Reviews of Van Morrison at the Movies: Soundtrack Hits

Soundtrack.net
Reviewed by Matt Millstein
February 12th, 2007

Van Morrison is one of the greatest singer/songwriters of the past forty years. Morrison's songwriting abilities are second to none and his voice and style is completely original and recognizable. His music can range from upbeat rhythm-and-blues-drenched rock n' roll to slow, schmaltzy, adult contemporary. The new compilation Van Morrison at the Movies: Soundtrack Hits illustrates this range in the Irish singer's repertoire with total clarity. It is impressive how much Morrison's vast catalog has been appropriated by modern cinema. This album is not short - it is made up of nineteen songs, all from major motion pictures and nearly all of the songs are recognizable. There's nothing edgy about this album; it is smooth sailing from start to finish. The album covers the some of the early part of Morrison's career, exemplified by songs like "Gloria" and "Caravan", but it is also heavy on softer, adult contemporary love songs like "Have I Told You Lately" and "Hungry For Your Love", indicative of the latter part of his career. Van Morrison at the Movies: Soundtrack Hits was released by Manhattan Records a subsidiary of EMI/Capitol Records which specializes in adult contemporary albums, so the song selection isn't surprising.

Each song on this abum is matched up with a film. "Gloria" is part of the soundtrack for the movie The Outsiders, "Wild Night"is from the movie Thelma and Louise,"Caravan" from The Last Waltz, "Have I Told You Lately" from One Fine Day, "Real Real Gone" from Donovan Quick, "Into the Mystic" from Patch Adams, and "Days Like This" from As Good As it Gets, among others. "Comfortably Numb" is the only cover song on the album and it is quite an oddity. The track comes from the Roger Waters album, The Wall: Live in Berlin, 1990 and Waters, as well as members of The Band, assist Morrison on this rendition. To hear Van Morrison singing one of the classic Pink Floyd songs from The Wall is slightly jarring, but it works just the same - there's something novel and unique about this rendition. Comfortably Numb which was featured in the recent Martin Scorsese film The Departed comes as the last song on the album and is a fitting ending. "Caravan" is also from a Scorsese film, The Last Waltz, the concert film chronicling The Band's final concert, so it's amusing that "Caravan" and "Comfortably Numb" have similar musical personnel.

A number of the most well known songs on the album are live versions. "Caravan" is the exact version Morrison played in The Last Waltz concertand "Comfortably Numb" is from The Wall: Live in Berlin,1990. "Caravan", "Domino", "Moondance", "Into the Mystic" and "Comfortably Numb" are all fine live tracks, however none of them showcase Morrison at his "live" best. The studio versions of "Domino", "Moondance", "Into the Mystic" and "Caravan" are all among Morrison's studio best, so the bar is set pretty high. All are radio and fan favorites from the classic Van Morrison albums; Moondance and His Band and the Street Choir. Van Morrison at the Movies: Soundtrack Hits would have turned out better if the only live song on the album was "Comfortably Numb", because the song has a uniqueness that the other live tracks do not.

There are some great studio chestnuts from the latter part of Morrison's career like "Real Real Gone" from the Enlightenment album and "Days Like This" from the album of the same name. Both songs are from 90's albums. Van Morrison still puts on a good high energy live show, but his studio work is that of a gracefully aging artist. Listening to this album makes me want to listen to the early albums: Astral Weeks, Moondance, His Band and the Street Choir, Saint Dominicks Preview and Tupelo Honey; the best of Morrison is embedded in the albums of his prolific early career. Greatest hits packages will never be able represent the great Irish singer like his classic albums do. They lack the continuity and flow that moves from song to song.

Van Morrison at the Movies: Soundtrack Hits isn't a bad collection, it just isn't one I would choose. There are other hits packages that showcase the depth of Morrison's career with more balance,and for me nothing beats the early albums like Astral Weeks. I wouldn't recommend this album to anyone but a die-hard fan, or a lover of easy listening/ adult contemporary rock.

The Daily Texan
Van Morrison
Van Morrison At the Movies: Soundtrack Hits
Manhattan Records

3.5 stars

The only artist that deserves an "at the movies" comp is Kenny Loggins, considering that his three best songs came from films ("Caddyshack," "Footloose" and "Top Gun"). But Kenny Loggins sucks, and Van Morrison is one of the greatest artists of all time. So why give him the soundtrack treatment?

Even though calling an album Soundtrack Hits and releasing it the week before the Oscars is one of the sleaziest marketing schemes in recent memory, the album is surprisingly invaluable to even the biggest Van Morrison fans. His Greatest Hits compilation from 1998 is awful, haphazardly sequencing 1960s gems next to 1980s pop schlop.

Morrison has released a number of essential albums, so this compilation accepts the challenge of picking a single disc's worth of material and reinvents the wheel. Recent live versions of his two biggest hits, "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Moondance," are included instead of the originals, giving everyone a chance to discover these tunes again. "Jackie Wilson Said" (three minutes of perfect, perfect, perfect blue-eyed soul) is here too, along with his surprisingly awesome performance of "Comfortably Numb" with Roger Waters, best known from that scene in "The Departed" when Leonardo DiCaprio sleeps with Matt Damon's fiance.

The live version of "Caravan" from Martin Scorsese's seminal "The Last Waltz" finds Van the Man at the peak of his live powers. Rent the DVD to see Morrison wear his coolest pair of sequined bell bottoms and share a mic with Bob Dylan.

At the end of the day, Soundtrack Hits is the best single-disc introduction to Van Morrison on the market. Not only does it give a chronological overview of one of music's most frustratingly prolific songwriters, but also it breathes new life into old material by exchanging AM radio burnouts with live cuts and alternate takes. Highly Recommended.

Kenny Loggins will be performing at the One World Theatre on March 3. Tickets are $600, or $1000 for the meet and greet.

- Zach Ernst

Denver Post
While this is little more than a greedy repackaging of Morrison's music - live versions and covers too - it's still a potent and nostalgic walk down memory lane with Morrison and his storied career.

Starting with one of Morrison's early hits (with his band Them), "Gloria," and that same group's Big Joe Williams cover, "Baby, Please Don't Go," this compilation catches Morrison at his finest - particularly in the live arena. The live takes of "Domino," "Moondance," "Caravan," "Into the Mystic" and the cover "Comfortably Numb" are taken from movies as varied as 1981's "An American Werewolf in London," 1998's "Patch Adams" and 2006's "The Departed," but the recordings capture Morrison's inimitable vocals with pristine clarity and surprising depth.

"Irish Heartbeat," recorded with the Chieftains, is a nice inclusion from the film "The Matchmaker." It's easy to forget about the magic connection between the Belfast-born Morrison and the instrumentation of his homeland, but this lively portrait is a powerful reminder.|Ricardo Baca