31 improvised songs from Van Morrison’s Bang Records Contractual Obligation Session. In the great pantheon of contractual obligation records, there is the noisy (Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music), the brassy (Neil Young’s This Note’s For You) and the phony (Monty Python’s Contractual Obligation Record).

And then there is Van Morrison’s Bang Records Sessions.

In order to fulfill his obligation to his early solo label Bang Records,Van Morrison sat down in probably 1967 or so and cranked out 31 songs off the top of his head, on topics ranging from ringworm to wanting a danish, to hating his record label and a guy named George. Make sure you get past the first few tunes – after a while he starts to kick it up a little.

As far as I know, none of this stuff was ever issued in the ’60’s. I can only surmise at some point in the early ’90’s, whoever controlled Van’s Bang masters ran across the tapes and – either having questionable ethics and/or a twisted sense of humor – licensed the tapes to European labels that were releasing compilations of Van’s Bang-era material. I know of at least two double-CD sets that include demo stuff as the second disc – one is Payin’ Dues on Charly in 1994, and the other is New York Sessions ’67. I guess there’s irony in the fact that Morrison recorded these tunes as a big fuck-you to his label – before he signed to Warner and recorded Astral Weeks – yet ultimately the joke’s on him, now that they’re being packaged as legitimate tracks (on “best-of” collections, no less).

Twist and Shake

Shake and Roll

Stomp and Scream

Scream and Holler

Jump and Thump

Drivin’ Wheel

Just Ball

Shake it Mable

Hold On George

The Big Royalty Check

Ring Worm

Savoy Hollywood

Freaky If You Got This Far

Up Your Mind

Thirty Two

All The Bits

You Say France and I Whistle

Blow In Your Nose

Nose In Your Blow

La Mambo

Go For Yourself

Want A Danish

Here Comes Dumb George

Chicken Coo

Do It

Hang On Groovy

Goodbye George

Dum Dum George

Walk And Talk

The Wobble

Wobble And Ball

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