Van Morrison The Bang Sessions

The Authorized Bang Collection is a triple-disc compilation album by Van Morrison containing every track that Morrison recorded for Bang Records with producer Bert Berns with the full blessing and participation of Morrison. It was released on April 28, 2017 by Legacy Recordings on the Bang label. The first disc, subtitled The Original Masters, contains 17 tracks including every track from Morrison's debut album Blowin' Your Mind!. The second disc, subtitled Bang Sessions & Rarities, contains alternate takes from the Bang sessions. The third disc contains tracks officially issued for the first time, subtitled Contractual Obligation Session. These short songs were recorded by Morrison to fulfill his contractual obligations to Bang. Because Bert's widow Ilene Berns called those tracks 'nonsense,' they remained in the vaults, bootlegs notwithstanding, until this collection was compiled.

Pay the Devil, an album-long foray into country music, shouldn't come as a surprise to Van Morrison fans. It's a logical extension of his love affair with American music. Certainly blues, R&B, soul, and jazz have been at the forefront, but one can go all the way back to the Bang years and find "Joe Harper Saturday Morning," or songs on Tupelo Honey that touch country. More recently, You Win Again, with Linda Gail Lewis, offered two Hank Williams tunes and "Crazy Arms." The Skiffle Sessions with Lonnie Donegan offered traditional Southern tunes including Jimmie Rodgers' "Mule Skinner Blues." Morrison's lyrics have also referenced country music blatantly. Pay the Devil comes from direct sources of inspiration: his father's skiffle band and Ray Charles' historic forays into country on the two volumes of Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music in 1962. The evidence lies in three cuts on this disc, all of which Charles recorded: Curley Williams' "Half as Much," Art Harris and Fred Jay's "What Am I Livin' For," and Hank Williams' "Your Cheatin' Heart."