Van the Man

One of the most well-known Van Morrison bootlegs, this compiles an assortment of early-'70s material, packing a lot of variety into its six songs (which last about 45 minutes). Side one has a good live version of "Moondance" from the Fillmore West in 1970, and a whopping 18-minute outtake from His Band & Street Choir, "Caldonia Soul Music." Side two was all recorded at Pacific High Studios in October 1971 (for a radio broadcast, from the sounds of it). This has some real goodies that aren't found on early Van Morrison albums: a cover of "Hound Dog"; a rendition of the outstanding yet obscure Them song "Friday's Child"; and, best of all, a wrenching seven-minute version of Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman." The sound quality is very good, though not perfect, and Morrison's singing is extremely good. As a record that captures a performer at the peak of his powers, and contains a good deal of material not found on official studio releases, it fulfills the best purposes of bootlegs.