Van Morrison: Avalon Sunset (1989)

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.