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Posted by on May 10, 2015 in 100 Essential Albums, Blog, Music and Concert Reviews | 2 comments

“Duets: Re-working the Catalogue” by Van Morrison (Music Review)

 

Van_Morrison_Duets

 

Van Morrison quit caring about the music business or record sales nearly a half-century ago.  Consider that this is a man who didn’t even bother to show up for his own induction into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

 

For most fabled singer-songwriters, duet compilations are typically the last oil change before the wheels finally fall off the old clunker and the engine blows up.  They’re typically lame excuses for disconnected musical has-beens to cling together one final time and maybe even squeeze out a fluffy farewell nostalgia tour, perhaps even earning a few bucks merchandising to what dregs remain of the steadily-diminishing record-buying consumer market.

Van Morrison quit caring about the music business or record sales nearly a half-century ago.  Consider that this is a man who didn’t even bother to show up for his own induction into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, back in 1993 (to be fair, he did turn up and also performed live at the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction alongside his idol Ray Charles, which he considered far more meaningful).  His cantankerous nature, including run-ins with record companies and executives, studio engineers, concert promoters, fellow bandsmen, members of the media, ex-wives, and girlfriends, and even his own fans reveal an appalling decent towards self-imposed alienation, especially for such an internationally apotheosized icon, earning him a well-earned reputation as one of pop music’s most onerous personalities.  Indeed, the only thing Morrison despises more than granting media interviews is typically enduring the interviewers themselves, even when they’re from widely-respected trade outlets.  He once cut off a well-known music critic in mid-sentence, curtly insisting “your 30 minutes are up — goodbye.”

Then, there’s Van — the performer.  Often awkward while performing onstage and customarily unwilling to engage his audiences, but also admittedly shy and uncomfortable while in public, Morrison’s live concerts can be spectacularly unpredictable and mind-bogglingly dreadful, especially given the lofty expectations buoyed by such a stellar catalog that’s been written and produced over five amazing decades and a vast array of different styles of music (including rock, jazz, blues, classical, folk, skiffle, and country), his employment of diverse instrumentation, and often biographic lyrics of sheer poetry incorporated into the Northern Irish singer’s very best songs, so often impossible to categorize into any specific musical genre.  Most recently, he’s given an erratic series of live performances, based primarily around his home in Belfast and combined with the occasional tour date out on the road somewhere.  Those performances have ranged from terrible to brilliant, depending on what night it is, how Morrison happens to be feeling at that moment, and simply the luck of the draw.  With few exceptions, at least his studio recordings have been far more reliable over the course of his career.

The uncompromising Morrison has never willingly played by the rules because in music he’s convinced there aren’t any, and what rules once did exist were violated by just about everyone else he’s worked with, especially when it comes to the business side of things and cutting up the spoils of creativity.  Screwed over by all but a few trusted loyalists (in his mind), and admittedly incompetent when it comes to handling his own financial affairs, Morrison has been on the verge of ruin more than a few times, although never due to personal excess.  He’s been involved in legal tugs-of-war over royalties and profits ever since his earliest days with the Belfast-based R&B group Them, which put the introspective frontman on the rock n’ roll map and spawned Morrison’s first hit single, “Gloria,” released in 1964, followed by “Baby, Please Don’t Go,” which came out a year later.

Since Morrison went solo, signing with Bang Records in 1967, those raw and gritty New York recording sessions which produced his first solo hit, the overblown “Brown-Eye Girl” followed by the classic rock album Astral Weeks, he’s arguably released as much great music as anyone in popular music history — including a whopping 47 live and studio albums (not counting bootlegs) and more than 360 original songs, including 19 movie soundtracks.  Sadly, his best material which was written and produced during the latter half of his career (1990 to present) didn’t sell nearly as well as the creative output of his commercial heyday between 1968 and 1978, when Morrison pumped out 11 studio albums and increasingly became the favorite of music critics, on par with his contemporary Bob Dylan in reverence as a solo artist and original songwriter, as well as a notorious malcontent.

On this, his latest studio release, fortunately, Morrison elected to forgo what probably would have been the far more commercially appealing option of re-working many of his old hits.  Titled “Duets:  Reworking the Catalogue,” the two-album set debuted a few weeks ago and is now receiving widely favorable reviews.  True to his unique style and admitted discontentment as a stage performer, Morrison plucked some of his best lesser-known compositions, engaging co-performers he was comfortable working with, which turns out to be a short but exceptionally talented list worthy of the privilege of recording with “Van the Man.”  Collaborators on the 16-song playlist include — Michael Bublé, Bobby Womack, Steve Winwood, Mark Knopfler, Mavis Staples, Natalie Cole, Joss Stone, Taj Mahal, George Benson, Mick Hucknall, P.J. Proby, Clare Teal, Gregory Porter, Georgie Fame, Chris Farlowe, and Shana Morrison (Van’s daughter).

There aren’t any singles on the duet list which will become a soundtrack to our lives, although the album did chart as high as number five in the U.K.  This isn’t a flashy new suit so much as a comfy old sweater, fresh back from the dry cleaners.  Once again, Morrison seems to be doing what he wants and enjoys, disregarding the cozy comfort zones and fan expectations which makes so much new music dreadfully tedious and repetitive.  One reason why Morrison’s songwriting appears every bit as strong now at age 69 as back when he had long reddish hair and wore tight pants onstage is an intransigent attitude and constant self-awareness that it’s always been about the music, and nothing else — not the fans, not the money, not the fame, not the sold-out concerts, not the recognition, not the critics, and certainly not the pitfalls which accompany being an idol.  Alas, it’s the music, and the love thereof, which keeps Morrison pumping out new (and occasionally refurbished material, in this case) with the same regularity as high-energy breakout bands still in their 20s.  It’s the music that makes the clumsily shy stage performer continue to tour and do live shows, sometimes as hotel ballrooms in his native Ireland which are small, intimate gatherings, devoid of much in terms of profit.  It’s also the music that makes just about any other artist eager and willing to appear with Morrison, the fruit of which is born in Duets.

One suspects that given his 47 albums within the last 50 years, Morrison won’t be sitting around, or doing Las Vegas shows soon performing all the old hits to fans who want a tour down memory lane.  More than likely, he’s already writing and recording his next project.  If Morrison’s crabby nature and lack of hit singles in recent years haven’t already made you forget him as a pop figure who’s worthy of listening to, then his continuing endurance as a creative force should deserve some kind of collective mass reevaluation.  Face it.  There aren’t many artists who have been steadily pumping out exceptional material for so long, nor anyone who seems to care less about all the trappings of fame.  As the biographical title of one of Morrison’s recent albums suggests, he was “Born to Sing:  No Plan B.” 

That’s it, Van.  Just stick with “Plan A.”  You’re doing fine.

READ MORE AND ORDER AT AMAZON:  LINK HERE 

Van Morrison at Wally Heider Recording Studio

 

MORE INFORMATION:

Rolling Stone magazine ranked Van Morrison as #42 on the list of greatest artists:  LINK

Van Morrison’s extended musical career is impossible to bookend, but here are three very different tracks from various stages of recording and live performing.  The first song titled “TB Sheets” is from Morrison’s first studio solo album, an obscure blues song that shows the unconventional characteristic associated with many of his vocals.  The second selection is a version of “The Healing Game,” a live performance from only a few years ago.  The last song is a gorgeous composition from “The Philosopher’s Stone,” one of my favorite Morrison albums and the perfect road song, as this video shows.  None of these songs were hits, but they do reveal that often the best music by the best artists isn’t at the top of the charts.  This seems to also be the objective of “Duets.”

TAG: Van Morrison Master Class (series)

2 Comments

  1. The thing about Philosopher’s Stone is that I’ve had it since its release and I can’t tell you how many people have commented on it when I have it in the car about just how good that album is and how they had never heard of it let alone heard it. You are correct in that this is one of his best albums ever and one that most people outside of his most loyal fans have never heard of.

  2. Right on Nolan.. van is something else… Not to bore you but I sing sometimes…and one of my favorts is Shenandoah as beautiful a song as there is.. the history of it , the Indians , the river, the west.. Larry ‘chief eagle flying’ woods said to me my skin is white but my heart is red. If you got a minute listen to van singing Shenandoah on u tube. doc

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