VAN MORRISON "VEEDON FLEECE" FIRST PRESSING CLEAN QUIET EX '1C' 'SX' 'T' COPY

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VAN MORRISON "VEEDON FLEECE" FIRST PRESSING CLEAN QUIET EXCELLENT '1B/1C' 'SX' 'T' COPY
VAN MORRISON "VEEDON FLEECE" ORIGINAL 1974 FIRST PRESSING ~ TEXTURED COVER ~ PRICE CODE SPINE RARE CLEAN, QUIET, 'SX' '1B/1C' 'T' GREAT SOUNDING FIRST PRESSING LABEL: WARNER BROTHERS RECORDS – BS 2805 RELEASED: NOVEMBER 1974 RECORDED AT CALEDONIA STUDIOS, CA & MERCURY SOUND STUDIOS, NYC PLATING/STAMPERS: COLUMBIA RECORDS ~ SANTA MARIA ('SX' IN MATRIX) PRESSING: COLUMBIA RECORDS PRESSING PLANT TERRE HAUTE ('T' IN MATRIX) PRODUCED BY VAN MORRISON FOR CALEDONIA PRODUCTIONS ALL SONGS WRITTEN & COMPOSED BY VAN MORRISON PRICE CODE ('0698') ON SPINE PHOTOGRAPHS: TOM COLLINS MATRIX (SIDE A) (Etched) BS-2805 40845-1B SX T MATRIX (SIDE A) (Etched) BS-2805 40846-1C SX T
CONDITION: VINYL: EX   JACKET: VG++ (CUT-OUT NOTCH)
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I've been going thru my large vinyl record collection over the past few weeks and pulling out some LPs that I thought that someone else would want for their collection. I've been collecting records for over 45 years and it's time to pass some of them on to the next generation of collectors.
After all, we are just temporary 'caretakers' of these musical gems until the next owner and next collection takes them in. ~~
This week on Ebay, we are offering up this rare, fantastic sounding, clean, quiet, 1974 First Pressing of Van Morrison's forgotten masterpiece 'Veedon Fleece'. ~~
This is my personal, original, copy that I purchased back in the mid 70's.
Read more about this great album's backstory, content, sound, and condition below. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Veedon Fleece' is the 8th studio album by Van Morrison, written and recorded shortly after his divorce from 'Janet Planet' Rigsbee, and released in October 1974. 
'Veedon Fleece' is the album that offers every single thing that we love about Van Morrison. It's a return to the mysticism of 'Astral Weeks'  but with a bit of the Celtic soul of 'Moondance'. In my opinion the pinnacle of Morrison's early work on Warner. I would put 'Veedon Fleece' in my top five of his releases. 
This album came out at the end of an extremely productive era for Van Morrison, which began with 'Blowin' Your Mind' (1967), continued through with the amazing 'Astral Weeks' (1968), 'Moondance' (1969), 'His Band and the Street Choir' (1970), 'Tupelo Honey' (1971), 'Saint Dominic's Preview' (1972) and 'Hard Nose the Highway' (1973).
During this period, Van was firing on all cylinders and bursting at the seams with creativity. For his 1973 tour, Van put together one of his greatest bands ever in the Caledonia Soul Orchestra, a magical group of jazzers, rockers, and string players.
The shows they played in small theaters around the world were extraordinary and legendary and the fantastic live album, 1974's 'It’s Too Late To Stop Now' was the ultimate culmination of ‘Soul Man' Van.
This album had the unfortunate timing to have come out just a few months after 'It's Too Late to Stop Now'. That fantastic live album was still selling well and getting all the attention, so this masterpiece of an album was mostly overlooked, under-appreciated, and flew under the radar at the time of its release.
'Veedon Fleece' was an ambitious adventure; an eclectic, sometimes-beautiful, sometimes-haunting, but inspiring, intellectually challenging album.
Most Van fans who know this album love it; the music, the mood it creates, and consider it to be one of Van Morrison's greatest achievements. 
'Veedon Fleece' is a beautifully spiritual album. The music is deep, mysterious and just phenomenal and this is the kind of album that transports you to another time and place. Of all his albums, this one can sooth the soul!
Very few LPs can reach the heights of this recording. 
When you drop the needle on this amazing record, it sounds warm, familiar, inviting & spiritual, and a place you're supposed to be. It also never fails to offer up something new every time you listen to it.
You can almost smell the incense and pot smoke present underneath the splashes and strokes of acoustic guitar, rolling piano and ethereal flute and recorder.
'Veedon Fleece' is a record that heals your heart and soul after you've lived life and traveled down that road from innocence to experience.
The pastoral, reflective tone of this album sums up everything you need to know about getting your heart broken, the emotional collapse, and putting it all back together again.
That’s the magic of 'Veedon Fleece'. It does the kinds of things for you that you didn’t even know needed to be done; a sort of mental and spiritual cleansing of the soul. Just remarkable.
Side one of 'Veedon Fleece' is twenty-five minutes of some of the best music ever recorded. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The songs on this album include:
Fair Play Linden Arden Stole The Highlights Who Was That Masked Man Streets Of Arklow You Don't Pull No Punches, But You Don't Push The River Bulbs Cul De Sac Comfort You Come Here My Love Country Fair
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This is a nice, very clean, very quiet, fantastic sounding 1974 American First Pressing copy of 'Veedon Fleece' on the original Warner Brothers 'Palm Tree' label with the textured cover.
'Veedon Fleece' is a very intimate, spiritual recording and a very dynamic recording. It has moments of intensity, but also sections of very soft music and whispering, so it needs to be heard on a clean, quiet, excellent pressing. Ideally, a clean original First pressing like this one. VG+ copies just don't cut it.
I've owned, and still own, many vinyl copies of this album, always searching for the best sounding.
These American first pressings sound the best. Rich and warm.
Many collectors say the U.S. 1C/1C copies are the way to go, but I think the earlier 1B/1C copies, like this pressing, sound warmer, crisper and best. It has a more natural, dynamic, open sound and feel. 
These First pressings are never on super quiet vinyl. The oil embargo at the time led to Warner using cheaper 'recycled' vinyl and most of the pressings suffer from some degree of surface noise. Even minty clean un-played copies unfortunately have some baseline noise.
To experience this album properly, 'Veedon Fleece' needs a low noise-floor due to the wide dynamic nature of the recording.
This 1B/1C Palm Tree pressing sounds amazing; warm and present, has very little background noise, nothing to obscure or interrupt the musical flow and sweet dream that 'Veedon Fleece' is.
This is the famous, much sought after, 'SX' first pressing, with all the stampers and metalwork produced at Columbia Records Pressing Plant in Santa Maria. It has the large, faint, "SX" etched in the matrix.
This is also the sought after Terre Haute 'T' pressing. Warner farmed out the pressing of their albums to various pressing plants at the time and they all used varying degrees of 'recycled' vinyl at the time.  The Terre Haute pressings are considered some of the best pressings of this album.
The UK pressing sounds a little bright, and emphasizes the high end more. 
The 80's reissues of 'Veedon Fleece' sound a little 'flat'.
The recent VMP reissue wins points for it's attention to detail, packaging and the fact that it's pressed on Emerald green vinyl, but its digitally sourced, pressed at the problematic GZ Media, and sounds 'digital'.
If you're a CD fan, the original U.S. Warner CD is the best sounding of the various releases out there, but the later CD releases contain bonus tracks, which are interesting to hear.
Sony owns the rights to 'Veedon', so we might never get another AAA version at this point, unfortunately, so these all-analog first pressings are the way to go.
This very clean 1B/2C Terre Haute 'SX' original First Pressing is likely the best this album will ever sound. A beautiful copy. These rarely come up for sale. Gab it while you can! ~~~~
The jacket of these original First pressings are 'textured' and have a beautiful, tip-on, hand-tinted image of Van sitting on the front lawn of the Sutton House Hotel in Dublin, posing with two Irish Wolfhounds.
The cover was quite confusing to fans, but according to Van, the cover image is full of mysticism and meaning, echoing various hidden aspects of his life at the time.
The beautifully colored and lightly textured jackets of these First pressings are stunning and amazing and were never really replicated on later pressings.
Original first pressings are marked "℗1974 Warner Bros. Records Inc. - Printed in U.S.A." and have a '0698' price code on the spine.
All original First Pressings of 'Veedon Fleece' came with the Warner Brothers 'Loss Leaders' inner sleeve with the 'Saturday 9/23/1917' scene of Burbank on the back side.
This copy has been in a poly-lined sleeve for decades, but still has it's clean original inner sleeve.
The Sutton House Hotel, featured in the background is a converted mansion overlooking Dublin Bay,  built in the 1800s and was home to the Jameson Whiskey family.
It was where Van first stayed when arriving in Ireland in the summer of 1973
In the 80's it was a frequent hangout of U-2's Bono. Bono had his wedding reception there in 1982 and regularly drank in hotel's bar before he moved across to the other side of Dublin Bay. 
The Sutton House Hotel was later converted into a expensive luxury apartments.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE BACKGROUND AND STORY OF 'VEEDON FLEECE'
To understand this record, you need to know this album's backstory and the circumstances under which it was written and created.
It all starts with Janet Rigsbee, one of the most important women in the Van Morrison story and in his life. Janet Rigsby was Van's first wife, who he nicknamed 'Janet Planet'. 
Van and Janet first met in 1966 before a Them concert. She was recently divorced, living in San Francisco, and making ends meet as an actress and model. 
A few years later they met up again in New York City, realized their strong attraction for each other was real and undeniable, and quickly got married, partly to help Morrison avoid deportation. They moved to a small apartment in the hip, progressive, musical town of Cambridge, just outside Boston.
The young couple was broke, desperate, unsure of the future, but deeply in love. It was there in Cambridge, sitting at their tiny kitchen table in their disheveled little apartment, strumming an acoustic guitar, that Morrison wrote much of 'Astral Weeks'.
Van liked to work in a sort of stream-of-consciousness way back then, just letting the tape recorder run while he played the guitar and improvised songs and lyrics on the spot, trying out various things.
Janet Planet, the original Brown Eyed Girl, and the inspiration behind songs like 'Sweet Thing', 'Ballerina', 'Crazy Love', 'Beside You' and 'The Way Young Lovers Do' would hep him organize songs and lyrics and help him create his masterpiece 'Astral Weeks'.
The profits from his first Warner release allowed them to move to Woodstock, NY and buy a beautiful sprawling mountaintop house. Van wanted to be near his musical hero, Bob Dylan, who was living there at the time.
Their mountaintop life in Woodstock was peaceful and idyllic. The beautiful Janet was Van's muse, inspiring him to create great music.
In April 1970, Janet gave birth to a daughter, Shana Morrison.
Woodstock was becoming too crowded after the famous rock festival was held there. Many more musicians, hippies and freaks moved there, and busloads more were arriving everyday, hoping to catch the vibe and a glimpse of Dylan, The Band, Van, or other musicians living in the area.
In April 1971, Morrison, who shunned the public eye, packed up his family, pulled up his stakes, and moved to a remote home in the hills, surrounded by redwood trees, in Marin County, just outside San Francisco.
The family settled in and lived a peaceful idyllic life in California. He built a recording studio in his home, called Caledonia Studios, and his  relationship with his beautiful wife Janet continued to be Van's muse, inspiring him to write some of his best music and produce some of the best albums of his career there; 'Moondance', 'His Band & Street Choir' and 'Tupelo Honey'. 
Janet worked closely with Van, helping him craft his songs as well as singing and performing in his back-up vocal group 'The Street Choir'.
Despite Van's deep love for his wife, the marriage was not without its difficulties. Van was a private person, but Janet didn't like being cut off socially from friends in the Bay area. Van could also be quite moody and have violent fits of rage.
Gradually they grew apart and eventually, in 1973, their marriage collapsed. Janet loaded her daughter Shana and a few possessions into the family car and fled their Marin County home in a desperate gesture of finding her own independence.  ~~~~
After his divorce from Janet Planet, Morrison was emotionally shattered. His whole career, since leaving his band Them, had been centered around her. Janet had been his muse, inspiration and the focus of his life, now he was alone and drifting. 
Morrison’s personal life took a hard turn and he was in a bad place. He endured much emotional turmoil and turbulence and was restless artistically. With a crestfallen outlook, Morrison was looking for something new. He needed new stimulus and a new environment.
With the live album released and on the market, the touring done for now, Van decided it was time for a break. He disbanded his Caledonia Soul Orchestra, and decided to follow his heart and muse and return to Ireland, for the first time in six years, to Dublin and Belfast, his childhood home, trying to put his past behind him, looking for inspiration, and hoping to get back to his spiritual and ancestral roots.
He took his new girlfriend, Carol Guida, with him on the trip.
Morrison and Carol spent a few months in Northern Ireland. The idyllic surroundings, replete with history and natural beauty, and a sense of comfort & belonging served as a stimulus to renew his artistic vision.
His spiritual visit to his homeland cleansed his soul when he needed it most. With his new girlfriend Carol at his side, he seemed at ease for the first time in a long while.
It was a journey of rejuvenation, returning to his Celtic roots, which left Morrison reborn and reinvigorated and viewing the world with renewed clarity. 
He and Carol first lodged at the Sutton Hotel in Dublin where he met up with his friend Donall Corvin, conducting extensive interviews with the possibility of writing a book on his mind.
Before he left Dublin, he allowed himself to be photographed with a pair of Wolfhounds on the grounds  of the Sutton Hotel. One of those photos would end up being the next album cover.
Van and Carol then took a rented car around the country, from Wicklow to Cork to Killarney, exploring those towns, their history and culture. 
Van settled down in the Irish countryside and let a simple honest flow of creativity come right out.  He wrote most all of the songs on 'Veedon Fleece' on that trip. 
If any album reflects a real period of transition for an artist, it’s this one.
'Veedon Fleece' was a back-to-basics reboot for an artist inspired by his emotional cathartic trip to Ireland. It was in many ways autobiographical. A pastoral, reflective album about going home, nostalgia and his love for his country. A deep, rich, emotional set of songs that manages to be intricate, intelligent, melancholic, uplifting and moving all at once.
The lyrics “I wish we could be dreamers, in this dream” sums up Morrison’s feelings of euphoria and peaceful tranquility he found in the Irish surroundings.
It was a marked change from his prior albums, trading his popular Caledonia rhythm and blues for a more Celtic-acoustic sound. A young man attempting to break new musical ground.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When he got back to California in the Fall of 1973 he finished 'Veedon Fleece' in a few weeks, infusing a healthy gulp of Ireland into the subjects, lyrics and music. 
He quickly assembled some key members of his Caledonia Soul Orchestra band; David Hayes (bass), Dahaud Shaar (David Shaw) (drums), and Jeff Labes (keyboards), and set about recording these new compositions with a very different musical framework and direction in mind. 
Most all of these new songs were written during his cathartic trip to Ireland. ‘Come Here My Love’ was written during the recording sessions.
The majority of these mostly acoustic songs were recorded, live, spontaneously, and mostly in one-take, in November 1973 at Van's own Caledonia Studios at his home in Marin County California.
Dahaud served as recording engineer for these loose spontaneous sessions.
To flesh out the album, Van dusted off ‘Bulbs’ and ‘Country Fair’, two songs that originated during the previous 'Hard Nose' sessions but were left off that album when Warner forced him to shorten it to a single disc worth of material. 
Van decided those songs needed 'something else', so fresh new versions of ‘Bulbs’ and ‘Cul de Sac’ were recorded in a separate session, with a different band, at Mercury Studios, New York City in April 1974.
Jeff Labes then added further textures to the studio sessions with inspired string and woodwind arrangements and Jim Rothermel added Flute and Recorder overdubs that gave the songs more of an ethereal Irish feel.
'Bulbs' feels a little 'out of place' on the album. It was recorded several months later, with a different band, in a different studio, which is why it sounds slightly odd and does not bridge the incredible ending of “side one” with the other treasures to be found on side two. It still fits the overall theme and feel of the album, just sounds 'different'.
I have a 'sticky note' on my 2008 CD copy of 'Veedon Fleece' to remind me to program the disc with 'Bulbs' moved to the end with the other bonus tracks, 'Twilight Zone' and an alternate take of 'Cul De Sac'. It sounds so much better that way, and flows much better.
It's theorized that Warner Brother were not happy with how the new LP sounded, and wanted some more up-beat tracks, so the new New York re-recording of 'Bulbs' was tacked on to the beginning of side two as part of some sort of compromise/bone to throw Warner as a single to release from the album, which they did. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MUSICIANS ON 'VEEDON FLEECE'
BASS: David Hayes (Cal), Joe Macho (NY) DRUMS: Dahaud Shaar (Cal), Allen Swartzburg, (NY) GUITARS:  Ralph Walsh (Cal), John Tropea (NY) KEYBOARDS: Jeff Labes (Cal), James Trumbo (NY) FLUTE & RECORDER: Jim Rothermel SOPRANO SAX: Jack Schroer STRINGS: Nathan Rubin, Terry Adams STRINGS & WOODWIND ARRANGEMENTS: Jeff Labes  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Veedon Fleece' was made with a complete disregard for being a  commercial album.
Van returned to the groundbreaking mood and feel of 'Astral Weeks', writing and recording the new album in a similar live, stream-of-consciousness style, channeling the lyrics of the songs with an off the cuff delivery.
'Veedon Fleece' mimics the meditative, contemplative, song-cycle style of 'Astral Weeks', combining Celtic mysticism, gentle acoustic instrumentation and transcendental blues, and just letting the music naturally flow out of him.
The result is that 'Veedon Fleece' is as close as Van Morrison ever came to recapturing the sound and feel of 'Astral Weeks', the whole album conveying a 'mood' more than any importance on individual songs.
It shares the mostly acoustic feel of 'Astral Weeks' but sounds like a passionate, introspective road-weary cousin of that album, sung by an older, more mature and wiser man, looking back at his life with heartful longing and resignation.
'Veedon Fleece' like 'Astral Weeks' is unique, timeless, and unlike any other music. Where as 'Astral Weeks' is a unclassifiable melding of folk, jazz and blues, 'Veedon Fleece' brings Van's love of Irish music and country music to the fore.  ~~~~~~~~~~~
ALBUM RELEASE AND ACCEPTANCE
Morrison delivered the finished album album to Warner Brothers in the spring of 1974, then went on tour for a few live shows in Europe.
The record company didn't want to release the album right away, since the live album 'It's Too Late to Stop Now' was still very popular and selling well. Warner's held the new album back until October 1974.
When finally released, almost a year since it was written, Warner Brothers, critics, and nearly everyone else dismissed it as 'different' and the record-buying public shunned it.
Both 'Melody Maker', and 'Rolling Stone' printed quite horrid dismissive reviews at the time.
Warners felt there was no radio-friendly themes, and no hit single, so it was of little commercial value to them. A 7" single containing the most upbeat song, "Bulbs" b/w "Cul de Sac" was released, but went nowhere.
Van's live album was still quite popular and fans were hoping for more of that slick R&B styled Morrison, but it wasn't to be. Van wasn’t a man to be swayed. He knew what record he wanted to make, and knew exactly what he was doing when he recorded this masterpiece.
He managed to create a type of music, that "Celtic Soul" thing, that was all his own and captured something beautiful and intangible. 
The record wasn't promoted well by Warner, the style was a bit too freeform and laid back for most people, plus it was a huge departure from the R&B style he was known for, so it sold poorly, and quickly ended up in the cut-out bins. (Note that this album has a cut-out 'notch' in the corner).
'Veedon Fleece' disappeared from shelves rather quickly. That's partly why it's been overlooked and not better known all these years and why original First pressings like this are quite rare.
'Veedon Fleece' was actually a much better album than the reviews at the time reflected, yet it remained a neglected, overlooked and forgotten gem of Van Morrison's discography for years before people began to appreciate it.
Today, 'Veedon Fleece' has now become a highly sought after album in Van Morrison’s extensive catalog. It's considered Van Morrison's "forgotten masterpiece", an underground classic, and highly praised as a work of total genius by hardcore fans. It's many fan's favorite Van album. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Following this album's release and initial poor acceptance, Van became very discouraged. His personal inner turmoil and crisis of identity battle would lead him to take a lengthy three-year hiatus before recording and releasing his next album.
By the time his next record appeared, 1977’s aptly titled 'A Period of Transition', this style of Celtic soul and Celtic vision was gone, at least until much later on his career.
Van has also rarely played any of these beautiful songs in concert since those days. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This Terre Haute, SX, First Pressing sounds phenomenal. Nice relatively quiet vinyl, rich production, very well recorded, beautiful soundstage, plenty of space around the instruments with clear separation and a nice tight bass groove. Lots of dynamics, detail and depth. Van's vocals have presence and immediacy. 
This is a mostly acoustic album with a pastoral Celtic tone that jumps out of the speakers and envelops you, immediately setting the mood, tone, and spiritual atmosphere. It's somewhat country tinged Caledonia/Celtic soul, but uniquely in its own world. 
Many of these songs are just simply structured blues progressions, but Van's lyrics and vocal phrasing, the melodies and arrangements transcend any categorization and elevate the songs and music into something totally unique, impossible to imitate, and hard to describe.
The musical attention to detail is just incredible. The melodies and instruments all weave in and out masterfully.
The light string arrangements give the music beautiful Celtic baroque finishes and is very reminiscent  of Van’s emotional cathartic trip to Ireland.
Jim Rothermel’s brilliant, dreamy, delicate and sometimes haunting Flute and Recorder accompaniment  is otherworldly. It swirls and prances around the tracks and is a nice addition.
The beautiful rolling piano by Jeff Labes is recorded perfectly and just sounds 'right'. 
John Tropea's electric guitar work on "Bulbs" and "Cul de Sac" from the spring '74 sessions is excellent.
Great transparency and resolution allowing you to actually “see” the performers. The three-dimensional studio space makes it sound as if you are sitting in the studio with the band.
This is a magnificent timeless album with a powerful yet soothing sound and quality to it. An extraordinary, great sounding album of pastoral genius. Pretty amazing to hear and a true work of art.
Later copies and re-pressings aren't nearly this rich, warm and sweet. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE TITLE OF 'VEEDON FLEECE'
'Veedon Fleece' is a strange title for an album and many Van Morrison fans have wondered, what exactly is "Veedon Fleece"? 
In some interpretations of Greek mythology, Golden Fleece had powerful healing properties. Morrison’s titular 'Veedon Fleece' appears to be a mythical object of his own invention, but possesses a similar artistic healing power.
'Veedon Fleece' is the key to the real soul, a quest for wisdom, spiritual enlightenment, love, and artistic vision, his own sort of Irish Holy Grail. A quest on which Morrison was on for a variety of reasons, but, like the Holy Grail, Van's 'Veedon Fleece' is an unattainable ideal which remains forever beyond his reach.
That's why so many of the songs, as well as the central theme of this record, is about searching for something. For lost loves, for your past and it's roots, for your spirituality, for the 'Veedon Fleece'.
When later questioned about the album’s title, Morrison said, ”It doesn’t mean anything, I made it all up” but the real meaning of 'Veedon Fleece' is a mystery that only Van Morrison has the answers to. If you or Van were to define it, it would sap it of its mysterious quality.   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
VAN'S VOCALS ON 'VEEDON FLEECE'
Van's vocals on this album are amazing and deserve special mention.
Van Morrison is an eccentric and idiosyncratic artist whose musical ambition and perceptual awareness is somewhat unique in modern music. 'Veedon Fleece' finds Van Morrison vocally returning to the stream of consciousness approach that was so distinctive on 'Astral Weeks' but he really followed his muse and emotions on this one, and pretty much disregarded any commercial considerations.
His blue-eyed soul is still very much present here, but he adapts and elongates his singing at will to fit the lyrics perfectly. His impassioned vocal phrasings are all his own and they bend, meander and drift like an Irish backcountry stream.
Morrison seems to be channeling these songs from somewhere else, as if they’d been living in his head, and he just needed the right atmosphere and time in his life, for them to take form and see the light of day.
Van Morrison has great vocal range, and you can hear it on just about every track. I love what he does with his voice, and the honest, emotional sincerity of his vocals and lyrics. 
His voice sounds beautifully delicate, cryptic and multifaceted all at once. His soulful singing is both absurd and beautiful. 
Everything he sings and does is a part of some singular emotion, some abandon the music is making  him experience and express.  
Sometimes he abandons language altogether, howling, moaning, searching his soul, whispering, screaming, and growling, following his soul as a guide, and swimming further and further into waters that only he knew were there at all. This gives the songs an unexpected edginess that is truly memorable and somewhat remarkable.
The poetry and expression of his lyrics is amazing and the depth of emotion is mind blowing. Morrison's scat vocals at the end of 'Cul de Sac' sound like he is so overtaken w/emotion that he can't control himself and get proper words out.
Van's lyrics and poetic sensibility on this album are compelling and engaging. Each track feels like a broken heart. 
The patron saint of this record is William Blake. Like Van, he was a poet, a mystic, a visionary, and a man seized by his creative ambition.
The poetic lyrics and emotional vocals on 'Veedon Fleece' really capture Van Morrison's more soulful, mystical side very well but they are matured and leavened into something that could only be made by an older, wiser, world weary version of George Ivan Morrison.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Veedon Fleece' was a back-to-the-basics album that showed a side of Van Morrison that many hadn’t seen before. 
Much of Morrison's previous music was structured around the conventions of soul music and R&B, but this is not a groovy record. 
'Veedon Fleece' is a collection of deeply soulful tunes with Irish folk influences and gentle instrumentation. This is deeply intimate music that plumbs the depths of heart and soul. 
'Veedon Fleece' is cathartic. A searching for the soul. One big longing for love, peace and harmony...  a longing for 'home' wherever or whatever it is.
On this album Van is hurt and vulnerable, but very alive with the prospect of hope and atonement. 
'Veedon Fleece' is stunning from start to finish. A deliberate, thoughtful and unheralded masterpiece that casts a powerful spell all its own. It's really is unlike anything else in the Van catalog.
The album is an extremely intimate, brilliantly conceived and internally cohesive song-cycle that is best appreciated as a whole. 
Brooding, intoxicating, deep, and introspective, an album defined by struggle, searching, and self-discovery, all drenched in his Irish roots. Sad and wistful but also really beautiful. 
This album takes several listens to get into for the first time listener but once you do, you're hooked. It's definitely best savored late at night or early in the morning, with no distractions. It's the kind of quietly intense record you need to be alone with.
This is the most spiritually and emotionally moving of all of Van's albums. It carries a raw emotional punch of beautiful sadness yet soulful desire. 
One of my favorite Van Morrison albums. It's not for everyone. It's not for everyday listening. But when the mood is right, if you open yourself to it, the atmosphere of this album is magnificent, the artistry transcendent, the effect ethereal. It's pure magic.
The great rock critic Lester Bangs was one of the few who 'got' the meaning of this record at the time and wrote 'Veedon Fleece' is a record about people stunned by life, completely overwhelmed, stalled in their skins, their ages and selves, paralyzed by the enormity of what in one moment of vision they can comprehend."
An excellent, underrated Van Morrison album. Definitely one of his best, most loved albums over his long career. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONDITION: I tried to show good hi-resolution photos of the cover, labels and vinyl in my pictures.
VINYL: This copy is beautifully pressed on thick, heavy, black vinyl and this first pressing has a terrific sound to match. 
The vinyl is still fantastic. Clean and bright. No scratches, scuffs or damage. It looks and sounds amazing. There's not enough room to show many details of the vinyl, but I tried to get the lighting right, so you can get an idea of how clean the vinyl is. Hopefully you can see from my photos how terrific it looks.  A beautiful copy.
LABELS: This album was pressed with the Warner Brothers 'Palm Tree' labels. The labels are clean and bright. No dings, scuffs or damage, and the spindle holes are clean and sharp, suggesting infrequent playing and my careful handling over the years.
I purchased this album 'used' at a record show in the mid 70's. The previous owner's small initials 'G.S' are written on side A's label, but you barely notice.
JACKET: As you can see from my pictures, this 50 year old jacket is still in excellent condition and looks fantastic.
Note that there is a cut out 'notch' in the top left corner. It's a clean cut and the corner is sharp and square.
Also, the previous owner's name is written in tiny letters in the bottom right corner of the back label.  The record fair price is also written in the bottom right corner. It's done very discreetly and is barely noticeable, but should be pointed out.
Other than that, the sleeve is in excellent condition. Clean and bright. The corners are relatively sharp.  No seam splits, no ring wear or issues. The iconic album cover artwork looks fantastic. Overall, this cover looks fantastic. I tried to show details in my photos.
This comes with it's original inner sleeve, but is separately poly-lined sleeved.
I've owned this record since the mid 70's and it has been sleeved and kept in great condition for around 50 years now. It's still about as good a First pressing copy of this classic release as you're likely to find these days.
Very nice, all original, and a real gem. I'm sure you'll be very happy to add it to your collection. It would make a great addition to any 70's, Classic Rock, or Van Morrison vinyl record collection.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** NOTE: I'm selling this rare Van Morrison record "AS IS" and "NO RETURN". It's rare, and as described, and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it. A great, rare, original, clean, quiet, excellent sounding copy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’m recently retired and downsizing and letting go some gems and rarities from nearly 50 years of vinyl record collecting. 
Over the next few months I'll be offering an assortment of these rare and collectable LP’s. Many of these records have been in my personal collection for decades. Some of them are quite rare and seldom come up for sale. Limited pressings, European imports, promos, fan club releases, live recordings, first pressings and other general rarities.
Keep an eye on my Ebay page, 'jjrbyrne' for more of these great rare collectible albums, EPs and 45 singles. 
All records have been carefully evaluated and graded by me. I visually inspect all records under bright light, personally gently clean them with a soft cloth and then, if unsure, play them on a modern high-end turntable and system to get a true picture of condition. 
Please look at all the high-resolution pictures I added. They are all my own and are of the actual record being sold. The pictures are part of the description and can show small details, label variations, and condition better than I can put into words. 
My grading is fair and honest. I have had over 3,700 happy and satisfied EBay customers over the years, with 100% positive feedback, and I have been buying/selling on EBay for nearly 30 years, so please bid with confidence!
I'm a One-man operation, this is a hobby, not my job. I do this for fun. I do this because I love music, love collecting vinyl and want others to share in that same experience. I take my time listening, researching, grading, listing and packaging. I will NOT sell any record that I personally would not want in my collection.
As you well know, packing and shipping rare records requires special care and attention, therefore, shipping cost within the lower 48 states is $5.00 on this item. If you would like insurance, or anything faster than Media/Economy Mail, please let me know and I can arrange it for you. I’ll work with you to make sure you’re happy!
I will gladly combine multiple records, or other items on my page, and make the shipping much less for you. I don’t inflate the shipping costs; they are what they are. I strive to keep them as low as possible. See my feedback for comments on my quality packing and shipping.
All items are packaged with sturdy cardboard mailers and appropriate padding. I take pride in my packaging and shipping and package all my records as if I were sending them to myself. I treat the records you win as if they were my own, and mail them the same way. 
All orders are processed and shipped within 2 business days of receipt. We package and ship our vinyl records with the greatest care, using proper packaging to ensure that your rare and collectible vinyl records arrive in pristine condition.
Payments can be made by any of the multiple options that Ebay offers.
I will be happy to exchange feedback with anyone I complete a transaction with.
THANK YOU for looking and reading if you got this far. I know I rambled on a bit, but can't help it. I have a passion for records, especially vintage Van Morrison. 
I hope this listing was entertaining and informative.   -- JOHN