Van Morrison - Common One
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Free Music Notes for Common One
Free Music Review: Down By Avalon!
Hit: 5 Stars
As stated in some of the other reviews. People looking for poppy favorites like "Moondance", "Brown Eyed Girl", "Domino", etc. This cd may not be for you. However, those who feel that they are ready to take the next step into "Van-dom", welcome.The songs are long, beautiful, introspective, and picturesque.
"Haunts Of Ancient Peace" a live standard through the years, is both lovely and calming. "When Heart Is Open", a 15 minute meditative piece, is one of those songs where you just have to lie back, close your eyes and let the soft music take you where it will. songs like "Wild Honey" and "Satisfied" are great as well. But "Summertime In England", possibly the greatest recording Van has ever done, is the true highlight of the album. Over 15 minutes of astounding musical arrangement (which seems almost improvisational at times) and poetic "stream of consciousness" style lyrics. Van's singing is some his finest EVER, and the string and horn sections are unrelenting. Also some notable, very soulful organ playing. This is the type of song you never want to end.
Anyway give it a listen and see what you think.
"It ain't why, it just is."
Free Music Review: My Personal Favorite CD Ever
Hit: 5 Stars
Not only is 'Common One' my favorite CD of Van the Man's more than three dozen original releases, for my time and money it's the greatest album of all time. I've listened to it thousands of times, and it kept getting better and better for the first several hundred. Now, it just holds steady at timeless greatness. There have been times in my life when I have laid on my floor, listening to it on headphones, tears streaming down my face at its beauty. For me, parts of this album are like getting a glimpse of God.
It's not for everybody. Some people I've made tapes for from it haven't liked it, called it boring and overlong. But others have been just as deeply moved as I. It's certainly not the place to start for the conventional music listener trying to be introduced to Van Morrison. Begin with "Moondance," "Into the Music" or "Enlightenment" for that.
Unique in its day and unique today, 'Common One' is just short of an hour long. Most of the songs are of slower tempo, several clock in at more than 15 minutes, and none are shorter than five. The lyrics are introspective and sometimes a little goofy, but the band (particularly sax man Pee Wee Ellis) is crackerjack and the singing is that of a soulful virtuoso. The horn break in "Satisfied" is the single greatest two minutes in music for me, ever. The way the epic "Summertime in England" repeatedly changes gears and conjures up images of everything from a sensual red robed lover to stoned British poets to a "suffering so fine" Jesus Christ is mesmerizing and captivating.
The entire album is evocative and romantic, and Van's singing is at its best. It's not an album that will knock you out the first time, most likely, because its charms are subtle before they become profound.
But 'Common One' has helped me through some hard times and made me appreciate the good ones even more. It's sustained my faith in God when I've had doubts. It has music that has reached into the very core of my soul and nurtured it, encouraged it, elevated it.
There are very few creative works, in any field, that I would call transcendent. Even The Clash's relentlessly magnificent 'London Calling,' probably my 2nd favorite album ever, and a release that changed my life even more than 'Common One,' can't come close to the otherworldly pleasure I've drawn from this work of art.
Again, it's not for everybody. If you're not on a certain wavelength (so to speak), you might think it's mostly a meandering, self-indulgent mess (though nobody I know has ever been able to turn their nose up at "Satisfied"). But you might also find it's a CD you'll keep playing for the rest of your life.
Free Music Review: One of my favorites
Hit: 5 Stars
This is one of my favorite albums. I purchased the album when it came out, and I have listened to "Summertime in England" hundreds of times. Have have found the albums turns many people off, even Van fans. Each to his own.Free Music Review: `and the sufferin' so fine . . .'
Hit: 4 Stars
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ after 20 years and 2500 listenings, i humbly offer this sermon to the `van choir'.we who love van morrison's music often as not are inarticulate concerning the whys and wherefores. somehow, after listening, `nothing further need be said' seems most apt.
i will not rank this CD among his oevre: it just is; that's all.
i've been ruminating over `common one' these many years. its arrangement is balanced and meandering, befitting the mystical search morrison's voice will act out before one's ears.
the song somehow taps into an emotional tradition - perhaps a collective unconscious? - that devoted listeners know but may not speak. (at least not coherently). i am convinced that `common one' is the talisman produced by the artistic spirit of van morrison. it is not possible for me at this time to imagine there being any more revelation of humanity available in the musical medium. there are few equivalencies.
barely among us in this recording, van morrison has laid before us a glimpse of nearly-concrete human spirituality.
but if you're here reading this, you likely already know that.
Free Music Review: Outstanding
Hit: 5 Stars
This, for my money, is the best of Van's albums - well perhaps it ties with Astral Weeks. This goes beyond music to religion. To listen to this album on headphones or in a quiet space is a transforming experience that I just don't get from any other artist alive or dead. Van at one of the many peaks of his craft.