A 1974 compilation of Van Morrison's early solo recordings, centered on the haunting track 'T.B. Sheets,' has been reissued in its original form by Friday Music. The album captures Morrison's raw first solo sessions from 1967, blending psychedelic R&B with personal storytelling. This release highlights the unpolished gems from his transition from band frontman to acclaimed solo artist.
Van Morrison's 'T.B. Sheets,' a nine-and-a-half-minute psychedelic R&B opus, forms the core of this 1974 compilation, now reissued without additions by the preservation-focused Friday Music label. Recorded in New York in 1967 for producer Bert Berns' Bang Records under the Atlantic imprint, the sessions mark Morrison's initial foray into solo work following his time with the Irish garage-rock band Them.
The title track narrates a true story of a girl named Julie, dying from tuberculosis, whom Morrison once lived with. Rather than overt sadness or fear, the song conveys a numb detachment, fixating on mundane details amid the horror of mortality. Morrison moans, 'The sunlight shining through the crack in the window pane numbs my brain,' over a skittering Hammond organ, evoking a slow-suffocating bleakness without dramatic epiphanies.
What elevates the track is its unflinching portrayal of human selfishness: as Julie fades, Morrison laments his own struggles, underscoring even the selfless reach breaking points. Distraught after revisiting this memory, he canceled the remaining sessions.
The compilation includes seven other cuts, such as the original 45-rpm version of his hit 'Brown Eyed Girl.' These tracks, blending innocence and experience, originally appeared on Morrison's 1967 debut 'Blowin’ Your Mind' and later on the 1991 'Bang Masters.' Featuring blaring lead guitar, shimmering organ, and Morrison's soul-drunk slur, the music pulses with raw energy—fuzz-guitar licks weaving like garlands, saloon piano chiming amid Leslie speaker whirs.
Though unrefined compared to his 1968 breakthrough 'Astral Weeks,' which reworks songs like 'Beside You' and 'Madame George' in somber acoustic form, 'T.B. Sheets' offers uncut potential. Morrison's urgent, impressionistic poetry, delivered with yelps and howls, captures communication's elusiveness more vividly than polished lyrics ever could.
