Van Morrison Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge 2025

Van just keeps cranking them out. This one is mostly blues covers with four Morrison originals, including the title track. There's twenty tracks, and while most of them are good, 80 minutes is too long. You can see it as value for your dollar, or you might think Van needs a producer that would cut the chaff. I'm leaning towards the later opinion.

At 81, Morrison is in excellent voice. He has a highly skilled band behind him as usual, and there are several guests, including Elvin Bishop, Taj Mahal, and Buddy Guy.

Tempos are perhaps too similar throughout. But then there's an unusually slow version of Fats Domino's Ain't That A Shame that transforms the song in an interesting way. 

Song selection is just fine. It's a who's who of classic blues composers.

Taj Mahal plays harmonica and sings along on four tracks. He's good, and a better harmonica player than Van. Elvin Bishop plays guitar on five songs, and he's a hot guitarist, but Anthony Paule in Morison's band is no slouch and plays plenty of good leads. Bishop's fills and leads on Loving Memories and You're The One are pretty special. John Allair plays Hammond organ and piano throughout, and also gives a featured boogie-woogie piano break on his own (Go To The) High Place In Your Mind. 

But the guest star that makes the most impact is Buddy Guy on the last two tracks. Guy's idiosyncratic guitar playing is nothing short of amazing, and the two tracks he plays on own the record.

So I could do with 4 or 5 less songs, as several seem interchangeable, and eighty minutes is too long. It could have been compressed into a stone classic. With too many songs, it plays like the 30th anniversary version with the songs that were rightfully cut added to a perfectly fine record. As it is, it's good. 

Best of 2025

 

Galactic and Irma Thomas Audience with the Queen. My #1. (The rest are in no particular order.). Irma Thomas continues to produce one late-career masterpiece after another. After The Rain 2006, Simply Grand 2008, Love Is The Foundation 2020, and now Audience with the Queen. Galactic shines with songs, arrangements and knockout playing.

Sloan Based On The Best Seller. Canadian pop-rockers continue a hot streak. 

Ricky Byrd NYC Made. Veteran rocker and long-time Blackheart makes a great record. It doesn't need to be complicated, it's rock 'n' roll.

Gyasi Here Comes The Good Part. Bowie/Bolan hybrid brings back the 1970s without stealing every riff. Great songs, solid musicianship, right attitude.

London Suede Antidepressants. Since their return in 2013, London Suede has made five well-received records. Glam is not dead. See Gyasi above.

Wet Leg Moisturizer. A big step forward from their solid debut, and a fine record all around.

Haim I Quit. Another big leap forward from their previous work, See Wet Leg above.

Van Morrison Remembering Now. Van returns to greatness. Shockingly good after several years of real junk. Remarkable recovery, and way unexpected.

Mavis Staples Sad and Beautiful World. Mavis never shies away from politics, protest or faith. A great song selection, lots of reverent guests, and Staples' magnificent, weathered voice. Revel in her very deep and spiritual soul.

Peter Holsapple The Face of 68. Holsapple has been a part of much great music. In the dBs, as a touring pro with REM and Hootie and the Blowfish, in the Continental Drifters, with Chris Stamey as a duo, and on his solo records, Out of My Way in 1997, and Game Day in 2018. He puts it all together on this new one.

Honorable Mention Just Part of the Whole Release: David Bowie Montreux Jazz Festival. This 2002 concert recording was broadcast on radio and unofficial versions have been around. Technically it isn't a new release of its own, but it is two of the CDs in the 13 CD I Can't Give Everything Away (2002-2016) box set. The tour was promoting Heathen, so eight of the twelve songs from Heathen are included, and the live versions beat the studio ones. Well chosen career highlights fill the rest. But wait, there's more, for the final encore, Bowie and the band play all of Low. It is a monster show. The set is available for streaming.

Honorable Mention Reissue/Compilation: Fleetwood Mac Like Crying: The Songs of Danny Kirwin. Every song Kirwin wrote for Fleetwood Mac and released on Then Play On, Kiln House, Future Games, and Bare Trees in chronological order. Kirwin's songwriting, guitar and singing during Fleetwood Mac's most oft-neglected period. Kirwin's songs were balanced with those of Christine McVie and Bob Welsh. Isolating Kirwin's songs is a lovely exercise. Digital only release, at least for now.

Van Morrison Remembering Now 2025 ...and Them 1964-1967

Van Morrison's latest is getting mostly excellent press, with several reviewers saying it's his best in three decades. I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, not because it isn't darn good, but because the last thirty years, while inconsistent, have given us several really good ones. How Long Has This Been Going On 1995, What's Wrong With This Picture? 2003, Down The Road 2002, Keep It Simple 2008, and You're Driving Me Crazy 2018 were all good Van Morrison records, and a few others came close. But since 2020, he's given us five records that range from dull to god-awful. His two lock down bitch sessions, a skiffle outing, an oldies covers record, and a back-catalog retread have kept this decade mostly disappointing.

And so Remembering Now is a strong return to form. He's never going to make music like he made in the 1970s again, and that seems an unreasonable expectation from anyone turning 80. But he still sings with soul and verve, and he's written mostly better songs this time around. The band has been around a while, and they are good. He tends to make long records, and if he'd edited out maybe three of them, it might approach perfection. You can read more detailed reviews elsewhere, but suffice it to say that if you gave up on Van Morrison a while back, now might be a good time to check out his new one.

So now lets check out Van in his youth with Them. Them made two LPs with Morrison, and this 3 CD collection The Complete Them 1964-1967 from 2015 includes those LPs, plus singles and b-sides and demos and first takes and pretty much everything that was worthy of release. And somewhat remarkably, almost everything here is worthy of release, and worth your time to hear it. Them was a blues-based rock outfit that most closely resembled The Animals in sound, although Morrison's voice and Eric Burden's are different, Morrison with a higher register than Burden, but both bluesy and soulful. 

Of course the few hits they had (Baby Please Don't Go, Here Comes The Night, Mystic Eyes) are here, and so is Gloria (a hit for The Shadows of Knight in the US). But there's a lot of fine performances, both from Morrison's pen as well as blues chestnuts Stormy Monday, Route 66, Turn On Your Lovelight, and I Put A Spell On You. The third disc is not essential, with it's demos and alternate takes, but there's six live tracks from BBC radio that are pretty cool. They had a good reputation as a live act. It could have been an excellent 2 CD set, but you really can't blame them for collecting it all in one place, and Van Morrison completists are surely happy. There's a detailed review at Everybody's Dummy here.

I also recently realized that in my quest to review all of Van Morrison's work, I skipped the work he did for Bang Records after Them and before Astral Weeks. Originally released as Blowin' Your Mind 1967, and later as T.B. Sheets and under several different names and with different song selections, I'll be brief. You can get Brown-Eyed Girl lots of other places, and unless you just have to have everything, the rest of the songs are unimportant and inferior to the work he would start to do immediately thereafter. 

Van Morrison Live At Orangefield 2024, New Arrangements and Duets 2024

I'm having a real problem keeping up with Van Morrison. Every decade since the 70s, he has released 9 or 10 (that's not guessing, it's accurate) new records. Now in the 2020s, only five years in, he's released 8 records already, and another is due in June 2025. The guy is 79 years old, and clearly won't slow down. I have managed to write about each of them in my Van Morrison series, which you can read here. 

Van Morrison has made several rock solid live records. Live at Austin City Limits Festival 2006 was good, and his live reimagining of Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl in 2009 was a blast. It's Too Late to Stop Now 1974 is just one of the best live records ever, and A Night In San Francisco 1994 was a brilliant reworking of his sleepy 80s catalog into funky R&B, and great.

So now comes Live At Orangefield 2024, documenting his live performance at his old secondary school just before it closed in 2014. It is a good selection of songs, and Van certainly seems motivated to perform in the place he gave his first live performance ever as a young school lad in a skiffle group. He can still sing today, so he certainly could do so in 2014. The band is the solid group he'd been touring with for a while, and Dave Keary shines on guitar throughout as do Paul Moran on keys and Alistair White and Chris White on horns. 

There's no surprises, but it is enjoyable almost throughout. Cleaning Windows, Moondance, Precious Time, Real Real Gone, Rough God Goes Riding, they all sound very good. The record ends by fading out during In The Garden as the "no guru, no method, no teacher" chorus is still going on. Why? Maybe he was about to walk off and let the band finish, well then lets hear that. It's not that big of a deal, but it's irritating. They could have left out the spoken word On Hyndford Street, which the crowd loves because he name checks locations throughout Belfast, but for the rest of us, it's the least interesting thing here. So it's a good one but not great one. More on that later.

Also in 2024, we get New Arrangements and Duets, an oddball mix of nine older songs rearranged and six duets, all of which were recorded between 2014 and 2019. About half of it is quite good, some is good enough, and two songs are particularly wrong. So it's a good one but not great one. More on that later.

The highlights: Kurt Elling duetting on Ain't Gonna Moan No More (scatting plus a great trumpet solo), a swinging version of Only A Dream, The Beauty of Days Gone By done up hot and jazzy with more great solos on sax and organ, a funky version of So Complicated that isn't much of a rearrangement from the original, and two fine duets with Willie Nelson(!) on What's Wrong With This Picture? and the lovely Steal My Heart Away, where Willie also contributes with his idiosyncratic guitar playing. 

The only real disappointments are a big band version of I'll Be Your Lover Too, which bulldozes the gentle original, and a duet with Joss Stone on Someone Like You that makes you want to hear Stone do the song without Van crowding her mostly out. The remaining unmentioned songs are all just fine, and some of the new arrangements are improvements, or at least interesting variations, on the originals. 

If you're a fan, both of these are well worth your time. I suppose thinking he's going to come up with one that matches his work in the seventies is a bit like thinking the Rolling Stones will give us another Sticky Fingers.

As for the "it's a good one but not a great one" line, I'll give a fellow blogger the last word. Wardo, an excellent music reviewer who blogs at Everybody's Dummy, left a comment on my most recent Van Morrison entry. He wrote "He keeps making competent, "not-bad" albums...  I will be very surprised if he gives us a modern masterpiece."

Van Morrison from Versatile 2017 to Accetuate The Positive 2023

It hasn't been easy keeping up with Van Morrison these last few years. He's been cranking out records like crazy. Since Roll With The Punches in 2017, he's released no less than nine records, including three in 2023.

Versatile 2017 is mostly a jazz album with a few Morrison originals that shows Van to be, well, pretty versatile. It is a solid record with plenty of jazz classics, and Van's originals fit nicely. I wasn't wowed by it, but it was enjoyable, and it pretty much lived up to the title. There are better versions of most of these chestnuts for sure, but Van certainly holds up his end quite well.

You're Driving Me Crazy and The Prophet Speaks, both from 2018, feature Joey Defrancesco's quartet with his Hammond B3 and trumpet plus guitar (Dan Wilson), drums (Michael Ode), and saxophone (Troy Roberts). Both feature Morrison originals as well as jazz and R&B compositions, and both are very good. Morrison seems thrilled/motivated by a different, and jazzier band, than his usual highly skilled accompanists. You're Driving Me Crazy has a more interesting song selection, especially the Morrison originals, all songs that had been recorded previously over the years.

2019 saw Van return to his own band for Three Cords And The Truth. The record features the bluesier side of R&B, and Van writes all the songs for the first time since Keep Me Singing in 2016 (which contained one cover song). The "three cords and the truth" quote from Harlan Howard refers to country music, but thankfully the record has nothing to do with country music. It is merely another very good record from Morrison along the lines of Magic Time 2005 or Keep It Simple 2008, both examples of Morrison's late career resurgence.

I reviewed Latest Record Project Vol. 1 2021 and What's It Gonna Take? 2022, both generally good music dragged down by Van's Covid and divorce inspired whining and bitching. I also reviewed Moving On Skiffle 2023, a relief after the previous two, but not a terribly exciting record.

And that brings us to the other two 2023 Van Morrison records. The first, which is available from Van's web site, is Beyond Words: Instrumental. Other than the pretty awful scatting that is the first song, most of the record is mildly enjoyable. An archival release of instrumentals recorded in the 1970s and 80s, it is mostly studio jams on generally minor musical statements, but it makes nice easy listening (in a good way). It is probably best left to the devoted.

And finally, there's Accentuate The Positive 2023. As with the previous skiffle outing, this one is all covers, except this time it's old time 50s rock and roll with a few country, R&B and pop tunes thrown in. I have mixed feelings about the record. The band is the usual stellar line-up that Morrison assembles, and many of them have been with him for a while now. They take the punch out of some of these oldies, but mostly they sound highly skilled and engaged in the material, and maybe even just having fun. Morrison sings these gems with reverence and genuine excitement and joy. In fact it is remarkable how well Van Morrison still sings. But it is an oldies cover record, and like most of those things, only one or two songs will compete with the originals.

I did a career overview back in 2011, and I have now reviewed or at least mentioned the fourteen records he's made since then in one or more of these Morrison related entries.

Van Morrison Moving On Skiffle 2023

Van Morrison's new record is both a welcome return to form, and a bit of a disappointment. 

The disappointment, at least for me, is that it is a skiffle record. Skiffle is a distillation of simple blues, country, and gospel traditional music played on acoustic, often homemade instruments, and wildly popular for a relatively brief period in the UK of the 1950s, Morrison's childhood.

But that's about the only thing wrong with it. Morrison adds piano, organ, drums, as well as harmonica and sax to the simple acoustic guitar and washboard percussion of the classic skiffle sound. This certainly fattens up these simple tunes, and makes the form at least somewhat more interesting. Morrison did a live record with Lonnie Donegan back in 2000 that stuck to the skiffle tradition, and this is way better than that one.

And Van Morrison is obviously delighted by these tunes, and he sings the heck out of them. His voice and it's application have lost nothing, and at 77, he can sing as well as ever, which is pretty remarkable. 

It is notable that since these are all covers, this also means that the political tirades of his last two records are absent from this outing, and that makes it a welcome respite.

The band cooks, but only so much, because this isn't rock and roll, it's skiffle, and the form is by it's nature pretty limited. The arrangements and the band improve on skiffle, even while the simplicity remains intact, so it remains a skiffle record, even with the updates to the style. And Van sounds happy singing these tunes from his childhood, and he sings them as well as we could expect. His voice sounds great.

Is it a welcome break from his last two? You bet it is. Is it essential Van Morrison? Not even close, but it is good, especially given the limitations of the style.

Van Morrison What's It Gonna Take? 2022

 

So let's say you come over to my place and sit in the good seat and I play you some of the new Van Morrison record. And after five songs you think, well, this isn't too bad. Maybe not his best work, but OK for an old guy making his 43rd studio album. Absolutely Positively The Most isn't bad, a quasi-spiritual tune that sneaks in a single reference to lock down. I Ain't No Celebrity and Stage Name are both just OK, but Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas and Pretending are actually pretty good ones from Van The Man. But those are the last five tracks, and the ten before those are all Van ranting about lock down, the government is lying (and the media, too), etc. etc. blah blah blah. Even if you agree with his politics, it's a difficult listen at best. I mean, in the past when Van would go on about the music business treating him so badly (his net worth is only 90 million), it got old, but it was only one song per record.

The good news is that the music is at least as good as Van's recent better work. Roll With The Punches, The Prophet Speaks, and Three Chords And The Truth were all pretty good, and musically similar to this, and Van is singing fine. But the lyrical content is just him ranting like the anti-vax, paranoid, I have to get out and play millionaire whiner that he has become. I enjoyed Van Morrison's work throughout his career, and stuck with him even through the lesser records. But this one is even worse than Latest Record Project Volume 1. Maybe not really worse- the ratio of decent songs that aren't ranting is about the same, but that was two CDs, and this is just one CD, so there's less redemption here.

Music is OK, singing is good, and again, the best way to enjoy this one is by being unfamiliar with the English language so you don't realize how much garbage he's spewing. I should point out that Van Morrison has made grants to Northern Ireland musicians that lock down has hurt much more than it has hurt him, so he's not all blather, and that's admirable. But now it's time to see if he could get back to what he does well. Make music we can all enjoy, with lyrics about idyllic nature, love, and the blues, without all the ranting and raving against Robin Swann.

Van Morrison Latest Record Project Volume 1 2021

I read the early, mostly negative reviews, and I was admittedly taken aback. I'm a huge Van Morrison fan, and I've been pretty amazed and impressed with most of his work in the last 20 years. The five (five!!) albums he released between 2017 and 2019 (Roll With The Punches, Versatile, You're Driving Me Crazy, The Profit Speaks, and Three Chords And The Truth) were all above average at least, and represent a remarkably strong period.

So, here's the good news: Van Morrison can still write a good melody, or borrow a good blues riff and make it his own. He's been doing both forever, and while a lot of them sound the same, he's a talented songwriter. The band on this record is highly talented and the recording sounds good. Whoever is playing the Hammond B3 is especially skilled. The backup singers are rather forward in the mix on many songs, and they sound great. 

But here's the rub: The best way to thoroughly enjoy this record is to not understand the English language. Lyrically, Van is very upset about a lot of things these days. His wife of 25-plus years left in 2018, and he's still a mess about that, and not in just a sad way, but clearly dealing with some anger issues. He's mad at the music business. And the media in general. And psychiatrists. And Facebook. And Covid restrictions. Additionally, he thinks everyone that doesn't love him, and maybe those that do love him and thus emulate his work, are all just jealous of his enormous talent. Finally on his list of complaints, is the fact that he is the only authentic rebel left. 

And (I know, how could there be more?), Van seems to think that the music he's making now sounds so different that people don't get it, and they should realize that he's progressing and get over it. Trust me, the only thing really new about this record is how totally bat-shit crazy Van Morrison sounds when words come out of his mouth.

There's been one or two of those angry songs on many of his records over the last 30 years or so. But this one has, by my count, something like 19 of them. Holy crap, there's 28 songs on the 2-CD set, and two thirds are him whining and complaining and being paranoid. And this is only Volume 1?

With brutal editing, this could have been a pretty good single disc release. At over two hours long, it is a disaster.

Van Morrison Roll With The Punches 2017

I did a career overview of Van Morrison back in 2011. I guess I thought he was probably pretty close to done. I was wrong on that one. Since then he has released Born To Sing: No Plan B 2012, Duets: Reworking The Catalog 2015, Keep Me Singing 2016, and now this one.

Born To Sing: No Plan B was about as weak as Morrison records get. Lackluster would be gilding the lily.

Duets: Reworking The Catalog 2015 is the first Van Morrison record in almost 50 years that I didn't buy. I listened to it, and it was all the things wrong with those dreadful duets records that Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, and Ray Charles have embarrassed themselves with in their later years (Morrison himself was on the Ray Charles duets recording).

Keep Me Singing 2016 was a pretty good outing for Van. Solid backing band, mostly good songs, Van invested in the vocals. Maybe not perfect, but darn good.

And now only a year later comes Roll With The Punches. This time out Van writes only five of the fifteen tracks. Most of the rest are blues and R&B chestnuts. And when Van gets simple and bluesy, things usually go pretty well. Add to that a number of famous guests, including four Chris Farlowe vocals, five Jeff Beck blues guitar triumphs, and two visitations by old pal Georgie Fame on the Hammond B-3 and vocals, and it's hard for at least some of it not to be inspired. Most of the star action is front-loaded, but the record maintains relatively high standards even when "just the backing band" is there with Van.

Because the backing band is stellar. The core rhythm section of Mez Clough or Colin Griffin on drums, Lawence Cottle or Pete Hurley on bass, Jason Rebello or Stuart McIlroy on piano, and Dave Kearny or Ned Edwards on guitar offer excellent support, and several great solos.

Roll With The Punches is an ancient blues riff that Van appropriates and gives a fine lyric and solid vocal. Transformation is typical mid-tempo Morrison, but it gets a sublime Jeff Beck solo that takes it up several notches. The walking blues of I Can Tell from Bo Diddley's pen gets another fine Beck blues solo, and a choice Van vocal. Beck rips another blues lead on Stormy Monday/Lonely Avenue, and Chris Farlowe singing with Morrison seems to incite Van to try harder.

Georgie Fame sings and plays the B-3 on Count Basie's Goin' To Chicago, a slinky, laid back blues done small combo style. Morrison whines about being famous (again!) on Fame, but the song is saved by vocals and especially harmonica from Paul Jones. Too Much Trouble is a jazzy little number from Morrison's pen that features piano and horns from Paul Moran and Cottle. Sam Cooke's Bring It On Home To Me finds Morrison singing with perfect soul restraint, and Jeff Beck smokes the lead guitar break. Beck and Farlowe return once more on to shine on Ordinary People.

The last six songs are all covers ranging from Bo Diddley (Ride On Josephine) to Sister Rosetta Tharpe (How Far From God) to Mose Allison (Benediction). Georgie Fame helps keep Teardrops From My Eyes from becoming filler and core band members Stuart McIlroy (piano), and Ned Edward (harmonica and guitar) juice up the rest and keep the last leg of the record from stagnation, but the last third isn't really up to the first half's high bar.

Some might see this as Van generating product for it's own sake. Only five originals, and three of the covers (Bring It On Home, Stormy Monday/Lonely Avenue, Benediction) have appeared on previous releases. But this sounds to me like Van doing a blues record, and mostly getting the best of it. At age 72, Van Morrison can still sing, play and write. It is no surprise that he can build a sturdy band and attract a few stars to help out. Even if you're a choosy Van Morrison fan, I'd be surprised if you don't like this one.

Van Morrison It's Too Late To Stop Now Volumes 2, 3, 4, and DVD 2016

There are so many reasons to avoid this release, and maybe just a few to own it.

Even though I knew I was breaking several of my personal rules, I decided to give it a go. I'm not a fan of previously unreleased material. In fact, I discussed my take on this issue back here. I'm also not obsessed with hearing alternate versions of material I've already heard.

That said, I own just about everything Van Morrison ever released. I was able to keep myself from getting his 2015 Duets: Re-Working The Catalogue, as the samples led me to believe it was just as bad as most such outings. But his Too Late To Stop Now from 1974 (now referred to as Volume 1) is one of the finest live recordings ever made, both for the performances and for the sound quality.

The band is as good as they get. The core rhythm section of John Platania guitar, Jeff Labes keyboards and string arrangements, David Hayes bass, and Dave Shaw on drums is rock solid. Platania is skilled in both his rhythm playing and tasteful leads. Add to this the remarkable long-time Morrison band member Jack Schroer on sax and horn arrangements, Bill Atwood on trumpet, as well as the string section of Nathan Rubin, Tim Kovatch, and Tom Halpin on violin, Nancy Ellis on viola and Terry Adams on cello, and you have The Caledonia Soul Orchestra in all its glory. The strings add a really nice depth and touch to quite a few of Morrison's songs, and are a bit unique for 1973 to say the least. Morrison himself is in fine voice, and the band plays most of these songs in uptempo versions that are excellent.

But there's three CDs and a DVD here. The material is taken from recordings made for the original 1974 release. The three CDs and the DVD were recordings made at the Troubadour in LA, Santa Monica Civic Center, and The Rainbow Theater in London. None of the versions included here were also included on the original release. Each of the CDs was recorded at a different venue, and include songs performed during a single night, or two nights in the case of the London shows.

What do you get? There were 18 songs on the original double LP, and the remastered CD added only a fairly lame run through Brown-Eyed Girl, one of the 18 previously unreleased songs here. So why not do a two-CD deluxe version and include the 18 songs not heard before, or even a single CD/2 LP version Volume 2? I have no idea, but greed comes to mind. Over the course of the three CDs and DVD, we get 18 new songs. Some of them are pretty special (The Way Young Lovers Do, Snow In San Anselmo, Bein' Green, Hard Nose The Highway, Since I Fell For You, Moonshine Whiskey), and some were obvious choices to leave off the original release (Hey Good Lookin', Buona Sera, Brown-Eyed Girl, Everyone). Additionally, there are multiple versions here of songs that appeared on the original release, with new versions of seven songs, two new versions of three songs, and three new versions of five songs. That's a lot of stuff we've heard before, even if these are different takes. Only two of the tracks from the original release (Warm Love and St. Dominic's Preview) are not included here on either CD or DVD.

The remastered recordings are good. They are not dramatically different from the original, but they are improved.

The DVD video quality is terrible. Even though the show was broadcast on the BBC, and as such should have been around in the original film quality, this looks like a third generation video transfer to me. Fuzzy images, poor overall contrast control, and just generally crummy video. The sound is fine.

How about the book? There are two paragraphs that extol the virtues of the performances and assure us that none of the versions here were on the original release. There are songwriting and production credits. No essays, no lengthy gushing over or dissection of the material. Nada. How lame is that? Totally lame.

You gotta want it bad. Should this remain the only way to get at those 18 other songs, well, then maybe you want it. Eight or even ten of the previously unheard songs are very good. If you enjoy comparing different performances to detect the "important" differences, you'll like this, since there is plenty opportunity for that game. If you like to watch a good DVD of classic rock performances, you can forget it.

I certainly cannot recommend it, unless you're obsessive about Van Morrison. Then it probably doesn't matter what I say anyway since you already own it.

Van Morrison Back On Top 1999

This has been the best fall in Northeast Ohio in many many a season. And what that means is color. Rust, gold, orange, red, yellow, all mixed with the green hold-outs, and bright sunny days to put those colors on full display. It is a wonder more people don't just drive off the road in awe of this natural expression of God's magnificence, like Thomas Cole and Fredrick Church captured in their brilliant landscapes. Breath-taking beauty just for being on the planet with your eyes open, and a few moments to just look.

The Cleveland Museum of Art has a special exhibit on Fredrick Church's Twilight in the Wilderness that is a must to see if you're a 19th century landscape aficionado. Or if you just like art, I suppose. Go there now. It's only there until January 25, 2015, and time can slip by so easily if you don't make a point to go.

What's this got to do with Van Morrison? Well, on Back On Top, a record that clearly is undeserving of it's own title, Van came through with When The Leaves Come Falling Down, a loving ode to Fall that Van presents with a fine lyric and reverent melody. It's got that minor-key melancholy, because Fall can only lead to Winter, but right now everything is full of wonder and beauty. The song is also available on The Best Of Volume 3, or as a download on iTunes (which is still sucky mp3). Or maybe at your library.

Follow me down, follow me down, follow me down
To the place between the garden and the wall
Follow me down, follow me down
To the space between the twilight and the dawn

And as I'm looking at the colour of the leaves, in your hand
As we're listening to Chet Baker on the beach, in the sand
When the leaves come falling down,
Whoa in September, when the leaves come falling down
Oh when the leaves come falling down
Yeah in September when the leaves come falling down

Van Morrison Born To Sing: No Plan B 2012

I was suspicious from the title. What does a 66 year old millionaire need with a plan B? After 40 releases, did anyone think he wasn't born to sing? Then the CD arrives, and there's three "reviews" of the record on the first four pages of the booklet. Alarms sound.

There's some redeeming material here, but this is not one of Van's better outings. In fact it may be the weakest since Days Like This, his disappointing effort from 1995 (not counting The Skiffle Sessions 2000 and Pay The Devil 2006, both disastrous forays into non-Van music forms).

The best of the record is the first half. Open The Door (To Your Heart) is upbeat and swinging. The smooth jazz-R&B of Goin' Down To Monte Carlo is loaded with great solos from all band members, and it is hot. End Of The Rainbow is a mellow ballad with great solos on sax and trombone. And the mostly instrumental Close Enough For Jazz features more great playing from the band. Kudos to Chris White on sax and Alistair White on trombone on the entire record.

The second half slows down and drags some fairly small ideas over long stretches of music. Two of the songs are eight minutes long. Retreat And View and Born To Sing are at least OK. But the rest really drags, and the entire record suffers from weak, lazy writing from The Man himself. He has a lot to complain about: he's pissed about greed and materialism; he wants to be left alone; the little guy gets screwed. He's been here before, but it's in almost every song on this one. Even the romantic-sounding Open The Door is a rant against materialism. There's one spiritual searcher song (the terrible Mystic Of The East), and one failed attempt at a John Lee Hooker-styled blues (Pagan Heart). Dave Keary does a fine job on guitar, but Van mails in the vocal.

Four good ones, and two others worth hearing. And even then you need to ignore the lyrical content, and just listen to the music and singing. Considering some of the fine work he's done in the last twenty years, this one's a let down.

I wrote a comprehensive career overview of Van's work last year. It's here.

Van Morrison

Van Morrison is one of the artists I followed faithfully (buying everything he released as soon as it came out) over a long period of time. There are a select few such artists that get this treatment: Beatles, NRBQ, Robert Palmer, Boz Scaggs, Sons of Champlin, and a few others. More recently I've followed Gomez, Semisonic, Subdudes, Nick Lowe, and Matthew Sweet with almost as much dedication. Of course sometimes the quality of product changes dramatically and the artist no longer gets this level of treatment. This happened with Bob Dylan, Elton John, Elvis Costello and countless others.

The earliest Van Morrison records were the two records he released with Them, a blues-based rock band in the mid-sixties that sounded very much like early Animals. I've heard most of this material, but I don't own it. The first Van Morrison solo record was Blowin' Your Mind! in 1967. It included the hit Brown-Eyed Girl, but Morrison has always claimed that the songs were never intended for an album, and judging from the quality, it is hard to argue. This material has been reissued many times under several names, often including additional material that is at least as bad as the original release.

The first "real" solo outing then, Astral Weeks 1968, was a tour de force. Somehow, and the story is covered pretty well over at Wikipedia, Van was put in the studio with several jazz session men, and produced an album of acoustic folk-jazz that stands as a unique statement to this day. The delicate, improvised backing to Van's ethereal lyrics and melodies makes for a record of startling intimacy. Not a big seller, it received critical acclaim, and has taken on well-deserved mythic status over the years. All the songs are good, especially Astral Weeks, Beside You, Cyprus Avenue, The Way Young Lovers Do, and Madame George.

Next up was 1970 breakthrough Moondance. A mellow, slightly jazzy pop-rock record that made Morrison famous and garnered plenty of FM radio play, the record is a classic by anyone's definition. Infusing the folk-jazz of Astral Weeks with strong melodic songs and an R&B overtone, side one is perfection with And It Stoned Me, Moondance, Crazy Love, Caravan, and Into the Mystic.

1970 also saw His Band And The Street Choir hit the charts in November. The record featured Van's love of R&B, with simple blues and rhythm numbers featuring more simple lyrics than many expected of Van. While sometimes seen as a lesser work compared to Moondance, it has held up remarkably well over the years. The inclusion of Van's highest charting single, Domino, helped sell the record, but I've Been Working, Call Me Up in Dreamland, Blue Money, Gypsy Queen, If I Ever Needed Someone, and Street Choir are all standouts. A personal favorite.

Tupelo Honey 1971 featured a more country sound than Van had exhibited before, and is another strong record, with singles Wild Night and Tupelo Honey leading the way. The country thing would remain an anomaly for Van until the early 2000s.

1972 brought Saint Dominic's Preview, a record that still holds up today, and features examples of almost every style Morrison has worked in. The R&B of Jackie Wilson Said and the title track, the countrified soul of Redwood Tree, and the extended jam/vocal catharsis of Listen To The Lion. The lengthy workouts on Listen To The Lion and Independence Day hint at what will come in his 80s work as well as hearken back to Astral Weeks in their improvisation.

1973's Hard Nose The Highway isn't his best from this period, but the title track, Snow in San Anselmo, Warm Love, and the surprising cover of Bein' Green are all good.

In early 1974, the 2-LP live It's Too Late To Stop Now showed what Morrison and band were capable of on stage, and it deserves a place on a short list of the best live records. A set list including highlights from his recent output plus soul and R&B covers, a crack band finely honed, a small string section, and Van singing his heart out, it all comes together. It is also recorded with particular skill, and is extra special on a good stereo system.

Veedon Fleece 1974 was Morrison's next, and probably falls somewhere between Hard Nose The Highway and Saint Dominic's Preview in overall quality. The highlights include Bulbs, Cul De Sac, Linden Arden Stole the Highlights, and You Don't Pull No Punches, But You Don't Push the River. The mellow tone of the record, inspired by the Irish countryside, foretells Morrison's focus on the spiritual/natural/seeking themes that will feature in his work in the 80s.

After an unusually long hiatus from recording, Morrison returned with Period Of Transition in 1977. An apparent return to the R&B of His Band And The Street Choir, the record was widely panned, and mostly deserved the press it received. Flamingos Fly is pretty good, but most of the record seems thrown off, and it is definitely one of his weakest outings. It is one of the only times that Morrison seems quite this disinterested.

1978's Wavelength was a partial return to form of sorts, but claimed a new sound for Morrison, a more pop sounding recording featuring guitar and synthesizer high in the mix. The songs are generally good, and the record sold well on the strength of the title track single as well as Kingdom Hall, Checkin' It Out, Natalia and the extended jams of Santa Fe/Beautiful Obsession and Take It Where You Find It.

Into The Music 1979 was hailed as Morrison's best songwriting since Moondance, and it is a remarkably consistent record. The best of the record, Bright Side of the Road, Full Force Gale, You Make Me Feel So Free, and And the Healing Has Begun is testament to Morrison's skill as both writer and singer.

The 80s were a difficult time for Morrison fans, as he made a string of spiritual/seeker records that featured ultra-mellow tone poems without much of the old R&B kick that signals his best work. Long slow songs celebrating nature, countryside, poetry, love and spiritual yearning, these records just never really got it done. Common One 1980, Beautiful Vision 1982, Inarticulate Speech of the Heart 1983, Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast 1984, A Sense of Wonder 1985, No Guru, No Method, No Teacher 1986, Poetic Champions Compose 1987, Irish Heartbeat (with The Chieftains) 1988, Avalon Sunset 1989, Enlightenment 1990 and Hymns To The Silence 1991 all suffered from the same problem, that being a lack of energy. There are some fine vocal performances, and some excellent instrumental performances, but songwriting is too much the same. There are a few treasures buried here (Summertime In England, Cleaning Windows, Ivory Tower, Whenever God Shines His Light, Have I Told You Lately, Real Real Gone), but you gotta dig. The quality seems to rise near the end of the eighties, and Avalon Sunset and Hymns To The Silence are pretty good with a few more quality mid- and up-tempo songs.

Enter the 90s and it's a mixed bag of disappointing records alongside some real beauties. 1993's Too Long In Exile was well-received in the press, and it is a very strong set. A scatter-shot sort of record that takes in all styles from guest blues great John Lee Hooker on Gloria, to Yeats poetry adapted for music, and all the usual Morrison styles in between. It has it's mellow moments, but it is more balanced than his records had been in more than a decade. Darn fine, really.

In 1994 Van released A Night In San Francisco. A 2 CD affair including versions of many of his songs from the eighties mixed with blues covers and a few older songs, everything gets transformed into an R&B dream. Heading a fantastic band, and turning his entire sleepy 80s catalog into James Brown styled soul-jazz workouts with soul-shoutin' vocals and crazy medleys, it is a great record. An essential record.

If you'd never owned a Van Morrison record, and you bought 1995's Days Like This, you might think it was pretty good. But it's not. The title track isn't bad, and neither are a few others, but there is some bottom barrel stuff on this record. With Van, the songs and the lyrics need to be there. Here you get a good melody with banal lyrics, or you get decent lyrics hung on some overused cliche of a tune from years ago. There's a few too many of Van's whiny "I hate the music business" songs, too. You've been warned.

Then a sharp return to form with How Long Has This Been Going On? 1996. Starring Georgie Fame on organ and Pee Wee Ellis on sax , the record was recorded live sans audience at Ronnie Scott's Club in London. The live performance and the room's ambiance make for a great sounding record, and Van sings his heart out on mostly covers of jazz and blues standards. Van's take on That's Life is a gas, and the extended Moondance is excellent. Not a perfect record, but a fine performance by Van the singer and a tight band.

1996 also saw the arrival of Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison, credited to Van Morrison, Georgie Fame, Mose Allison and Ben Sidran. A swell idea, and Allison's songs deserve the tribute, but they also deserve better than this. Reportedly recorded in a single day, that would certainly explain the slap-dash feel of the record. It coulda been a contender... but it's not.

1997's The Healing Game was, at least for me, an astonishing return to form, and the best studio work he'd done in a very long time. Rough God Goes Riding, This Weight, Waiting Game, Burning Ground, It Once Was My Life, Sometimes We Cry, and The Healing Game all rate with Van's best songs, even if the lyrics are a little odd on a few. More than Too Long In Exile, this one feels like a record- complete with a crack band, good songs, great soulful singing from Van- and a cohesive sound. You've got to go back twenty years to hear one this good.

The Philosopher's Stone 1998 was a 2-CD collection of previously unreleased tracks and alternative versions that plays about as well as most of those things do, and that is not that well. You only need it if you're obsessed, and even then most of it is superfluous.

1999 saw Back On Top, a remarkably egotistical record title, even for Morrison, and not at all a self-fulfilling pronouncement. It has some good semi-rockers (Back On Top, Precious Time), and some fine mellow moments (When The Leaves Come Tumbling Down, Golden Autumn Day), but it's not The Healing Game. It's a pretty good one though.

2000 was an odd year, with a fun record of basic rockers and a super-terrible skiffle outing. The Skiffle Sessions-Live In Belfast 1998 is among the least interesting Van Morrison records ever. Skiffle being essentially the English folk music with a shuffle beat that was popular in the late 50s- early 60s in the UK, this record draws all the interest of a Kingston Trio reunion. Wake me up when it's over. But the same year brought the Van Morrison/Linda Gail Lewis duet record You Win Again, a delightfully simple rock and roll record that was made with Lewis's band backing. For anyone to duet with Morrison is a difficult task, but Linda Gail (Jerry Lee's little sister) rises to the task. This one sounds like Van singing along with a seasoned bar band, and that works just fine. Let's Talk About Us, You Win Again, Think Twice Before You Go, Shot of Rhythm and Blues, Cadillac and Baby (You've Got What It Takes) all stand out in a solid if somewhat basic 50s rock and roll record. Van and Linda Gail sound like they're having fun, and their vocals work well together, even if I can't quite tell you why.

Down The Road was released in 2002, and it's an unusually strong collection of songs, and a solid record with good playing. Like The Healing Game, the record has a cohesive sound, although the production and recording, not to mention the band itself, are very different from that record. Some of the songs have a country feel not unlike Van's approach on Tupelo Honey, while other songs plow the blues and R&B furrows. Highlights include Down the Road, Meet Me in the Indian Summer, Talk Is Cheap, The Beauty of the Days Gone By, Evening Shadows and Fast Train. After more recent spins and reevaluation, I've added this one to the very good pile. It might even be the last great Van Morrison record.

What's Wrong With This Picture? 2003 was a pretty good record, and was nominated for a Grammy in the Contemporary Blues Album category. Those Grammy dudes I just don't get sometimes. I'm not sure it's a blues album per se, but it's pretty good product again. Evening In June is almost worth buying the record for, but there are quite a few good songs and Van is in good voice for the most.

2005 saw Magic Time, and he scores again. At this point nobody really expects Van to make a great record, and maybe this isn't Moondance or Astral Weeks, but it's so much better than you'd expect at this point in his career. Stranded is a classic. Celtic New Year, I'm Confessin', Just Like Greta and Carry On Regardless are strong contenders.

Pay The Devil 2006 is Morrison's real country record. Twelve covers of classic country tunes and three Morrison originals. Stellar cast of musicians. I'll be brief here. It shouldn't work, and guess what, it doesn't. And he's really not a country singer, he's an R&B singer. Duh. Oddly enough, the tour to support that generally awful record produced a good live album, the 2-CD Live at Austin City Limits Festival 2006, which was sold exclusively at the now defunct official Van Morrison web site (there's a new site, but they don't sell this anymore). It's a fine career overview, taking in highlights from almost all eras. The band is hot, and Van is in fine form. Go figure.

2008 brought Keep It Simple, and this time the title prophecy holds up, and Van delivers his third or fourth killer record in ten years. It's a straightforward blues/folk/soul record, and I could mention some songs, but it is another high water mark for the man.

Which brings us to Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl 2009. Full circle. This recent re-recording of Astral Weeks is quite an event among Van Morrison fans, and received a fair amount of press upon release. It may be too much for casual listeners, but if you've been listening to Astral Weeks for the last 40 years, it is irresistible. And lovely, really, in that Van does not cover his early album, but reimagines it, with the songs performed in a new order and with new arrangement twists.

There have of course been several best-of collections. For the casual fan, the first Best Of Van Morrison 1990 is a good single CD choice. Best Of Volume Two 1993 is a different beast, drawn mostly from his eighties albums. It plays better than any of those single albums did, but it is not the hits collection that the original Best Of is. Best Of Volume Three 2007 is a 2 CD affair with one-off guest spots and sountrack songs mixed with some live material and a few good ones that didn't make the first two. It's good.

Recently (2007) Van Morrison at the Movies - Soundtrack Hits was released, and it's all over the map, but contains a few versions available nowhere else, and Still on Top - The Greatest Hits, which was released in 1, 2 and 3 CD versions, with most of the songs remastered. Sometimes remastering is a good thing. I haven't heard it, but the song selection is good.

Much of Morrison's output is available in new vinyl, including several of the more resent issues. Check your retailer.

Essentials: Astral Weeks, Moondance, His Band And The Street Choir, It's Too Late To Stop Now, A Night In San Fransisco

Good Ones: St. Dominic's Preview, Veedon Fleece, Into The Music, Avalon Sunset, Too Long In Exile, How Long Has This Been Going On?, The Healing Game, You Win Again, Down The Road, Magic Time, Keep It Simple, Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl

Avoid like the plague: Blowin' Your Mind, A Period Of Transition, The Skiffle Sessions, Pay The Devil