I was pleasantly surprised by this record. Allmusic notes that Morrison "has no interest in innovation, he's already done that. The pace here is
(mostly) laid-back, the music drenched in jazz, R&B, blues, and
classy pop. He revels throughout in an elegant slow burn; his lyric
themes are bittersweet, melancholic, filled with emotional and symbolic
memory; his longing for the previous prevalent." [source] That's a pretty good description.
In watching the two videos, below, I was suddenly hit by the sad reality that Leonard Cohen and Van Morison (to the best of my know) never got up on stage together. At least, I can find no evidence. That seems like a missed opportunity.
Pay The Devil was released in 2006 on CD and LP. Some CDs came with a DVD. While you can probably find the CD for a few buck, you will have to pay probably $75+ for a copy on vinyl. I managed to get a copy for $20 some time ago. There is one for sale on Discogs now for $229.06 CDN.
So, this is a country music LP, something that would normally not interest me at all. But, this is Van the Man, and I generally love what he does. I believe Van wrote three of the tracks, with the remainder being cover tunes. All in all, I would say that this is a satisfying record, despite the fact that is is a country record.
The original pressing of this LP - Van's 26th record - now costs a small fortune. Thankfully, it was repressed in 2019, and I found a copy at 30% off. Yeah. This record does not move the earth for me, but it is comfortable Van Morrison.
Because this record was released in the death-of-the-CD era, I suspect that some record stores think that they can sell it for extortionate prices. It's either that, or simply that there are few copies readily available in Canada. That might be possible, even though this LP did get a vinyl release domestically. I have one. I have seen this for as high as $50, and yet there are copies available on Discogs for $15.00. About a month ago, I saw a copy for $30, and it was not in good shape. On the other hand, my copy is minty fresh.
As far as I can tell, this compilation was only ever pressed in 1990, and so copies are very hard to find, and if you can find one, it will be pricey. I have a US pressing, though it was pressed in Canada, and my copy is essentially mint. I just had a look at Amazon.ca, where prices from used record range from the quite good to the insane. Today, prices range from $233.90 to $320.48. That's crazy. On Discogs, which offers a much more realistic value, there are four copies ranging from $58.57 (for a copy in not-so-great condition) to $325.38 (for a near mint copy). Wow. Obviously, I paid a lot less than that.
Somehow, they managed to pack sixteen tunes onto this piece of vinyl. This is a solid collection, collecting tracks from Them and taking the story right on up to Avalon Sunset. What else could you want?
I learned that Discogs can sometimes lead people astray. In my humble opinion, this record -- a Canadian pressing -- should cost no more than $15. A while back, when surfing through Discogs, I noticed that some joker was trying to sell a copy for $40. That's why everyone should look at statistics for last sold and definitely not current sale offerings. Last sold gives a low, median, and high price. Current sales are generally correct on Discogs, but, occasionally, some scammer tries to pull a fast one.
If you have a good copy, the median should suffice as a guide. A sealed copy could probably sell for more, and so on. One really need look at the Amazon re-sellers to prove that. And, in this case, with that one copy listed at $40, the median price for last sold was $15, as it should be.
Anyway, a couple of days after seeing this listed for $40, I headed over to a record store in downtown Toronto. Let's call that store Sonic Boom. I frequent that store and I always look in the Van Morrison section. And what did I see? Well, I saw a copy of a Canadian pressing of Avalon Sunset for $40. I am sure it is still there. Someone looked at the wrong price. I recently saw another one of these listed on Discogs for $65. I bet it's the same person trying to sell the same $15 record for a huge profit. More recently, I saw a copy for $30, which is still too high. No one in his or her right might would pay $30 or $40 or $65 for this very common record.
This LP contains a huge van hit, Have I Told You Lately. There should be a question mark at the end of that title. It's a pleasant enough song. On the other end of the spectrum is the inane Whenever God Shines His Light. Just get a load of this horseshit:
Heals the sick and he heals the lame
Says you can do it too in Jesus' name
He'll lift you up and turn you around
And put your feet back (feet back) on higher ground
Puke. Talk about being in the grip of a delusion. It's almost enough to make me a Van Morrison apostate. But, he does sing it very well.
Two previously-released Van tracks appear on this collaboration. They are Irish Heartbeat -- originally from Inarticulate Speech of the Heart -- and Celtic Ray -- originally from Beautiful Vision. The rest are traditional tunes. I like this record very much, even though I had paid (and continue to pay) zero attention to the Chieftans. I am (or was) a big fan of the Pogues, by the way.
The oddly-named Poetic Champions Compose is record number seventeen from Van. This is a quiet and peaceful album, full of meditative diversions, or whatever. I think that Van can really do little wrong, so I do like this record. Some found it boring, and I do understand that perspective.
