Van Morrison - Still on Top: The Greatest Hits
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Free Music Notes for Still on Top: The Greatest Hits
Free Music Review: Van Morrison Still on Top - The Greatest Hits
Hit: 5 Stars
It's so nice to have his greatest hits all on one CD. It's the best gift for us Van Morrison fans. :)Free Music Review: Sampling from a long and varied career
Hit: 4 Stars
The aggregation of record labels into media conglomerates like Universal is turning out to be both a blessing and a curse. For an artist of Morrison's longevity, it means that a career-spanning retrospective can be assembled without the difficulties of cross-licensing. But doing so in only 21-tracks invariably short-changes important aspects of an artist's career, leaving off some hits (e.g., "Blue Money" and "Come Running") and benchmark album tracks in favor of covering beginning-to-end. On yet another hand, this anthology's producer has done a nice job of selecting tracks that demonstrate the evolution of Morrison's career, and sequencing them in a very palatable flow.
The collection spans Morrison's mid-60s rock with Them, an iconic string of turn-of-the-70s pop-soul hits, '80s ballads, and through to 2005's soulful "Stranded." But in the end, the limited space of a single disc, stretched across 40 years of recording, ends up serving neither Morrison the hit singles artist, nor Morrison the album artiste. In addition to the missing hits named above, key radio tracks ("Mystic Eyes," "Tupelo Honey," and "Into the Mystic") were also omitted, and the holistic sense of landmark albums "Astral Weeks," "Moondance," "Tupelo Honey" and "Wavelength" is left as additional purchase.
That said, what's here is magnificent, starting with the garage staple "Gloria" (a U.S. hit for Chicago's Shadows of Knight, but not for Them) and the impossibly blissful "Brown Eyed Girl." Morrison's voice transforms to a jazz instrument for "Moondance," and the trio of "Domino," "Wild Night," and "Jackie Wilson Said" are among the greatest blue-eyed soul ever committed to record. Morrison dialed it back for 1973's "Warm Love," but re-discovered his faith and backbeat for the joyous gospel-soul of 1978's "Wavelength." He continued to explore soul and jazz in the '80s, adding rootsy sounds on songs like "Tore Down ala Ribaud."
The mid-80s selections show Morrison mellowed but still soulful, his husky voice providing counterpoint to smoother backings on "In the Garden" and "Someone Like You." The latter is probably best known for its appearance in 2001's "Bridget Jones's Diary, Part 2," though it was originally recorded fourteen years earlier. The string-lined 1989 love song "Have I Told You Lately" became a new Morrison signature, turning up on the soundtrack of "One Fine Day" and spawning dozens of cover versions. More blue-eyed soul followed, including the sumptuous "Days Like This," the autobiographical "The Healing Game," and the '50s R&B of "Precious Time."
It's a terrific and surprisingly organic journey from Morrison's garage rock roots through his authoritative, pop, soul, jazz and R&B sides. This is a well selected anthology that could easily turn Morrison's more recent fans onto his classics, or clue early fans into his terrific body of later work. But in both cases, listeners will need to supplement the overview with deeper helpings from the original albums. Alternatively you could pick up a greatest hits collection for Them, and purpose-built anthologies of his early Bang-era material, seminal '70s work for Warner Brothers and Mercury, and the Morrison-curated anthologies of his later work "Best of Van Morrison" Vols. 2 and 3. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a truly satisfying one-stop shop - and with a catalog this sprawling and deep, there may never be. [©2007 redtunictroll at hotmail dot com]
Free Music Review: So many non-hits and no "Blue Money"
Hit: 3 Stars
It would have been great to replace my Van Morrison "Best of" CDs with one comprehensive disc and when I saw the title of this new collection, I was certain that "The" greatest hits CD was the one.
With only a handful of hits here in the States, how is it that two of Van's biggest hits are not among the 21 tracks (!) on this CD? Sure, the big hits - "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Domino" - are here. But where are "Blue Money" and "Come Running"?
As a young boy who began purchasing 45 RPM singles around 1970 (at age 5), "Blue Money" was one of the first records I ever bought. I admit, it wasn't the best song I had ever heard, but it had a good beat and the kids could dance to it, you know?
Now that I think about it, I haven't seen "Blue Money" on any of Van's compilation CDs. I have to believe that some music snob (maybe more than one) will write about its non-worthiness or something about how Van always hated that song, but I would say that it was certainly among Van Morrison's greatest hits.
And another thing: How is it that "Into the Mystic" and "Tupelo Honey" didn't make the cut? Did I miss the Van Morrison "Anthology" CD??
Free Music Review: Missed Opportunity II
Hit: 3 Stars
I must agree with "Missed Opportunity" A good collection, but it's still missing essential parts. I was excited, but skeptical when I heard of a new "Best Of" Van Morrison. Shall I list the "missed" tracks?
Ro Ro Rosey
T. B. Sheets
The Way Young Lovers Do
And It Stoned Me
Caravan
Blue Money
Tupelo Honey
It's sad, after all these years, it's still not right. I would have also included "Caravan" from his appearance from "The Band's Last Waltz". A shame.
Free Music Review: Cheese its Van!
Hit: 4 Stars
I can't say this is not a CD full of great Van-songs but I am bothered (especially on the 3 disc import version of this CD) by his insistence on putting songs on that are not necessarily hits or favorites but carry the message of his born again self. They are preaching and unfair to include on a set that is supposed to be a "best of." There would be nothing wrong with putting out a collection of these songs but then we would know what we were getting.