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Van Morrison
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George Ivan Morrison OBE (generally known as Van Morrison) (born August 31, 1945) is a Grammy Award-winning Irish singer, songwriter, author, poet and multi-instrumentalist, who has been a professional musician since the late 1950s. He plays a variety of instruments, including the guitar, harmonica, keyboards, drums, and saxophone. Featuring his characteristic growl ? a unique mix of folk, blues, Irish, scat, and Celtic influences ? Morrison is widely considered one of the most unusual and influential vocalists in the history of rock and roll. [1][2][3] Critic Greil Marcus has gone so far as to say that "no white man sings like Van Morrison."
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For 40 years, Van Morrison has continued to be an important and vibrant artist. He has never rested on his laurels when he easily could have with such important albums as Astral Weeks (1968), Moondance (1970), Tupelo Honey (1971) Irish Heartbeat (1988), right up to the critically acclaimed Magic Time (2005). Pay The Devil is another shining example of an artist following his muse and being as vital today as he was when he began.
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If you listen to this show back-to-back with Van Morrison’s 1978 Bottom Line show, you will have as close to a greatest hits live performance recording as one can expect from the acclaimed Irish singer/songwriter. Recorded in the fall of 1979, when Morrison was approaching the tail end of his most creatively fertile time as a musician, this show exudes the pure joy found in so much of his music.
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Born George Ivan Morrison on August 31, 1945, in Belfast, Ireland, Van Morrison joined his first band, the Monarchs, when he was 15. In 1964 he formed the raw garage rock group Them and scored a number of hits on the U.K. charts, including "Here Comes the Night" and "Gloria," before Morrison quit the group in 1966. He released his first single as a solo artist in '67, "Brown Eyed Girl," which became a Top 10 hit in the U.S. His second solo album, Astral Weeks (1968), a mixture of soul, folk, blues, jazz and Celtic influences, is consistently listed among the greatest albums ever recorded and marked Morrison's evolution away from pop songwriter to freeform Dylan-esque lyricist. During his career, Morrison has produced close to an album a year, his most recent being Down the Road (2002) and What's Wrong With This Picture? (2003).
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Those who have been following Van Morrison for years might praise him for his remarkable range in taking this turn down a country road. Recent years have seen Morrison cover the musical waterfront with recordings that touch upon traditional Irish music, jazz, skiffle and other musical forms that move him. But the secret of Morrison’s ongoing artistic success is that he has never followed fashion in the slightest. Rather he continues to be a working musician who simply follows his own soulful muse wherever it may lead him. This dogged individuality has been true of Van Morrison straight down the line – from his days leading the Irish group Them back in the Sixties, to his early solo days of “Brown Eye Girl” and “T.B. Sheets” to such late Sixties and Seventies masterpieces as Astral Weeks (1968), Moondance (1970) and Tupelo Honey (1971) to more recent classic albums like Irish Heartbeat (Morrison’s stunning 1988 collaboration with the Chieftains), Avalon Sunset (1989), Enlightenment (1990), The Healing Game (1997) and Magic Time (2005).
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As the '90s unfolded, a new groundswell of appreciation for Van Morrison's work became apparent. The Best Of Van Morrison, a collection of the singer's work since his Them days, became only his second platinum album since 1970's Moondance; it has stayed on the album charts largely since its initial release. Additionally, 1991's 2-CD Hymns To The Silence went gold; aside from the preceding year's compilation, the singer hadn't had a gold record since 1971's Tupelo Honey. Polydor released The Best Of Van Morrison, Vol 2 in 1993, then quickly followed it up the singer's fascinating Too Long In Exile. Featuring a guest appearance by longtime Morrison friend and bluesman John Lee Hooker (who duets on an unexpected remake of "Gloria") and covers of songs by Doc Pomus, Sonny Boy Williamson and Brook Benton--all sitting side by side with Morrison's adaptation of a text by W.B. Yeats, no less--the album was a perfect blend of Blowin' Your Mind and Veedon Fleece.
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Van Morrison