Van Morrison's Best Songs Since 2000.

Today I have been trying to not dwell on the dreadful news from Ukraine. Hopefully the situation won’t be as bad as we fear. I have been listening to Van Morrison to feel spiritually uplifted by some great music. I have been going through his recordings since 2000 and choosing my favourite songs. It passes the time on a grim day like this. I think Van got off to quite a bad start to this millennium when he released You Win Again with Linda Gail Lewis in 2000. Although it has its moments, I don’t think there is a single song from that album that I would put in my top twenty songs. Down The Road from 2002 was a vast improvement, maybe a bit uneven, but containing some excellent songs. My favourite track is definitely Fast Train. 

What’s Wrong With This Picture? From 2003 is one of Van’s lesser albums in my opinion, but it does include Little Village which is a classic, especially when performed live. I think that Magic Time from 2005 is arguably Van’s finest album of this millennium and I would include Stranded, Celtic New Year and Just Like Greta in my top twenty. Pay The Devil is Van’s very enjoyable Country album from 2006. It is nearly all cover versions and I like most of them, but I think only Till I Gain Control Again written by Rodney Crowell deserves to be on this list. There are several very worthy songs on the 2008 album Keep It Simple and I think the title song and Behind The Ritual are qualified to be included. It was to be four years until the next studio album Born To Sing, No Plan B and a lot of fans were disappointed. It’s hard for me to decide on a favourite track, but I think I’ll choose Retreat And View. 

Duets, Re-Working The Catalogue came out in 2015 and contained some great collaborations with other artists. I think Carrying A Torch with Claire Teal is my favourite because of seeing them perform it live on a couple of occasions. Keep Me Singing from 2016 is one of Van’s best of recent years and Memory Lane, Holy Guardian Angel and In Tiburon are my favourite songs on this album. I hated the cover of 2017s Roll With The Punches, but it contains some great songs, of which Transformation is a personal favourite. I don’t think I would include any songs from Versatile or You’re Driving Me Crazy both from 2018, but I would include Ain’t Gonna Moan No More and Spirit Will Provide from The Prophet Speaks, also from Van’s busy year of 2018. 

Three Chords And The Truth in 2019 was almost as good an album as Keep Me Singing in my opinion, and I would include Dark Night Of The Soul and Up On Broadway on my list. Finally, Latest Record Project Vol 1 was a very controversial release in 2021, but although I think this album is too long there are some great songs of which personally, I think Psychoanalysts Ball and Dupers Delight deserve to be included.

I bet I have overlooked some great songs, and tomorrow I might think, “Oh no, why didn’t I include ….”. Never mind, I only did it to cheer myself up. So, what do I think are Van’s top 5 songs of this millennium? I would put them in this reverse order-

In 5^th place…Just Like Greta.

In 4^th place… Little Village

In 3^rd place… Memory Lane

In 2^nd place… Behind The Ritual

In 1^st place… Congratulations to Celtic New Year.! Van's best song of the millennium.

Coney Island of the Mind - Van Morrison on Poetry, Nature, and Healing..

Bless The Weather by John Martyn.

We have had three storms in the last five days. Storm Franklin was the latest which died away last evening. The weather is still unsettled though. I won’t be going anywhere today. I think by Friday things should have improved, so I’m looking forward to going for a walk then. I noticed a tiny little wren in my garden earlier poking around among the flowerpots, so he was a welcome visitor. Also, I think the clematis might be flowering soon, which is always an encouraging sign that Spring is on the way. I might pot out some seeds in a few days’ time.

Today I have been listening to an album that I acquired recently called Bless The Weather by John Martyn. This is the third of his albums in my collection, the others are Solid Air and Serendipity, An Introduction To John Martyn. I quite like them. I also saw John Martyn, maybe three times, always at festivals. I wrote about his performance at Finsbury Park the other day. He even visited my bookstall at Glastonbury back in the 80s. I have always admired his guitar playing skills, but I wouldn’t say I was a big John Martyn fan. It might be that I found his vocal delivery too mumbly, or the songs didn’t say a lot to me. Some people rave about John Martyn, but I don’t think I have ever quite got it. Perhaps I haven’t been listening properly.

Bless The Weather was released in 1971 and was the first album solo after two albums with his wife Beverley Martyn. After two listens I think I prefer it to Solid Air. I find it more accessible, not so dark, and easier to get into. Go Easy is a laid back simple acoustic jazzy song to open the album. Bless The Weather is quite an apt title song after the weather of the past few days. I must say I like the bass playing of Danny Thompson on this album, especially on this track. I’m not sure about Sugar Lump which is more upbeat and has a bluesy R & B sound and features the piano of Ian Whitman. I just find the lyrics a bit silly. Walk To The Water has bass to the fore and tasteful percussive sounds by Smiley De Jonnes. Just Now is one of the folksier songs, not so jazz influenced as other tracks. Head And Heart might be my favourite song here. It has a long passage of intricate acoustic guitar and bass. 

Let The Good Times Come features ethereal ghostly vocals by Beverley Martyn. Back Down The River is another simpler folkie type song.I think that John Martyn was going through a period of transition on this album with folk-rock type songs, and others leaning towards the much more jazz influenced Solid Air. Glistening Glyndebourne is an extended instrumental track featuring guitar, bass, piano and percussion. It is quite experimental and another indication of where he was heading on subsequent albums. The album ends with a very nice version of Singing In The Rain. I don’t know why he decided to record this song. It reminds me of his friend Bridget St John recording Catch A Falling Star probably just to have some fun. This album is only 37 minutes, but I enjoyed listening to it on this gloomy, changeable Tuesday afternoon. Maybe there is hope for me to become a John Martyn fan after all.