Morrison’s first album was culled from the March 1967 sessions that produced his first hit, “ Brown-Eyed Girl,” and was compiled by Bert Berns without Morrison’s direct input. But Van’s work proves that not all mysteries have to be solved to be enjoyed. It’s one of the most fascinating arcs in the annals of popular music, and an intensive catalog that encourages active listening to obtain an understanding which, let’s face it, we may have no chance of ever getting. These 14 records chart his progression from R&B believer to literary spiritualist. This CTC feature covers a specific selection of the Van Morrison discography from his ad-hoc debut on Bang Records through all his Warner Brothers titles (excepting the live album It’s Too Late to Stop Now, which you can and should go get). With the volumes of experience his music describes, it’s remarkable that none of his work possesses even the barest strand of cynicism, no matter how light or dark the emotion gets.
His best work appears and feels like it’s emanating from somewhere else - an unincorporated alpine peak, a watery substrata or somewhere even more untouched by real estate. The notion of going inward to project outward is a Morrison trademark, especially live. Though his iconoclasm is clearer than a freshly-cleaned window, his influence on the direction of mainstream popular music is at once subtle and resonant. His records from 1977 to 1983 prepared the innovations to carry further into the future. Morrison’s work from 1967 to 1974 is regarded as some of the most furiously innovative rock-based music imaginable. The notion of a “marketplace” is foreign to him, an unwelcome intrusion to the business at hand. As such, he’s known for never making concessions creatively. For half a century the native of Belfast, Northern Ireland has chased a slippery muse that’s done time in the houses of visionary poets, emigrants and the architects of American roots and R&B musicians.
Van Morrison is part of a very small group of solo artists of his generation - Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young spring to mind - whose career is measured, even by the general populace, by art rather than fame.
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