Easily one of the most mercurial legacy artists, Van Morrison remains the curmudgeon when performing live, occasionally letting glimpses of his Celtic magic emerge through the mist of a rather mercenary approach to the music business.
Granted, he was ripped off in his early days, and responded with an album’s worth of near-gibberish to fulfill a contractual obligation with Bang Records (home of his break-through “Brown-Eyed Girl” hit). That release, unfortunately, comes to mind with this album offering. Indeed, I will similarly take a shortcut in my review by providing an exchange with my brother and a buddy, all diehard Van Morrison fans, about this collection of wordless songs.
Me: It seems like Van is going through the motions, as he infamously did to get out of a contractual requirement back in the day. In fact, the first track sounds a lot like those burps and stomach noises from that earlier album. Other tracks sound like he just let the band noodle around in the studio one afternoon. He occasionally comes in and squawks on the saxophone or harmonica. A couple tracks are pleasant enough, but is this really the same guy who gave us the genius of all those middle period albums?
Glenn: Am I sensing you’re a little down on Van. And just think. You never had to pay the $150 to go see him and keep track of the time with clock off to the side.
Me: [My wife] Joy did, when she took me to NYC to see Solomon Burke open for him at the Felt Forum. But yes, I have been pretty lucky on the price point issue. Folks still shell out to see him, hoping for a glimpse of the Celtic magic. Any sign of it does get clouded when you know about him being chauffeured from the side of the stage while his band is allowed to jam a couple extra minutes….which is what Judd and I saw when he invited me up to Napa.
Glenn: With the clock ticking ?
Me: Yes, you had alerted us thereto when you saw him in Minneapolis and there it was, counting down from 60 in red digital display that was readily visible to many of us.
Glenn: That’s where I could see you negotiating on behalf of venue. Clock pauses if Van is not visible to 88% of audience and if not singing nor saxing counts 50% towards time quota
Me: Exactly. And I am now at the 14th song, which is actually quite good. But it is a cover of what was already an instrumental! And he renamed it “Far North” for this outing. The original was called “Scandanavia” on his epic Beautiful Vision album.
Judd: I said to my kids years ago, when I am on my dying bed, put on some Van Morrison for my last few hours.
Me: I agree, just be sure it is not any of his latest albums!
(photos by Brad Auerbach)
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