Unearthed: Van Morrison – It’s Too Late To Stop Now

Originally Released: 1974

1. Ain’t Nothin’ You Can Do
2. Warm Love
3. Into The Mystic
4. These Dreams Of You
5. I Believe To My Soul
6. I’ve Been Working
7. Help Me
8. Wild Children
9. Domino
10. I Just Want To Make Love To You
11. Bring It On Home To Me
12. Saint Dominic’s Preview
13. Take your Hands Out Of My Pocket
14. Listen to the Lion
15. Here Comes The Night
16. Gloria
17. Caravan
18. Cyprus Avenue

With more than thirty albums to his name, Van Morrison is a highly influential force in music.  He continues to release studio albums and tour frequently around the world, but while his records still garner mostly positive reviews, many have been critical of his stage presence over the past few decades.  At his peak, Morrison was in full command of the stage and his audience.  More recently, however, the singer has been accused of “phoning it in.”  It seems the audience he once played for, he now plays to.

Recorded in 1973 at the peak of his live prowess, It’s Too Late To Stop Now captures the Northern Irish singer-songwriter at the top of his game, commanding the stage with passion, enthusiasm and, more than anything else, soul.  Compiled from performances at three separate venues – the Troubadour in Los Angeles, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and The Rainbow in London - it’s in stark contrast with Morrison’s recent live work, which sounds a lot less spontaneous and a lot more detached.

It’s Too Late To Stop Now has been listed among the best live albums of all-time by many publications, Being There included.  By 1974, Morrison already had a decent amount of material to draw on.  Included here are songs from every stage of his career – from the R&B and blues numbers that influenced him in his youth (Ray Charles’ “I Believe To My Soul,” Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want To Make Love To You” and Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home To Me”), to Them hits such as “Here Comes The Night and “Gloria,” and finally onto his prolific singer-songwriter era tracks like “Into The Mystic” (off of 1970’s Moondance) and “Listen To The Lion” (from St. Dominic’s Preview).

Featuring an eleven-piece band, It’s Too Late To Stop Now is so slick and polished; one could accuse it of incorporating studio elements.  Many live albums of the era, including The Rolling Stones’ Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out and Kiss’ Alive! relied on the freedom to go back and fix things, add a few extra parts, and so on, but Morrison was dead-set against the idea.  The resulting album authentically reproduces what it would have been like to attend a Van Morrison concert at the time.

Although the words “It’s too late to stop now” come from Moondance’s “Into The Mystic,” it’s during the 10 minute, 20 second performance of “Cyprus Avenue” that we hear Morrison belt the words before the band kicks in and brings it home.  More than any other track on the album, this is Morrison’s defining moment.  Van the Man has continued to deliver some great songs and even performances in the decades since, but that final moment of It’s Too Late To Stop Now finds him reaching his absolute peak.

It’s Too Late To Stop Now was recently reissued as part of an extensive remastering campaign of Van Morrison’s back catalogue.  The double-disc set has been expanded to include a live version of “Brown Eyed Girl.”  Tupelo Honey, Wavelength, Into The Music, A Sense of Wonder and Avalon Sunset have also been reissued with bonus materials.  Other titles are expected to follow in the near future.