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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ballads, Blues, Soul, Funk & Jazz - It's All Here on It's Too Late To Stop Now Part 2..., 3 Jul 2008
In the real world, another live album by Van Morrison would be met by most people & even some of his die-hard fans with a resounding yawn - yet the wonderful and largely ignored 1994 2 disc set "A Night In San Francisco" didn't and doesn't deserve that. Remastered and repackaged on this 30 June 2008 re-issue, there's even a half-decent bonus track tagged onto the end of CD 2 - "Cleaning Windows".
The album's just as good as its famous 1974 predecessor - the legendary "It's Too Late To Stop Now" - it's just a more updated version. The mixture of tracks is similar too - a lethal combination of his own best compositions (new and old) with a healthy dose of rhythm `n' blues, soul, funk and jazz classics thrown in to lively up the mix.
I've been at Van gigs down through the years where he's God one night and a moody old curmudgeonly git the next! But what separates this set out is the extraordinarily inspired playing of the huge band that graced the stage with him. Each song is truly cooking. They're all enjoying themselves and the audiences' whoops and hollers are genuine too. At times, the slower songs like the lovely "See Me Through" and "Vanlose Stairway" are faster and funked up - and you feel he's blown it - but then one of the guests appears, plays a blinder, or the song cuts into another cover and suddenly the workout works. Four of the tracks are over 10 minutes, while one is nearly 17 - and yet they work. Recorded on the 18th of December 1993 in The Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco - you can only imagine, that the crowd went home very happy that cold wintry night.
Particular highlights are the guest appearances of JUNIOR WELLS on the Sonny Boy Williamson covers "Help Me" and "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" where he plays wonderful bluesy harmonica, while CANDY DULFER blows up the most fantastic Alto Saxophone solo on the "See Me Through medley". JIMMY WITHERSPOON sings the Ray Charles Atlantic Records classic "Lonely Avenue" and the Bobby Bland/T-Bone Walker/Freddie King blues workout of "Stormy Monday..." is superb. GEORGIE FAME sings and plays that lovely warm Hammond Organ of his, while both JAMES HUNTER and BRIAN KENNEDY feature heavily as Background Vocalists. His daughter SHANA MORRISON carries the lead on "Beautiful Vision" with Kennedy joining her too towards the end of the song - to genuinely moving effect.
96K/24 Bit remastered from the original analogue master tapes; the sound quality on this re-issue is great - clear, clean and a live in your living room. The booklet is functionary - song details, but no photos, no crowd shots - a bit of a poor show frankly. Still, it's the material that will have you coming back for more.
To sum up - "A Night In San Francisco" is a wonderful companion set to its 1974 younger and more famous brother - not something I'd say a lot about a lot of live albums. Highly, highly recommended.
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) and The Healing Game (1997)
(see also SEPARATE REVIEWS for "Veedon Fleece", "Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart", "Enlightenment", "Common One" 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).
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Is This The Best Live Album Ever?, 11 Jul 2008
I was lucky to be at the memorable Rainbow concert that featured on "Too Late To Stop Now". The album was a superb souvenir of a wonderful night. Over the years, I have drifted away from Van Morrison and cannot count myself as a big fan. I had never heard this 1994 concert, until I just fancied a bit of "Van the Man" one afternoon. Browsing Amazon, I came across these reviews and thought I'd give it a try.
Van is on top of his form, as are the many wonderful guests that grace this great concert. The sound quality is terrific, the selection of songs could not be bettered. What makes the album so effective, is the amazing groove that they sustain throughout. Lasting over two hours, there is no let up and it had me bopping around the house all afternoon and beyond (I couldn't just play it once!).
Generally, I find that live albums don't capture the excitement of the original performance and so they don't get played that often. Apart from jazz albums such as the Miles Davis' concerts of the sixties, I cannot think of many live albums that I would recommend. This is an exception. Give it a try!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Near perfect release from the man they call 'slightly irascible', 13 Feb 2009
I suppose live albums are like concerts themselves - there's the forgettable, the okay, and the unmissable.
Van Morrison's "A Night In San Franciso" falls firmly and squarely into the last category. It's not a four hour greatest-hits-athon, and while maybe not the most obvious of tracklistings, it's still a very much accessible live recording by Morrison.
From the opening bars of "Did Ye Get Healed", you just know it's going to be a winner. (Funnily enough it was a live performance of this track on UK television when I was about 17 that got me into the music of Van Morrison in the first place, but that's by the by...)
Highlight for me on this record is "Medley: It's All In The Game" - not really any way to describe this one. It is a masterpiece of soul music.
Van Morrison - celtic jazz soul rock pop genius of the highest order.
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