The Weirdest Van Morrison Recordings You’ve Never Heard—Until Now

Rock history is full of strange and often bitter “contractual obligation albums” — records made solely to fulfill legal requirements rather than creative desires. Some turn out to be accidental gems, while others are barely listenable curiosities. But few artists have turned begrudging compliance into a full-blown act of artistic revenge quite like Van Morrison.

Fans of Morrison know he’s no stranger to stubbornness or unpredictability. From his prickly interviews to his hit-or-miss live shows, he’s built a reputation as someone who fiercely goes his own way. That attitude was already fully formed at the start of his solo career — and it would shape one of the strangest footnotes in his musical legacy.

The Deal Gone Sour

In 1966, fresh from leaving his band Them, Morrison moved to New York at the invitation of producer Bert Berns, who signed him to Bang Records. Naively trusting, Morrison signed a contract without understanding the terms. In 1967, he recorded eight songs that he believed would be released as singles. Instead, Berns packaged them into an album — Blowin’ Your Mind! — without informing him.

Morrison only learned of the release when a friend told him they’d bought it. He was furious, and tensions escalated quickly. In his biography No Surrender, author Johnny Rogan quotes Morrison as saying he had a “different concept” for the songs. The situation worsened so much that when Berns died of a heart attack later that year, his widow Ilene Berns blamed Morrison’s anger for contributing to his death. She retaliated by reporting Morrison for visa violations — nearly getting him deported — and allegedly vowed to destroy his career.

Mafia Money Drops and Guitar Attacks

Morrison married his girlfriend Janet Planet to avoid deportation and moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts to escape Bang’s influence — and the physical threats of label associate Carmine “Wassel” Denoia, who reportedly once smashed a guitar over Morrison’s head.

In 1968, Warner Bros. stepped in. Eager to sign Morrison, the label orchestrated what’s been described as a mafia-style cash drop to secure his release from Bang. But the label’s grip hadn’t loosened completely. Morrison still owed them two re-recorded songs and 36 original recordings, which would remain Bang’s property.

The first demand was met with the inclusion of “Beside You” and “Madame George” on his Astral Weeks album. The second part would become the stuff of legend — a musical act of sabotage.

Musical Revenge: 36 Tracks of Nonsense

Rather than give Bang anything close to usable material, Morrison entered the studio and banged out 36 deliberately absurd tracks in a single session. Producer Lewis Merenstein, who oversaw Astral Weeks, described it diplomatically as “a very interesting experience,” noting that Morrison used the time to air every grievance he had with Bert and Ilene Berns.

What emerged was pure spite: stream-of-consciousness snippets, inside jokes, and mocking references. The longest song, “The Big Royalty Check,” is under two minutes. Six tracks don’t even hit the one-minute mark. Morrison aimed his sarcasm directly at the label, recording tracks with titles like “Twist and Shake,” “Shake and Roll,” “Stomp and Scream,” “Scream and Holler,” and “Jump and Thump” — all blatant jabs at Berns’ songwriting style. He mocked the Blowin’ Your Mind! title with songs like “Blow in Your Nose” and “Nose in Your Blow,” and impersonated Berns’ production choices on “Thirty Two,” parodying his demand for “sha-la-las” and triple-tracked guitars.

A Bizarre but Effective Exit

Ilene Berns admitted the songs were useless, calling them “bursts of nonsense music that weren’t really songs.” But rather than sue, she let it go: “I just wanted to get on with my life,” she later said.

That final middle finger to Bang freed Morrison creatively and legally. He went on to make Moondance, his first major commercial and critical success. Bang Records survived as well, landing acts like Paul Davis, Brick, and Peabo Bryson, though it lost another superstar, Neil Diamond, around the same time Morrison walked away.

As for the bizarre tracks? Though long unreleased, they were bootlegged for decades before finally getting an official release in 2017, bundled into The Authorized Bang Collection. No one would call them musical high points, but as an act of cathartic defiance, they remain one of the strangest, boldest exits in music history.