Blowin' Your Mind

Van Morrison: blowin' your mind

THERE can’t be many artists to have performed and recorded jazz, rock, R’n’B, blues, country, Celtic and skiffle music. Fewer still, if any, could claim to have received critical acclaim for endeavours in all those genres.
But achieving just that undoubtedly contributed to Van Morrison’s induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
For most artists, writing a timeless hit of the calibre of party standard Brown Eyed Girl would be considered a monumental achievement. But, for 40 years, Morrison has worked tirelessly to create new music, always striving to put his own stamp on each of the genres. Blessed with a distinctive gravelly voice and possessing a lyrical invention shared by few, Morrison has consistently accomplished that.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, ‘Van the Man’ has striven to maintain the quality of his new recordings and refused to rest on his laurels by reeling off his back catalogue at the gigs he plays around the world each year.
Crowd-pleasing favourites
So those attending Morrison’s next concert at Chester Racecourse tomorrow evening should not necessarily expect a volley of crowd-pleasing favourites. He does, however, promise an evening of jazz, blues and soul in the historic setting of Chester’s Roodee, which seems a fitting venue for a performance by an artist of Morrison’s pedigree. It was here the Roman legions arrived to build their fortress Deva and, in the days of the Roman occupation, the Dee washed up to the walls where in modern times thousands stand to cheer on the winner of the Chester Cup.
Tomorrow, 8,000 will watch the first concert ever to be staged at the venue as part of the Chester Live festival.
“It’s a great concept,” Morrison said of Chester Live. “In the summer you’ve got to play outside. I love doing it.”
John Lee Hooker
It will not be the first illustrious venue Morrison has played since his career began in his native Belfast in the 1960s. The son of a shipyard worker who collected American blues and jazz records, he had grown up listening to the music of Muddy Waters, Mahalia Jackson, Lightnin’ Hopkins and John Lee Hooker.
The 15-year-old Van, making ends meet by cleaning windows, began playing guitar, saxophone and harmonica with a series of showbands, skiffle and rock and roll groups.
He toured Europe with the Monarchs before deciding to form his own group, Them, in 1964. They scored a number of chart successes, most notably the rock standard Gloria, and it was while fronting Them he had the opportunity to play an impromptu gig at Los Angeles’s Whiskey A Go Go club with Jim Morrison. He went on to describe this collaboration with the Doors frontman as his “shining moment”.
Fifth decade
Morrison left Them for a return to Belfast in 1966 but was persuaded to return to New York by the band’s producer Bert Berns to kick off a solo career that is about to enter its fifth decade.
During his early recording sessions, Morrison recorded Brown Eyed Girl for the album Blowin’ Your Mind, which he later claimed to be unhappy with.
After Berns’ death in 1967, Morrison moved to Boston and recruited a group of jazz musicians to record Astral Weeks. Released in 1968, it blended Celtic and R’n’B music to create a timeless classic considered by many to be his seminal work. But where Astral Weeks saw Morrison in doleful mood, the early 1970s was a period of renewed optimism. Moondance set the tone and was followed in quick succession by His Band and the Street Choir, Tupelo Honey and Saint Dominic’s Preview, which between them spawned several hits including Wild Night and Domino.
Pastoral sound
A return to Ireland allowed Morrison to explore his native roots and develop the quieter, more pastoral sound recorded on Veedon Fleece. Despite his experience of touring with his backing group The Caledonia Soul Orchestra, Morrison battled with stage-fright in front of large crowds and disappeared from the scene for a while. But he returned to the public eye with A Period of Transition, co-produced by Mac ‘Dr John’ Rebennack in 1977, followed by Wavelength and Into the Music. Morrison’s spiritual influences featured heavily on these recordings and this trend continued on a string of albums during the 1980s.
In 1988, he revisited his roots again by teaming up with The Chieftains on Irish Heartbeat, which was followed by his biggest commercial success for some time in Avalon Sunset. Since the turn of the 1990s, Morrison has explored different genres more and more, first leaning towards blues with Too Long in Exile in 1993, which saw him return to the singles chart by teaming up with John Lee Hooker for a reworking of Gloria. His next collaboration was with Georgie Fame on the1995 album of mainly jazz standards, How Long Has This Been Going On. He ended the decade on a high with a first solo top 40 hit Precious Time, from the Back On Top album.
Pay the Devil
Morrison’s music came full circle as 2000 dawned, when he reunited with his boyhood heroes Lonnie Donegan and Chris Barber to record The Skiffle Sessions – Live in Belfast, at the city’s Whitla Hall. This year it was country music that received his attention on Pay the Devil, an album featuring 12 covers of classics given Morrison’s treatment and three original tracks.
Morrison’s influence can be heard in the music of artists of the calibre of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, Elvis Costello, Jeff Buckley and John Mellencamp. Whatever style he chooses to play, those at Chester Racecourse can be sure they are in for an accomplished performance.
-Andy McFarlane