There was a time when the only thing that I could think of buying anyone for their birthday was a Van Morrison album. I was hopeful that, by hearing the music, they would see what I saw.
Van Morrison is one of the greatest musical artists of all time, and, indeed, his best works inspire a kind of spiritual fervour among his fans. People listen to his best songs like some people listen to religious hymns.
Yes, the man’s made over 50 albums, and one day I will get to ranking all of them. However, at the moment I’m focusing on the bare essentials, the albums that any fan should own, the 10 best albums by the most soulful of Celtic singers, Van Morrison.
The 10 Best Van Morrison Albums
10. ”Inarticulate Speech of the Heart”
Van Morrison is a mystery. But, unlike other pop stars working with their publicists, you get the sense that Morrison is a mystery even to himself, and likes it this way.
Released in 1983, “Inarticulate Speech of the Heart” announced to fans that Morrison was as creatively restless as always.
Indeed, this is a strange set of recordings. However, I ask you to remember that many of his masterpiece albums were recorded almost as if by celestial accident.
Much of this is instrumental. And, when Morrison does sing (or, rather, recite) as on “Rave on, John Donne”, he does it over the simplest of chords. But it’s a record that is easy to live with, a kind of jazz meditation that feeds on positive energy.
9. ”No Guru, No Method, No Teacher”
Van Morrison certainly didn’t hang on to songs like a rock star desperately seeking a #1 hit. No, he’s courageously driven his creativity to the limits over decades and decades.
This makes it a bit of a chore for some fans to know when to seriously pay attention. ”No Guru, No Method, No Teacher” is one of those records, I think.
”No Guru, No Method, No Teacher” was released in 1986 and captures Van Morrison at the middle point of his spiritual journey, while glancing back with melancholy at the past, as the title of a song like “Here Comes the Knight” should reveal. Highlights include the Celtic tinged “One Irish Rover” and “Foreign Window.”
8. ”The Healing Game”
While many view Morrison as a kind of musical prophet, and the artist might look at his own mission similarly, Van is no snob. He likes old-school soul, R&B and delta blues and believes in their power to change bodies and minds.
“The Healing Game” is one of Van Morrison’s finest later-day releases. It’s a blues album filled with hope. “Fire in the Belly,” “Sometimes We Cry,” and the title track, which was so beautifully covered by blues legend John Lee Hooker, all leave the listener, I think, with the feeling that better days are ahead.
7. “Into the Music”
Van Morrison’s extraordinary work ethic is a blessing and a curse. It’s kept devotees supplied with music from a man who skips from Celtic folk to R&B to jazz with incredible ease. However, it’s also kept casual fans, those who know the hit singles, from ever fully keeping up.
“Into the Music” doesn’t make a grand statement. This isn’t Van Morrison as soul shaman, or the restless spiritual seeker, or even the confrontational spokesperson.
“Into the Music” is a fine traditional soul/jazz album where Van Morrison and his band showcase their ability to craft soft, pleasant, calming songs. “Bright Side of the Road” might be one of his finest songs. Highlights also include, in my opinion, “And the Healing Has Begun” and “It’s All in the Game.”
6. ”His Band and the Street Choir”
Van Morrison’s great streak, begun with “Astral Weeks,” continued with the 1970s’ “His Band and the Street Choir.”
In many ways, this is Van Morrison at his least confrontational and tense. This is the work of a musician who had been awarded the validation he had craved.
That’s why “Domino,” one of his most famous songs, with its New Orleans rhythm & blues sounds positively bubbly. It’s why “I’ve Been Working” sounds positively funky. And, it’s the reason why “His Band and the Street Choir” is essentially Van Morrison’s party album.
5. ”Veedon Fleece”
Bob Dylan and The Beatles are the only other rock performers who had periods of similar monumental creativity as Van Morrison. For the Irish musician, this lasted from the late 1960s until 1974, the year that “Veedon Fleece” was released, and consisted of releasing one classic album after another.
No, the doors didn’t just shut close. However, it’s undeniable that whatever sea Morrison had sailed on “Astral Weeks,” he was still riding the water of here.
Musicologists will leave scratching their heads, I think. There are moments of unexplainable magic. These include “Bulbs,” Streets of Arklow,” or “Linden Arden Stole the Highlights.”
4. ”Tupelo Honey”
Bob Geldof, another famous Irish singer, once quipped that Van Morrison’s tragedy is that he doesn’t understand why the world won’t accept him in the same way that they would Mick Jagger.
The fact is, no other recording artist made albums in the 1970s that were more musically oscillating or lyrically adventurous. On much of it, he sounds like a man allowed to glance at heaven. But he can only do it while singing.
“Wild Night” was a hit, rightfully. However, the real mood of the album can be found on the likes of “Starting a New Life,” “Old Old Woodstock,” and the excellent title track.
3. ”Saint Dominic’s Preview”
Let me start by saying that, in my opinion, “It’s Too Late to Stop Now…” is the greatest of live albums, complete with a crescendo on “Cyprus Avenue” that sounds positively jaw-dropping each time I hear it. I decided not to include live records on the list. But I can happily report that a few of the songs that first appeared on “Saint Dominic’s Preview” make their way onto that record. I urge you to seek it out!
As for this studio record, the title track is a real highlight and benefits from being given a rowdier live rendition. The words mention W.B. Yeats, Edith Piath and Hank Williams. Morrison talks about cleaning windows, missing Belfast and travelling to Buffalo. It’s the way, however, in which all of this comes together to create a feeling of vulnerability and melancholy that proves his greatness as a songwriter.
The album also includes, arguably, one of Van Morrison’s finest and catchiest singles since the days of Them. “Jackie Wilson Said (I’m in Heaven When You Smile)” hits you with an immediate espresso of positivity, a crutch to lean on when confronted with the blues.
2. ”Moondance”
I’m not sure what’s more important: the fact that Van Morrison is a great singer or that his material would work even if his vocal range didn’t.
Yes, the Celtic singer is blessed with a tremendous, resonant voice. But he takes mad leaps and crazy risks while using it.
“Moondance,” on the surface, is Van Morrison’s most palatable album. It includes oft-covered material like “Crazy Love” or the title track.
When the record works at its best, it is when the blue-eyed soul is blended with the pure poetry of Morrison’s lyrics. Flashbacks confront him on “And It Stoned Me,” he hears the call of the spirits clean as a whistle on “Into the Mystic,” and he’s ready to rule over funereal celebrations of “Caravan.”
“Moondance” is a record that I’d recommend all serious music listeners to own in physical form, at least once.
1. ”Astral Weeks”
Magical things happen while this music plays. It’s no wonder that some have reported hearing the voice of God while playing “Astral Weeks.” Like John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” or The Beatles’ “White Album,” there’s a purity to the music of “Astral Weeks” that makes you want to bow your head in respect while listening to it.
It’s not even as many of these are fully formed songs. The title track sounds like a transcendental meditation played by a hastily assembled jazz combo. By contrast, the achingly gorgeous “Slim Slow Slider” feels like a song spontaneously performed at a funeral.
“Beside You,” “Sweet Thing,” and “The Way Young Lovers Do” sound like they’ve been recorded under heavy hallucinations produced by pure romance. “Madame George” and “Cyprus Avenue” are songs that could play on a loop forever.
To listen to “Astral Weeks” is not merely to enjoy well-performed songs. It’s to enjoy pop music as a kind of spiritual ceremony. “Astral Weeks” is a fantastic piece of art and Van Morrison’s greatest ever album, in my opinion.
