Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 21-25 of 64
 Van...You've Done It Again May 12, 2008
The Ghost of Sandy Denny (Australia)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
True to the title, Van has kept the sound and production simple and come up with an absolute cracker of an album. It's uncomplicated, melodic sound perfectly highlights one of the great voices of our time and the man just doesn't know how to write a bad song.
A must for any serious Van fan!
new jazzier music from an Irishman July 12, 2008
Donna Gray Collins (Salisbury, MD United States)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Other than "Moondance" which came out when I was in high school and includes the song "Moondance" as well as a copy of Van Morrison's greatest hits, that was all I owned by him. Thanks to Amazon.com's feature of being able to listen to "snippets" of songs from each CD, I liked what I heard and ordered this CD. Van Morrison still has a good voice and each cut is good and it's not like you want to skip a couple. It's a little more bluesy that I remember his older music to be. I recommended this CD to several of my friends and relatives.
Play it over and over and over April 4, 2008
A. Doug Floyd (Louisville, TN United States)
8 out of 17 found this review helpful
I've been glued to the headphones all day drifting with Van's soulful sounds. I think the low-keyed accompanying instruments allow his voice to shine. The music is a bit subtle with no load moans or growls or shouts.
It's a gentle drink with soft echoes stirring my soul.
 Lyrical, brilliant, human, SOULFUL April 25, 2008
Susan (Cambridge)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Thank you, thank you, thank you for a record that cuts through BS. If you've been moved to tears by Springsteen's wish to "hear some rhythm" that could obliterate Radio Nowhere, this is the record for you. The moment I heard Van's voice I realized how starving I was for real music, a real man's voice, and a singer whose technique was technique-less. This is RADIO SOMEWHERE.
Van Morrison in Goteborg, Sweden, April 26, 2008 April 28, 2008
C. Butler (Kristianstad, Sweden - an American ex-Patriot)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
On Saturday, April 26, 2008, I attended Van Morrison's concert tour for the KEEP IT SIMPLE album in Goteborg, Sweden. Prompt, as always, the show began at 7:30pm with a cast of 11 musicians + a couple of female backing vocals. His performance was all business and was being recorded "Live", as evidenced by three separate stations manned by sound engineers. His mastery of the instruments chosen for the show, being his Tenor Sax and Pocket Harp, Guitar and Ukelele was performed with jazzman's precision, but more evident was his voice that has never abandoned him and has only improved with age.
The show was a bit slow at the start and he played a little more country than I would have preferred, but eventually he got things rollin' and got the Swedish crowd a-clappin' and their feet a-tappin'. He had brought together some great musicians for the album and tour band. Especially, a young woman who I believe her name was Sarah Jory? Am not certain of her name, as Van never noted anyone's name (not like him - unusual) and there was no program available. Anyway, she played Steel Guitar and Slide, on what appeared to be a "Resonator 0 Style" Guitar (you may remember the guitar featured on the cover of Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms album?). This young lady musician was everywhere, playing leads, singing vocals, and proved her varied talents by giving one heck-of-a demonstration of her rhythmic musical ability by performing "hand-clapping" on "That's Entrainment", which is barely heard on the album, but greatly enjoyed by myself and everyone in the live performance. [According to Webster, the word "ENTRAINMENT" (not, Entertainment) a verb, meaning: "To go, or put aboard a train." Beats me, what he's relating to here, but maybe somebody will post on [...] in the future].
A highlight of the show and the turning point in mood (at least for me) was when Van reintroduced an old favorite "Saint James Infirmary", which I haven't heard him play for years. It was an excellent arrangement and the band excelled in this old New Orelans standard. It got the blues a-flowin' from him and for the next 45-minutes it was all uphill.
Also, enjoyable was the inclusion into the band of an electric violin played by fiddler Tony Fitzgibbon; and, the Hammond B3 Organ of John Allair. That reminds me every time I hear a musician playing the B3; it brings back memories of the musician, known as "The B3 Beast" - Lee Michaels, who Van certainly remembers from his early San Francisco days. Nobody has yet to match, or even duplicate Lee on the B3, but I keep hoping somebody will appear, whereas, after 6-albums in 4-years, Lee disappeared in 1971, never to be heard from again.
Van the Man, took one bow returning to the stage to perform "Brown-Eyed Girl' and finished with "G-L-O-R-I-A", to an aroused standing hand-clapping and foot-stomping full house. Business like, the show ended at 9:00pm, and everything he had to say was said in that eventful and enjoyable performance.
All-in-all, this album is certainly worth the price. Regardless, of what the critics say, as they only sharpen their pencils to deliver venom at their favorite target, whereas, Van (at least these days) has chosen the high road and applies his five decades of proven talent, as songsmith the creation of lyrics and tune that will far outlast whatever his critics may write. Rave on John Donne! RAVE ON!
If you get the opportunity, be sure YOU don't miss Van's "Live Performance" of the KEEP IT SIMPLE tour.
MAY 15, 2008 - ADDED TO MY ORIGINAL REVIEW (ABOVE) OF APRIL 28, 2008
Earlier last month I wrote a review after attending Van's LIVE concert in Goteborg, Sweden for his "Keep It Simple" album. At that time I rated his new album with 4-Stars, but have up'd my rating after listening numerous times to a more deserved 5-Stars album! In fact, this is the best writing the 'master songsmith' has done since "Astral Weeks," and he may well be on the verge of delivering his best works ever!
Now for those that have complained about his "Blah, Blah, Blah" on the last track - "Behind The Ritual" - get a grip, as he's making jest of himself, as well as anyone who gets loose behind drinking from the "Nectar of the Gods", and enjoying conversation with good friends. If, you've been there then you'll understand the "Blah, Blah, Blah"? To prove my point, next time you're enjoying the company of good friends, pour yourself a glass of wine put "Behind the Ritual" on REPEAT. Believe me, when the evening is over and your friends have departed the song will be playing over n' over in your head for days to come. Maybe then you'll get it! Enjoy!
And as for those who hear Van the Man complaining in his songs about show biz record promoters and syndicators, then you probably not a real fan of the blues, or you'd be aware that John Lee Hooker often sang about these same "Predators and Leeches" of the recording industry, as does Morrison.
Rave on John Donne... RAVE ON!
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