Graham Reid | | <1 min read
The master of Celtic soul from the late 60s into the 80s subsequently alienated his audience with decades of disappointing albums.
More recently his curmudgeonly, often spiteful, persona morphed into conspiracy nonsense and bizarre pronouncements about Covid restrictions, so it's hard for many to return to him with goodwill.
Van Morrison is best when reaching for the spiritual sky or relaxing into comfortable idioms. Skiffle of the 50s is safe home-ground for him although this mostly enjoyable 23 song collection is sometimes only skiffle by association.
No Other Baby is a bluesy, harmonica-coloured strut; Gypsy Davy the traditional Irish ballad with fiddle; there's the folk-gospel This Loving Light of Mine with boogie-woogie piano; Greenback Dollar and Hank Williams' Cold Cold Heart are relocated into early, vocal harmony rock'n'roll; Green Rocky Road gets a welcome, nine minute Celtic soul treatment . . .
He doesn't entirely relinquish his Covid position: Mama Don't Allow here becomes Govt Don't Allow with “government don't allow no freedom of speech round here, but I think it's just overreach”.
Although he might have profitably let himself off the leash more in places, Morrison – who recorded the live Skiffle Sessions with the genre's figureheads Lonnie Donegan and Chris Barber in 1998 – is here backed by women singers and a fine band, and this undemanding collection goes some way towards rehabilitation for the sheer delight he brings to a familiar style, which he actually does move on.
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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here
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