey [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Van Morrison | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 3, 1997)
• Original Release Date: 1971
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Polydor / Umgd
• ASIN: B000002GNK
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,260 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Wild Night

2. (Straight To Your Heart) Like A Cannon Ball

3. Old Old Woodstock

4. Starting A New Life

5. You're My Woman

6. Tupelo Honey

7. I Wanna Roo You (Scottish Derivative)

8. When That Evening Sun Goes Down

9. Moonshine Whiskey

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Van Morrison's "Caledonia soul"--his unique blend of Irish mysticism and spiritual questing, literary allusion and blue-eyed R&B--can be as beautiful and deeply emotional as any music ever made. That's certainly the case on 1971's Tupelo Honey, one of the finest albums of Morrison's long career. Kicking off with the classic "Wild Night," Tupelo Honey is as completely joyous as the normally bitter Van gets, particularly on the title track and the unabashedly grateful, slow-building "You're My Woman," both among the most moving love songs he's recorded. --David Cantwell

Product Description

Tupelo Honey is a digitally remastered and expanded edition of Van's 1971 release. Two previously unreleased bonus tracks are 'Wild Night' (alternative extended version) and a jazzy reworking of the traditional 'Down By The Riverside'. The opening sax-fuelled, R&B-infected 'Wild Night" is another joyous, soulful offering which earned Morrison a US Top 30 single. This album is a change from his earlier album of R&B flavour, His Band And Street Choir, into a more luminously pastoral drift typified by the nostalgic Old Old Woodstock. Trippy! 11 tracks. Polydor/Universal. 2008.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 56 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Splendid Early Effort By Van The Man! August 20, 2000

By Barron Laycock HALL OF FAME

Format:Audio CD

This is a classic and very popular effort by a young Van Morrison at the apex of his earlier phase in the late sixties and early seventies. There are a number of timeless songs here, including the title cut of "Tupelo Honey", the original version of "Wild Night", later covered quite well by John Cougar Mellencamp, and also "Like A Cannonball". My own personal favorites include both "I Want To Roo You", a lovely traditional Irish love song, and "Old Woodstock", referring to his time spent living in the small and now very touristy Woodstock, Vermont, while he lived here in the states for a number of years. It is an elegiac, evocative, and haunting recollection of life lived on the outskirts of conventional life, a man flirting with a countercultural lifestyle, and lovingly extolling the virtues of a simple life well lived. For all his fabled success and uncounted millions, Morrison has never forgotten his humble origins or the ordinary life most people live. This is a terrific album, and one that is most representative of his early work and unforgettable voice and musicianship. Enjoy this one

54 of 56 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "Tupelo Honey" Gets A Superb Remaster - And It's As Cheap As Chips To!! February 1, 2008

By Mark Barry, Reckless Records, London TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Audio CD

This is the 3rd or even 4th re-issue on CD of "Tupelo Honey" (released originally on Warner Brothers in November 1971) and it's probably the best version to date.

Tracks 1 to 9 make up the original album with Track 10 and 11 being previously unreleased - an Alternate Take of "Wild Night" and a cover version of an old Traditional, "Down By The Riverside". I must say that both bonus tracks are excellent and not at all throwaway crap designed to sucker in punters (as some had feared). The upgraded booklet contains all the lyrics, but disappointingly no history of where the album fits in. The photo of Van, Lady and Horse originally featured on the LP inner gatefold is faithfully reproduced as the booklet centrepiece - a nice touch. There's band and production credits - and even lyrics for the two bonus tracks.

But the best bit is the SOUND. The original analogue master tapes have been 96K/24 Bit digitally remastered by Tim Young at Metropolis Mastering in London for this 28 January 2008 release - and the sound is just beautiful - and that's for almost every track. I say this because, I've had the 1998 remasters for a while and always thought they were `too' loud and `hissy' for comfort. Don't get me wrong, there is unfortunately still audible hiss on the gorgeous "Tupelo Honey" and "You're My Woman" (two on the best on here) but not `too' much to detract. Those without hiss are just unbelievably good. The punch out of them! From the album opener "Wild Night" to "When That Evening Sun Goes Down" - the band might as well be in your living room - it's that vibrant and alive! The session men put in a blinder too - fantastic brass work by Jack Schroer and Luis Gasca on "Wild Night" with equally superb piano touches from Mark Jordan on "When That Evening Sun Goes Down". Ronnie Montrose, who later formed "Montrose" and created one of the hardest and best rocking debuts ever in "Montrose" (1973 on Warner Brothers, also produced by Ted Templeman) plays guitar, mandolin and even throws in some backing vocals too. Not everything on here is genius of course, but there's just something about his Warner Brothers albums (all of them) that's magical. And it's mid-price too - I picked up my copy for Ł6 in Central London.

All in all, a great sounding re-issue and one I urge fans and the uninitiated to get stuck into pronto.

PS: 30 Van Morrison albums are re-issued in remastered form throughout 2008 and into early 2009. Each title contains an upgraded booklet; previously unreleased bonus tracks and all will be at mid-price. The releases are in 4 batches as follows:

28 January 2008 (7 titles)
Tupelo Honey (1971), It's Too Late To Stop Now (2 CD Live Set) (1974),
Wavelenght (1979), Into The Music (1979), A Sense Of Wonder (1985),
Avalon Sunset (1989) and Back On Top (1999)
(see SEPARATE REVIEWS for all 7)

30 June 2008 UK/1 & 8 July 2008 USA (8 titles)
Veedon Fleece (1974), Common One (1980), Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart (1983), Live At The Grand Opera House, Belfast (1984), No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986), Enlightenment (1990), A Night In San Francisco (2CD Live Set) (1994), "Common One" and The Healing Game (1997)
(see also SEPARATE REVIEWS for "Veedon Fleece", "Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart", "Enlightenment", the live 2CD set "A Night In San Francisco" and "No Guru, No Method, No Teacher")

November 2008 (7 titles)
Saint Dominic's Preview (1972), A Period Of Transition (1977), Beautiful Vision (1982), Poetic Champions Compose (1987), Hymns To The Silence (2CD Studio Set) (1991), How Long Has This Been Going On (Live At Ronnie Scott's) (1995) and Tell Me Something - The Songs Of Mose Allison (1996)

January 2009 (8 titles)
Hard Nose The Highway (1973), Irish Heartbeat (with The Chieftains) (1988),
Too Long In Exile (1993), Days Like This (1995), The Story Of Them (2CD Set) (1999), The Skiffle Sessions - Live In Belfast (with Lonnie Donegan & Chris Barber) (2000), Down The Road (2002) and What's Wrong With This Picture? (2003)

PPS: Those hoping to see desperately needed sonic upgrades of his 1st and 2nd album masterpieces on Warner Bothers "Astral Weeks" (1968) and "Moondance" (1970) or even "His Band & The Street Choir" (late 1970) will be disappointed to hear that they're NOT in this re-issue campaign - on either side of the pond. "Astral Weeks" and "Moondance" in particular have both been languishing around on crappy-sounding non-remastered CDs for over 20 years now and they're glaringly obvious omissions in this supposedly 'extensive' re-issue campaign. These universally recognized masterpieces have long deserved 2CD DELUXE EDITION treatment (some tracks in remastered form are available across the 3 volumes of "Best Of"). However, I've recently been informed by a good source that all 3 are NOW AVAILABLE since June 2008 in JAPAN in RHINO REMASTERED form. See the excellent Japanese site CDJAPAN.CO.JP for details (worded in English).

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Van Morrison goes country May 3, 2000

By Brian D. Rubendall HALL OF FAME

Format:Audio CD

Many people are familiar with "Wild Night" the hit single from "Tupelo Honey" that was inexplicably covered by John Mellencamp a few years ago. Be forewarned, from there Morrison spends much of the rest of the album evoking the sounds of rural America, climaxing with "Moonshine Whiskey," which extolls the virtues of "southern love...deep in the heart of Texas." There are some great songs here, none sweeter that the title track, which has recently been used in several films. Overall, a solid effort from a master artist.