Van Morrison has collaborated with quite a few artists during his long career, such as Lonnie Donegan, Mose Allison, and Linda Gail Lewis to name but three. The results have been mixed and often not popular with the fans.There is one collaboration though which was a triumph artistically and critically. Van's 1988 album with The Chieftains called Irish Heartbeat.
I remember clearly the day I bought this album on vinyl. It was one Saturday afternoon in June 1988. It was a complete departure for Van from the music that had preoccupied him during the 80's. I think Van just fancied a bit of a change and a bit of fun. The album came about through Van's friendship with the late Derek Bell the harp and piano player with the Chieftains.Van had met him due to a mutual interest in the healing power of music. It was the Chieftains who had been largely responsible for putting Irish music on the world stage where it belongs. I had always liked their music since buying their Chieftains 5 album, so I was pleased when Van got together with them.
There are no new Van songs on the album although there are excellent reworkings of Celtic Ray and the title track Irish Heartbeat. The opening track is Star Of The County Down which is about Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann and it really is good fun. Then we have a version of Irish Heartbeat with the Chieftains effortlessly complementing Van's great song. Ta Mo Chleamhnas Deanta (My Match It Is Made) is a traditional song with Van translating the Irish words into English. It is a testament to Vans genius that somebody who is steeped in the R & B tradition can take on another totally different genre of music and make it his own, although Van would have heard this music a lot as a youngster in Belfast so it wasn't totally alien to him.
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| Derek Bell. |
The next song On Raglan Road is one of my all time favourite Van songs. One fateful night in 1966 the great Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh met Luke Kelly of The Dubliners in a Dublin pub. Patrick asked Luke to turn one of his poems into a song. The next day Luke returned with the music, the traditional air Fainne Gael an Lae (The Dawning of the Day). and so a great song was born. This song will still be sung in hundreds of years time. I have heard many versions of this song, Luke's has to be the greatest version. Sinead O'Connor sings it really well, Mark Knopfler not so well, but Van's version accompanied by The Chieftains is sublime. You could be forgiven for thinking this song is a traditional song hundreds of years old. Although it is only 55 years old it's place in the great canon of Irish traditional songs is assured. She Moved Through The Fair is another great song that has been recorded by many different artists. I first heard it on the album What We Did On Our Holidays by Fairport Convention sung by Sandy Denny.
I'll Tell Me Ma is a very jolly romp through another well known tune. Carrickfergus is a sad ballad which is set in Kilkenny. It was first recorded in 1965 by Dominic Behan after actor Peter O'Toole introduced it to him. Van's former band member Brian Kennedy also does a very good version of this song. Celtic Ray is a reworking of a song from Beautiful Vision, but the lyrics are changed slightly with Brittany replacing England. Marie's Wedding brings the album to a very lively close. I did meet Matt Molloy the Chieftains flute player in his pub in Westport County Mayo many years ago and said To Matt that it was high time we had a Irish Heartbeat volume 2 album. I think the Chieftains would do it but maybe Van just saw it as a one off.
