Nov 15 2008
Van Morrison
Picture by Leo Reynolds
I’ve been listening to Van Morrison for days now. He’s someone I had somehow ignored so far in my 25 years of listening and collecting music. In the 80s, when my listening habits were formed, Van was on a path that wasn’t very likable musically - his voice losing its elasticity, his music harsher and more judgmental of an incomprehending audience than ever before.
Only I didn’t know the ‘before.’ Having no older siblings, Van Morrison wasn’t really someone I knew about or chose to discover for myself.
Now I’m 38 and a conversation related to Kevin Rowland & Dexys Midnight Runners (a band I like very much and who, I realize now, tried to channel Morrison’s 70s blue-eyed soul magic) led me to take another look.
And what a great discovery he is. I’m listening to the first 5 or 6 records, and they’re all great - revelatory, powerful, focused, subtle, elegant and, above all, deeply musical.
Interesting. I noticed your FB status quotations after reading this article and wanting to listen to Astral Weeks, digital copy of which went bust in a computer crash two months ago. Sigh. Only have that old, bad greatest hits and No guru…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/nov/02/vanmorrison-popandrock