Van Morrison's Best Songs Of The 1990s.

It was a cold Wednesday afternoon, I stayed indoors and was listening to The Philosopher’s Stone album by Van Morrison. What a great album it is.  Released in 1998 it isn’t strictly speaking a studio album because it is a compilation of tracks that were recorded over the previous 25 years or so. Nevertheless, it contains many great songs that first saw the light of day in this collection. My favourite songs on this double album include Crazy Jane On God which is Van’s version of a W.B. Yeats poem set to music by William Matthieu, Stepping Out Queen Part 11, For Mr Thomas which was written by Robin Williamson, Madame Joy, Contemplation Rose, and my favourite version of Wonderful Remark.  It got me wondering what other great songs did Van release in the 1990s.

Van began the decade in fine style in 1990 with Enlightenment. I like the whole album, but if pressed to choose my favourite three songs I think I would say, Enlightenment, So Quiet In Here, and the unique collaboration with poet Paul Durcan In The Days Before Rock And Roll. This was followed in 1991 by the double album Hymns To The Silence which in my opinion contains some of Van’s greatest work and some indifferent songs as well. The best songs include Hymns to the Silence, On Hyndford Street, Carrying a Torch, Take Me Back, and Why Must I Always Explain? By contrast I thought Too Long In Exile from 1993 was a bit of a disappointment, but still well worth listening to. My favourite song is another W.B. Yeats poem set to music by Kenny Craddock called Before The World Was Made. It was to be two years before Van’s next studio album, 1995s Days Like This. Again, I found this album a bit uneven, but it did contain some great songs, including Days Like This, Ancient Highway and In The Afternoon.

I think Van might have gone through a writer’s block type scenario in the mid-1990s because he made two jazz albums How Long Has This Been Going On? and Tell Me Something which I didn’t particularly like and didn’t contain any songs which I would include in his best work of the decade. He might have just been having a raincheck though because The Healing Game in 1997 was a triumph which some fans consider to be Van’s last great album. Every song is worth hearing, including Rough God Goes Riding, Waiting Game, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Burning Ground, Sometimes We Cry, and The Healing Game. Van’s final studio album of the decade was Back On Top in 1999. It didn’t reach the heights of The Healing Game but still contained some great songs including When The Leaves Come Falling Down, The Philosopher’s Stone and In The Midnight. There is one other song by Van that I thought was great in the 90s which was his version of Shenandoah which he recorded with The Chieftains. I bet I have made some glaring omissions of other great songs as well.

So, what would I say were Van’s top ten songs of the 1990s? hmm. This is difficult and might change tomorrow, but I would say in reverse order.

10^th …. Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.

9^th …. Hymns To The Silence

8^th …. Take Me Back

7^th …. The Philosopher’s Stone.

6^th …. When The Leaves Come Falling Down.

5^th …. Enlightenment.

4^th …. Days Like This

3^rd …. Sometimes We Cry

2nd …. On Hyndford Street

1^st …. Congratulations to THE HEALING GAME  Van’s best song of the 1990s !