Van Morrison - Hymns to the Silence
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Free Music Notes for Hymns to the Silence
Free Music Review: Van at his best
Hit: 5 Stars
I don't listen to the first CD much but the second CD-- ahhh, the second CD. I have listened to it hundreds of times. If I could have just one album, it would be this one. A masterpiece.Free Music Review: 5 stars for 2nd of the two disks in this set.
Hit: 5 Stars
I hardly ever listen to the first disk. But the second is one of my favorite of so many wonderful Van recordings. Listening to him recall treasured memories of his youth in Hyndford Street always brings tears to my eyes, and then as this song ends and Be Thou My Vision starts, the tears well over the brink. These are two separate tracks, not a medley, but these two songs are totally linked for me. I really dislike White Christian music, but when Van sings of sprituality and Christianity, he always leaves me aching and hungry for more meaning in my life.Free Music Review: Masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
I have fifteen of Van's CDs and this one is superb. Has Doug Linder really listened to this set? Don't be afraid of this one. Just go buy it.Free Music Review: A feeble effort
Hit: 2 Stars
I can see that several people have voted this review "unhelpful" - not, I'm sure, because the review is actually unhelpful, but because they like Van Morrison, or this album, and don't want anyone saying bad things about it. Don't take it personally, people - rating this review "unhelpful" does nothing, and says nothing about the album. You're supposed to rate reviews on how helpful they are, not based on whether you agree or not. So you have a different opinion - taking "revenge" by clicking the "unhelpful" button is childish. Anyways...
This is the worst Van Morrison album I've heard. Don't get me wrong, I really like his music and I bougth this album *wanting* very much to like it. I listened to it a lot, really gave it a chance, but in the end it just is a pretty poor album. The songs are dull and uninspired, I didn't once find myself singing along, tapping my toe, or even getting misty and sentimental. The songs are just... blah, with no catch to them, no meditative reflection... they're just, for lack of a better way to put it, bad songs. It doesn't mean Van's a bad artist, he's just spotty, and this is one of the low spots. Beginners should definitely get Astral Weeks or Moondance long before this one, and even for fans, I'd save it till last, and even then only if you're the kind of diehard fan that must have every album.
And *definitely* not worth the price of a double CD.
Free Music Review: Sprawling
Hit: 4 Stars
For me this album defines sprawl. 2 cds that go on forever and ever. That is not to say that this is not a fine example of Van Morrison's more recent work, but there sure is a lot to digest here, may be too much.For me, too much of this album is given over to two of the less interesting themes in Van's recent music--overt (conventional) religion and griping about the nature of show-biz and celebrity. Dropping a few of these songs would have yielded a more compact and powerful album.
Still, the best tracks on this set are as transcendent and moving as Van's recent work gets. "Carrying A Torch", the title track, "I Need Your Kind of Loving", "Hyndford Street", and "Take Me Back" are all masterpieces. "Carrying a Torch" may be the best song Van has done in the last 20 years. None of the rest is bad (except may be "Village Idiot"), and quite a bit of it is good/very good just not truly remarkable (at least by Van Morrison standards). Trim the fat and you'd have a five-star classic for sure.