Van Morrison - Back on Top
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Free Music Notes for Back on Top
Free Music Review: "Back On Top" Is Back Out Again With TWO REALLY GOOD GEMS ADDED TO IT!
Hit: 4 Stars
Typical. The CD you least want to buy - turns out being the one you need the most!
Here's why. Back in 1999 when "Back On Top" was issued, it was touted in the music press as something of a return to form (how many times have we heard that) and on tracks like "Reminds Me Of You" and "When The Leaves Come Falling Down" it actually was. It also boasted truly superlative production values - sound so warm, so clear, and at times so loud, that you had to rush over to the stereo to turn the volume down. So this January 2008 reissue in remastered form of an album that's only a few years old, an album that already boasts truly beautiful sound quality - is a bit superfluous to requirements to say the least. And worse - it's a reissue that forces fans to repurchase what they already own without any discernable bonus in the purchase. Until of course you hear the two previously unreleased bonus tracks they've added on here - and lo and behold - they're absolutely brilliant and must owns!
First up is an Alternate Version of one of the album's strongest songs "Philosopher's Stone" which is done in a jaunty almost sauntering blues fashion with MIKE SANCHEZ providing fantastic Piano and Guitar work. The subtle and smooth Double Bass is played by IAN JENNINGS. It's not as good as the finished more soulful version for sure, but it is excellent - and genuinely deserves the moniker "bonus". But best is kept to last. "Valley Of Tears" is a new song and a truly lovely ballad. JOOLS HOLLAND plays subtle and beautiful piano work on it with a trio of superbly emotive brass fills from PEE WEE ELLIS, LEO GREEN and MATT HOLLAND on Trumpet, Tenor and Baritone Sax. Fans will absolutely have to own these.
All 10 songs on "Back On Top" are written by Van (as are the two bonuses) and the backing musicians and their contributions are typically outstanding. MICK GREEN features on Electric and Acoustic Guitars, PEE WEE ELLIS on Soprano & Tenor Saxophone and GERAINT WATKINS fills in for Georgie Fame with really complimentary keyboard work on both Piano and Hammond Organ. If anything the album's mood is defined by Watkins' warm and slinky Hammond Organ sound, a mellow warm hum that imbibes almost every track with an `old' feel. BRIAN KENNEDY'S duet vocals on preceding albums had been criticized by some fans for almost drowning out the tunes and many just didn't like his high-pitched slightly whiny voice intruding on everything - his contributions on 9 of the albums 10 tracks have been downplayed to just backing vocals - and the songs are better for it. The album's finisher, "Golden Autumn Day", is a good example of ensemble contribution showing how the top quality musicians add so much to the finished song. FIACHRA TRENCH (who did the string arrangements for Fairytale of New York by The Pogues) provides both Piano and string accompaniment to really lovely effect, while PEE WEE ELLIS puts in a tasty Sax solo too. And not to be undone, Van himself blows up a deliciously hooky harmonica solo that's probably the best I've ever heard him do.
The upgraded booklet contains all the lyrics in the same style as the original CD release and a detailed list of who sessions on what, but disappointingly there's no history of where the album fits in, no new liner notes, nor any photographs. The lyrics to the bonus tracks are newly reproduced at the end of the booklet. The original master tapes have been 96K/24 Bit digitally remastered by Tim Young at Metropolis Mastering in London for this 28 January 2008 release and the sound is GORGEOUS - really amazing (but then so was the original).
To sum up - of the 7 discs I've bought in the initial part of this exemplary re-issue campaign, this CD boasts the best sound quality and the best previously unreleased bonus tracks. Newcomers should dig in with confidence; it's a good Van album with great extras. While fans will just have to grit their teeth and smile at their bank managers once again. Oh dear!
PS:
Like "Back On Top", 28 other Van Morrison albums are to be re-issued in remastered form throughout 2008 and into early 2009. Each will contain upgraded booklets, previously unreleased material and all will be at mid-price. They'll be released in 4 batches as follows (29 in total):
January 2008 (7 titles)
Tupelo Honey (1971), It's Too Late To Stop Now (2 CD Live Set) (1974),
Wavelenght (1978), Into The Music (1979), A Sense Of Wonder (1985),
Avalon Sunset (1989) and Back On Top (1999)
June 2008 (8 titles)
Veedon Fleece (1974), Common One (1980), Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart (1983), Live At The Grand Opera House, Belfast (1984), No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986), Enlightenment (1990), A Night In San Francisco (2CD Live Set) (1994) and The Healing Game (1997)
November 2008 (7 titles)
Saint Dominic's Preview (1972), A Period Of Transition (1977), Beautiful Vision (1982), Poetic Champions Compose (1987), Hymns To The Silence (2CD Studio Set) (1991), How Long Has This Been Going On (Live At Ronnie Scott's) (1995), Tell Me Something - The Songs Of Mose Allison (1996)
January 2009 (8 titles)
Hard Nose The Highway (1973), Irish Heartbeat (with The Chieftains) (1988),
Too Long In Exile (1993), Days Like This (1995), The Story Of Them (2CD Set) (1999), The Skiffle Sessions - Live In Belfast (with Lonnie Donegan & Chris Barber) (2000), Down The Road (2002) and What's Wrong With This Picture? (2003)
PPS:
Those hoping to see desperately needed sonic upgrades of his 1st and 2nd album masterpieces on Warner Bothers "Astral Weeks" (1968) and "Moondance" (1970) or even "His Band & The Street Choir" (late 1970) will be disappointed to find that they're NOT in this re-issue campaign. Apparently there is still some dispute between the record label and Van that remains unresolved. A damn shame! "Astral Weeks" and "Moondance" in particular have both been languishing around on crappy-sounding non-remastered CDs for over 20 years now and they're glaringly obvious omissions in this otherwise extensive and superb re-issue campaign. These universally recognized masterpieces deserve 2CD DELUXE EDITION treatment and soon. (Some tracks in remastered form are available across the 3 volumes of "Best Of"). Let's hope they sort their differences and soon!
Also, Van's new studio album "Keep It Simple" is due on 17 March 2008 in the UK and 1 April 2008 in the USA
(For those interested in this re-issue series, I've also done separate reviews for almost all of the titles in Batch 1 and 2)
Free Music Review: Solid though a bit generic
Hit: 4 Stars
Okay, maybe not quite on top, but this is still a solid blues-based set. Since it's the only Van album I've heard between 1989's Avalon Sunset and 2005's Magic Time, I can't say if it's a return to form or not. But who cares about technicalities, anyway? Good music is good music, and that's what you get here. Lots of harmonica, horns, organ, and soulful vocals. I mean, it's not Astral Weeks or Veedon Fleece, but does that matter? Of course not. Entertaining music: the uptempo R&B tracks (title song; "Goin' Down Geneva"; "High Summer"; "Precious Time") display more enthusiasm and energy than anything since... god, I don't know, maybe even Tupelo Honey. And the ballads, while not desperate, are nicely melodic and mellow ("Reminds Me of You"; "In the Midnight"). Not all of it works out - for instance, "New Biography" is an annoying combination of pedal steel, organ, and acoustic guitars aplenty, and I don't know why Van thought he had enough ideas to make "Golden Autumn Day" six and a half minutes long, but he didn't. Plus it's irritatingly formulaic - every track falls either under "blues stomp" or "blues ballad", except for the jazzy fun of "Philosopher's Stone". On the other hand, it's a very enjoyable album, predictable as it is.Free Music Review: Indeed
Hit: 5 Stars
Did Van Morrison ever topple from the lofty perch of sensitive musican/Bard? No recording comes to mind, but all semantics aside, Morrison is in extra fine form for " Back on Top".
" Goin'Down, Geneva" is somewhat slight, but it still swings. " In the Midnight" is one of the loveliest songs ever recorded. It evokes fall and spring at the same time. The same might be said of " When the Leaves Come Falling Down", although fall probably dominates most. This is an album that relies on seasons for it's song titles as well as the atmosphere a song creates. Seasons and cycles. In favor, out of favor. In relationship, out of relationship. Here today, gone tomorrow.
Great music to think by.
Free Music Review: I dont know what else to say
Hit: 5 Stars
I dont know what else to say in here on this cd that isnt already said, so I just wanted to say, I am picky, and I flunk allot of what I hear, of most bands. just so much junk released.
This music is some of the best in the world
Free Music Review: A Darker Shade of VM's Soul
Hit: 5 Stars
As one of the apparently rare listeners who actually prefers the lush, introspective, spiritual period of VM's better 80's albums (such as Common One, Sense of Wonder, and Avalon Sunset), I've grown a bit frustrated with the dark, bitter, superficial (and frequently lazy) blues sound of his last decade.
The one exception is Back on Top. Yes, the lyrics do seem to fit with the Morrison-as-self-obsessed-artist meme. But there's something much deeper to this album. Unlike in other recent albums (like What's Wrong with This Picture), the bluesy sounds and darker lyrics aren't just attempts to pummel you with his complaints. Here they're entry ways into the rich and complex, if darker soul of Morrison's autumn years. No longer the 80s artist with his easy New Agey upbeat spirituality, VM probes his own loneliness and confusion, and makes beautiful, moving music out of it.
If you like VM's sweeping philosophical anthems, then you'll love "Philosopher's Stone." With a haunting, slow melody with a bit of soul organ in the background, Morrison delivers a moving reverie on the position of the lonely traveling artist who, with aching head and cold hands, boards a train, still searching for the means of changing the lead of life into gold. In the Midnight and Reminds Me of You are gorgeous, lonely love songs that will have your heart breaking in two with the lyrics.
In Back on Top, High Summer and New Biography, you get three different takes on the perils of the music biz, and VM's feelings about fame and success. This may sound off putting, but each of these is delivered with style and energy that will leave you humming them for hours. They also have some surprising novelty to them. Back on Top is actually in many ways a reflection on Morrison's own crushing, soul-killing ambition ("always climbing, always striving way beyond my will/same old sensation, isolation at the top of the bill"), but it carries a strut that is impossible to resist. High Summer is an attempt by VM to imagine himself in a different light: as a child of God who tried to be what he was made to be, and then was shot down by the "angels" of the biz because he refused to play by their rules -- a bit preening, but not as bad as a lot of Morrison's similar stuff. New Biography is a rocking piece that actually works as a condemnation of the cult of personality in the entertainment industry, of all the people who play the "name game" based on their superficial connections to the famous -- if you know anyone who endlessly talks about the time they talked to famous person x, then you'll get the message of this song. Yet Morrison also seems genuinely to be confused about what his fans want of him; listen to the way he inflects the lyrics ("what exactly are they looking for, just a hobby on the internet?"). He's surprisingly vulnerable in his confusion here, even when he snarls out some of the choruses.
When the Leaves Come Falling Down is a nice gentle meditation on autumn, and perhaps on the obvious metaphor of time passing. Precious Time is a rollicking, infectious romp about mortality. Again, in the background we hear Morrison reflecting a bit on his own neuroses. His religious trip is over ("It doesn't matter which path you take, sooner or later your heart's gonna break/No rhyme or reason, no master plan, no Nirvana no Promised Land"), which, if you've followed VM through his questing albums, is a sad, though not entirely unexpected, result. But he also notes his own continuing search for "immortality," and it's uncertain whether he's referring to his soul or to his hoped for status as a musical legend. Still, Morrison recognizes that immortality "is so beautiful but she's gonna die one day/everything in life just passes away," and he seems to be willing to celebrate that here. Believe me, you'll be singing the tune in your head when it's done.
Finally, Golden Autumn Day is a deceptive song. Cheery on the surface, Morrison sings about trying to soak up some beautiful weather. But he has to try hard, to pretend it's paradise, because life is much rougher than that. In one verse he sings about getting mugged, and realizing that "things ain't just what they seem" in "this godforsaken place."
This album has soul, if in a darker shade than in earlier VM albums. Yes, he spends a lot of time trying to make sense of his own ambition and his love-hate relationship with fame. What makes it work is that here Morrison invites you in to share his experience, to stand a bit dazed and confused and numb and lonely, then to come back and rock out with him anyway. The instrumentation and vocals are all carefully and richly done. All-in-all, this is the only essential Van Morrison album of the past 10 years.