Van Morrison albums to get digital release

33 Van Morrison albums will be released digitally on Friday

Sony Music has acquired the rights to Van Morrison’s vast back catalogue, and plans digital releases plus Deluxe Edition reissues

egacy Recordings, the catalogue arm of Sony Music, has acquired the rights to much of Van Morrison’s back catalogue – some 50 albums, compilations and live recordings in total – and will be embarking on an extensive reissue programme, beginning with a new 37-track, career-spanning compilation to be released on Friday (28 August).

Deluxe Edition reissues of select albums are in the pipeline, with Saint Dominic’s Preview (1972), Hard Nose The Highway (1973), live album It’s Too Late To Stop Now (1974) and Enlightenment (1990) the first to receive the treatment. 33 albums – spanning from Saint Dominic’s Preview to 2009’s Astral Weeks: Live At The Hollywood Bowl, are also to be made available digitally from Friday – in most cases for the first time. Morrison’s first four post-Them solo albums – Blowin’ Your Mind! (1967), Astral Weeks (1968), Moondance and His Band And The Street Choir (both 1970), as well as several compilations, have been available digitally for some time and are not covered by the new deal; as for 1971’s Tupelo Honey, well, your guess is as good as ours! For a full list of titles, click here.

Sir George Ivan Morrison, as he’s been officially known since receiving an honorary knighthood this summer, will celebrate his 70th birthday on 31 August with Van Morrison: Live On Cyprus Avenue, a live show that will close the Belfast EastSide Arts Festival 2015.

To get you in the mood for the re-releases, you can watch a full Van Morrison concert from 1980 below.

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