The domestic USA release consists of just one CD with 21 tracks:

THE FIRST-EVER CAREER-SPANNING SINGLE DISC GREATEST HITS COLLECTION FROM ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ARTISTS OF OUR TIME One of the best-selling albums of the Nineties, the five-times-platinum, 1990-issued The Best Of Van Morrison, is out of print. For a new, career-spanning collection from the singer-songwriter ranked in the top half of both Vh1's "100 Greatest Artists Of Rock And Roll" and Rolling Stone's "The Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists Of All Time," only one man could possibly handpick the tracks and oversee their mastering -- Van Morrison himself. That is what the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has done for Still On Top - The Greatest Hits. Spanning his work from 1964 to 2005 on a handful of different record labels, Still On Top - The Greatest Hits celebrates a singer who has influenced everyone from Bruce Springsteen and The Doors' Jim Morrison to Tom Petty and Elvis Costello. Van the Man has been hailed as one of "popular music's true innovators, a restless seeker whose incantatory vocals and alchemical fusion of R&B, jazz, blues, and Celtic folk produced perhaps the most spiritually transcendent body of work in the rock & roll canon" (All Music Guide).

1. Gloria
2. Here Comes the Night
3. Brown Eyed Girl
4. Moondance
5. Crazy Love
6. Domino
7. Wild Night
8. Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)
9. Warm Love
10. Wavelength
11. Bright Side of the Road
12. Dweller on the Threshold [Live]
13. Tore Down a La Rimbaud
14. In the Garden
15. Someone Like You
16. Have I Told You Lately
17. Real Real Gone
18. Days Like This
19. Healing Game [Alternate Version]
20. Precious Time
21. Stranded

This CD is currently on sale at Amazon for $7.99 (43% off):

Physical Disc (CD):
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VWYNOG/?tag=imwan-20

Digital Download (MP3 @ 256 kbps):
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000XXTCF8/?tag=imwan-20

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In the UK, however, the Still On Top compilation is coming out in expanded 2-CD and 3-CD versions. These aren't being imported to the States for some reason, but they can be purchased directly from Amazon UK ...

The UK 2-CD version contains 37 tracks:

Disc: 1
1. Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)
2. Dweller On The Threshold
3. Whenever Gos Shine His Light - Morrison, Van & Cliff Richard
4. Moondance
5. Bright Side Of The Road
6. Brown Eyed Girl
7. Wavelength
8. Crazy Love
9. Someone Like You
10. When Will I Ever Learn To Live In God
11. Tore Down A La Rimbaud
12. Wild Night
13. Gloria - Them (1)
14. Real Real Gone
15. Into The Mystic
16. In The Garden
17. Saint Dominic's Preview
18. Stranded

Disc: 2
1. Precious Time
2. Domino
3. Here Comes The Night - Them (1)
4. Little Village
5. And It Stoned Me
6. Days Like This
7. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
8. Cleaning Windows
9. Baby Please Don't Go - Them (1)
10. Back On Top
11. Vanlose Stairway
12. Celtic New Year
13. Irish Heartbeat - Morrison, Van & The Chieftains
14. Healing Game
15. Full Force Gale
16. Warm Love
17. Did Ye Get Healed
18. Tupelo Honey
19. Wonderful Remark

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000WAEK04/?tag=imwan-21

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And the UK limited 3-CD Deluxe Edition contains 51 tracks!

Disc: 1
1. Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)
2. Dweller On The Threshold
3. Whenever Gos Shine His Light - Morrison, Van & Cliff Richard
4. Moondance
5. Bright Side Of The Road
6. Brown Eyed Girl
7. Wavelength
8. Crazy Love
9. Someone Like You
10. When Will I Ever Learn To Live In God
11. Tore Down A La Rimbaud
12. Wild Night
13. Gloria - Them (1)
14. Real Real Gone
15. Into The Mystic
16. In The Garden
17. Saint Dominic's Preview
18. Stranded

Disc: 2
1. Precious Time
2. Domino
3. Here Comes The Night - Them (1)
4. Little Village
5. And It Stoned Me
6. Days Like This
7. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
8. Cleaning Windows
9. Baby Please Don't Go - Them (1)
10. Back On Top
11. Vanlose Stairway
12. Celtic New Year
13. Irish Heartbeat - Morrison, Van & The Chieftains
14. Healing Game
15. Full Force Gale
16. Warm Love
17. Did Ye Get Healed
18. Tupelo Honey
19. Wonderful Remark

Disc: 3
1. Hey Mr DJ
2. In The Forest
3. Queen Of The Slipstream
4. Rave On John Donne
5. Hymns To The Silence
6. Crazy Jane On God - Morrison, Van & Moving Hearts
7. Rough God Goes Riding
8. Steal My Heart Away
9. One Irish Rover
10. Listen To The Lion
11. Streets Of Arklow
12. Beauty Of Days Goes By
13. Take It Where You Find It
14. Coney Island

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000WAEK0E/?tag=imwan-21

Still no "Blue Money". He must hate that song and doesn't want it on the collections. Can't complain about the rest, though.

Is this a comprehensive overview of Van the Man's work?? I've never really gotten Van Morrison - his voice grates on me - but maybe if this was a decent sounding, comprehensive set, I might take the plunge and give him a try anyway.

I never thought I'd ever buy a Dylan album, but I did get his Essential set from Sony because I do like "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and he is...Dylan.

Of the numerous comps-this is by far the best and I will purchase this as I'm not a big enough fan to only anymore than the few albums I already have, of which "Avalon Sunset" is my favorite.

If you're not that big a fan of Van Morrison, go for the two albums he recorded with Them (include the original "Gloria") and his first solo album for Bang, "Van Morrison Blows Your Mind".

I wish someone other than Van worked on the track listing.

The third disc in particular is a wasted opportunity:

None of these 3 below need be on collection (even though Lions is somewhat of a classic) These 3 total over 30 minutes of the cd at the expense of many, many worthy choices.

Rave On John Donne
Hymns To The Silence
Listen To The Lion

None of these are worthy at the expense of so many great songs as well:

Crazy Jane On God
Rough God Goes Riding
One Irish Rover
Streets Of Arklow
Coney Island

It was bad enough that Coney Island was on the Best of 2, but again?

Van had many songs ("leftovers" ) included in is collection the Philospher's Stone and yet Crazy Jane On God is the one included here???

The first two discs include many necessary and obvious choices, an odd sequence and some decent and strong songs not included on previous collections. Though it's a crime that "Caravan" isn't included especially over Here come the night or Little Village.

With so many albums and so many great songs, no one collection can do it all, but that third disc is really a wasted opportunity (though it has a few really good ones)

So THAT's why they deleted "The Best Of Van Morrison"....

Great tracklisting, but they' should've included "Sweet Thing".

Amazon.com just cancelled my pre-order of the 3 disc version. They said they are not able to get the item.

Hmm..... it appears that the US version will now just be a one-disc, 21 track set.

1. Gloria
2. Here Comes the Night
3. Brown Eyed Girl
4. Moondance
5. Crazy Love
6. Domino
7. Wild Night
8. Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)
9. Warm Love
10. Wavelength
11. Bright Side of the Road
12. Dweller on the Threshold [Live]
13. Tore Down a La Rimbaud
14. In the Garden
15. Someone Like You
16. Have I Told You Lately
17. Real Real Gone
18. Days Like This
19. Healing Game [Alternate Version]
20. Precious Time
21. Stranded

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VWYNOG/?tag=imwan-20

Although it looks like the international release will still be a 2-disc set....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000WAEK04/?tag=imwan-21

(although Amazon US no longer has any import versions listed.....)


Maybe with the remastered album releases for next year; they've decided that they want everyone go and buy the individual releases rather than being able to get most of their favourites on the one compilation....?

I think anybody just starting to collect Van Morrison should start with Astral Weeks and Moondance, and go from there. If you don't get into either of those, you probably won't find much else to like.

Is there info on remastered releases? The Universal ones were remastered in the late 90s (though not all available in the US) but Warner still sells the crappy 1980's era cds (not even rereleased with better packaging).

Sorry about that, DanO. The lead-up to this release was a real mess of conflicting, cancelled and erroneous listings everywhere, unfortunately. I'm still not sure why the expanded editions weren't released here in the States, or at the very least why they weren't imported. But the two and three disc collections did finally come out in the UK, and I've updated the first post of this thread with current links to all the listing pages.

Morrison had 11 charted hits, only seven of which appear on this collection (the 2-CD version, that is -- the single-disc has even less). Yet another wasted opportunity. I will wait, patiently, until they get it right.

Morrison had 11 charted hits, only seven of which appear on this collection (the 2-CD version, that is -- the single-disc has even less). Yet another wasted opportunity. I will wait, patiently, until they get it right.



Yes, amazing songs like Come Running, Tupelo Honey and Blue Money are absent as well as songs that bubbled under like Ro Ro Rosey (#107, 1967), (Straight To Your Heart) Like A Cannonball (#119, 1972) and especially Gypsy (#101, 1973). They did get a few bubbling under tunes on there like Torn Down a La Rimbaud (#101, 1985) and Bright Side Of The Road (#110, 1979), so I am surprised at that much.
Also, where were radio hits like Why Must I Always Explain and Whenever God Shines His Light?
Yet another blown chance-yet, I bought it because it was the best single disc comp out there, had nice cover art, included recent material and it was 7.99.
They'll never get a Van comp right!
P.S.
Ven-we would've been in Alaska today had things gone right. Our anniversary is tomorrow and she actually agreed to go after all-but money was too tight-watch for us next November though-I'll let you know! I'll be thinking of you as I watch the Great Alaska Shootout this week.

I know for a fact that Van himself had final say over the track line-up of this comp. He insisted that some more recent material be included, because he doesn't want to be viewed as an oldies act.

As far as I know Van picked the tracks for this and the previous Best Ofs.

The 1990 Best Of is a little bit better in song selection. One disc even in 1990 wasn't enough to do him justice, that's why I consider any collection to be merely a Van Morrison sampler. The newer tracks included on this comp are good and worthy of a collection, but he really needs at the very least two 2 disc collections. And create a best of the Them/Browned Girl collection for itself so that these collections could be more concise Warner/Universal collections without wasting space on these widely available songs.

For what it's worth, we're having some really weird weather up here right now. After going through a cold snap and receiving over a foot of snow, it's now in the mid 40s and rainy -- the snow is melting, and the streets are all slushy. Probably not the best time to be here. I'll keep my fingers crossed that next November brings the usual Christmas-card scenery!