Van Morrison- Keep It Simple - Released Today

Posted on March 17, 2008 by bigrab

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I got my sweaty palms on the new Van album today. Just what you’d expect from him i.e. the heroic struggle, the hurt, the disappointment with life, self obsession and gnawing self doubt. I love it. I notice that the drummer on the album is Liam Bradley who I saw in action with The Blue Nile in 2006.

*This is the first track on the album which from reading the lyrics, is Jesus Christ himself singing in the first person. It’s called How Can a Poor Boy? (no relation to the song recorded by Ry Cooder and others)

*The second track here is Van returning to his philosophical odyssey which has been going on for over 40 years. This is called Soul.

*Edit: These tracks have been removed at the request of Web Sheriff despite them having been uploaded from an entirely bona fide copy of the album. The web lawman has however provided links where you can access material from Keep it Simple. To view Web Sheriff’s messages and the links, click on the comments for this posting.

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16 Responses to “Van Morrison- Keep It Simple - Released Today”

  1. WEB SHERIFF, on March 17th, 2008 at 8:14 pm Said:

    WEB SHERIFF
    Protecting Your Rights on the Internet
    Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013
    Fax 44-(0)208-323 8080
    websheriff@websheriff.com
    http://www.websheriff.com

    WITHOUT PREJUDICE

    Hi ‘Bigrab’,

    On behalf of Exile Productions, Lost Highway and Polydor, we would kindly ask you not to post copies of “Keep It Simple” on your site (or any individual tracks from Van Morrison’s unreleased album - release dates US 1st April and UK / EU 17th March).

    We do appreciate that you are fans of / are promoting Van, but Exile, Lost Highway and Polydor would greatly appreciate your co-operation in removing your links to the pirate files in question.

    Thank you for respecting the artist’s and labels’ wishes and, if you want good quality, non-pirated, preview tracks, full versions of “That’s Entrainment” and “Behind The Ritual” (along with album track samplers) are available for you to link to on Lost Highway’s web-site at http://www.losthighwayrecords.com .

    Up-to-the-minute info on Keep It Simple and Van’s 2008 shows is, of course, also available on http://www.vanmorrison.com and http://www.myspace.com/vanmorrison and, for the next few days, you can hear Van’s exclusive BBC sessions and interview at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/musicclub/event_vanmorrison.shtml and http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio2_aod.shtml?radio2/paul_jones .

    As you will appreciate, this e-mail is written on a without prejudice basis and, as such, all of our clients’ accumulated, worldwide rights remain strictly reserved : please excuse this required formality.

    With Thanks & Regards,

    WEB SHERIFF

  2. bigrab, on March 17th, 2008 at 8:50 pm Said:

    Dear Web Sheriff,

    You say this album is “unreleased”. I purchased a copy of the album today in Woolworths in Helensburgh Scotland (£10.99) from which these files are uploaded. As Woolworths are a reputable company I am confident that the files I have uploaded are not in fact “pirate” material. As your request relates to pirate material only I will therefore leave the tracks I have posted here.
    These tracks are on a streaming link and are not therefore for download. They are in fact intended to promote the album as I am a keen Van Morrison fan and have been a collector of Van’s material for nearly 30 years.
    Thank you for the additional links which I will leave here so that people who appreciate Van Morrison’s music and visit my blog will be able to access them.
    This message is written on a without prejudice basis by a genuine, law abiding music fan who simply wants to share discussion of Van Morrison’s work in an honest, non-profit making way. I am confident that my so doing will not result in any loss for your clients.
    On this new information, please let me know if I am breaking any laws and I will remove the tracks.

    Best Wishes

    Bigrab

    PS I do note a certain irony in the title of the album!

  3. WEB SHERIFF, on March 17th, 2008 at 10:33 pm Said:

    WEB SHERIFF
    Protecting Your Rights on the Internet
    Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013
    Fax 44-(0)208-323 8080
    websheriff@websheriff.com
    http://www.websheriff.com

    WITHOUT PREJUDICE

    Hi Again ‘Bigrab’,

    Many thanks for your reply / post … .. in answer to your query, just because you have purchased a copy of Van’s newly released album, this does not entitle you to publish / electronically distribute tracks from KIS on your site … .. which is akin to buying a copy and then deciding to run-off a few thousand copies for your friends … .. we know that you mean well, but would, again - at the request of the artist and labels - kindly ask you to remove these tracks … .. as before, you are, of course, welcome to replace them with links to the official preview tracks.

    Thanks again for your understanding and co-operation.

    Once again and as you will appreciate, this e-mail is written on a without prejudice basis and, as such, all of our clients’ accumulated, worldwide rights remain strictly reserved : please excuse this further formality.

    Kind Regards,

    WEB SHERIFF

  4. bigrab, on March 17th, 2008 at 11:24 pm Said:

    OK lawman, you win and I have removed the tracks as you have asked nicely. However, your comparison analogy of illustrating a fans’ pleasure at buying an album with two streaming tracks on a blog and running off thousands of copies is, if I may say so, ridiculous.

  5. almax, on March 18th, 2008 at 7:53 am Said:

    Yikes

    I’d never heard of Web Sheriff before - he seems to be the Lone Ranger of the information super-highway.

  6. Alan, on March 18th, 2008 at 8:15 am Said:

    Sounds like a scam to me.

  7. bigrab, on March 18th, 2008 at 9:34 am Said:

    Alastair, I am immediately tempted to upload (from my legitimately purchased copy) Van Morrison’s “Who was that masked man?” from Veedon Fleece. However I have no wish to upset The Web Sheriff any more than I have already.

    Sadly Alan it is no scam. Web Sheriff acts directly on behalf of artists, so whilst Van has “No guru, no method and no teacher”, he sure as hell has a lawyer. I note from my research that the first two clients of Web Sheriff were Prince and , heaven help us, The Village People. I think one of them wore a tin badge too.

    As Private Eye once was moved to point out (regarding a firm of solicitors protecting the trade mark “Portakabin” from being used to generically describe temporary buildings) “What a pathetic way to make a living.”

  8. Alan, on March 18th, 2008 at 11:42 am Said:

    Fair enough Rab. Their website looks naff and out of date, still, never judge a book by its cover!

    But I can’t help thinking that the artists concerned can’t have it both ways boys.

    Either file sharing is good for your career or it’s bad.

    Arctic Monkeys anyone?

  9. bigrab, on March 18th, 2008 at 12:01 pm Said:

    It’s not even file sharing though! these tracks were not for download, only streamed for listening to.

    Arctic Monkeys are not for me I must admit.

  10. Helpless Dancer, on March 18th, 2008 at 12:05 pm Said:

    Ah the good old Web Sheriff, I had the same issues with Lost Highway when trying to promote Cat Power’s “Jukebox” album, I was so annoyed I told them I would never buy another Lost Highway release again.

    Didn’t know that Van The Man was releasing his album through them though!!!

  11. bigrab, on March 18th, 2008 at 10:39 pm Said:

    “Vanfan” I inadvertently deleted your message posted earlier. I have cut and pasted the message from my email alert as follows:

    “I wonder if they realise how much they alienate genuine music fans. Thanks bigrab I managed to hear the tracks yesterday before deletion and will purchase the album today.

    The Belfast Cowboy hires the Web Sheriff!

    Phew! rock and roll eh?”

  12. WEB SHERIFF, on March 18th, 2008 at 11:09 pm Said:

    WEB SHERIFF
    Protecting Your Rights on the Internet
    Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013
    Fax 44-(0)208-323 8080
    websheriff@websheriff.com
    http://www.websheriff.com

    Hi Bigrab,

    Many thanks for your removal of those streams (which, for your info, are actually capable of ‘capture’ / ‘download’ by very many people ). … .. anyway, thanks also for your kind words (in the main) … .. again, much appreciated.

    To Alan and Helpless we’d add that - at the end of the day - it’s always an artist’s right to decide how they distribute their music on-line (ie. whether through official channels or via free file-sharing), as it’s THEIR MUSIC !!

    All The Best,

    WEB SHERIFF

    P.S. Is that a photo of Web Sheriff’s ‘pony’ ?!

  13. bigrab, on March 19th, 2008 at 7:35 am Said:

    Web Sherrif,

    Thanks for that. I realise of course that a determined individual could download the links I had posted or indeed the feeds for the links you have posted. I’m sure though there will be many other Russian sites, file sharing outlets etc where this could more easily be done.

    The picture is of the law.

    Best Wishes

    Bigrab

  14. MrMattBlum, on April 26th, 2008 at 7:38 pm Said:

    For whatever it’s worth, it seems to me that either Van or his lawyers are being rather over-zealous in their pursuit of copyright infringement, especially when it means that fans can’t interpret the songs in a public forum such as YouTube where there is no financial gain involved. I posted a video at YouTube of myself playing a version of Caravan that was pulled down at the request of Exile, so I created a video response at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0vk9uv1tm4. Perhaps someone here will enjoy it.

  15. bigrab, on April 27th, 2008 at 6:38 am Said:

    Thank you Matt. I have featured your video on the blog.

  16. Caravan of Lawyers « The Ben Lomond Free Press, on April 27th, 2008 at 6:53 am Said:

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