75 Van Songs is a book that celebrates the work of Van Morrison in a milestone year. Belfast author Stuart Bailie (NME, Mojo, Uncut) has picked 75 songs from that rich source. His book is about the stories that emerge from those creations. It’s an invitation to go to the street, the hollow, the park, the river and the mystic avenue. The songs return you to the love, the blues, the philosophies, the rapture and the falling rain.

There are many Van Morrison biographies out there and this is not another one. Rather, this book is about relating to the 75 songs and what they tell us about the landscapes of Belfast, about social change, musical wellsprings and great excursions into nature. Van songs have an immense power to release emotion, sentiment and a sense of place. Stuart Bailie is hugely respectful of that work and this book is a personal, unauthorised response – his own venture into the music.