Details
Track Listing
1. Down the Road
2. Meet Me in the Indian Summer
3. Steal My Heart Away
4. Hey Mr. DJ
5. Talk Is Cheap
6. Choppin' Wood
7. What Makes the Irish Heart Beat
8. All Work and No Play
9. Whatever Happened to PJ Proby?
10. Beauty of the Days Gone By, The
11. Georgia on My Mind
12. Only a Dream
13. Man Has to Struggle
14. Evening Shadows
15. Fast Train
Album Notes
Personnel includes: Van Morrison (vocals; acoustic guitar, harmonica, alto saxophone); Ned Edwards (acoustic & electric guitars, background vocals); Mick Green (acoustic & electric guitars); Johnny Scott (electric guitar, background vocals); Rosie Wetters (violin); Jake Walker (viola); Lee Goodall (flute, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, background vocals); Martin Winning (clarinet, tenor saxophone); Acker Bilk (clarinet); Matt Holland (trumpet, flugelhorn); Richard Dunn (piano, Hammond B-3 organ); Fiachra Trench (piano); John Allair, Geraint Watkins (Hammond B-3 organ); Pete Hurley (bass); Colin Griffin, Bobby Irwin (drums); Aine Whelan, Crawford Bell, Karen Hamill, Olwin Bell, Siobhan Petit (background vocals).
Recorded at The Wool Hall, Bath, England. Includes liner notes by Ben Sidran.
Like Woody Allen (if you'll indulge the analogy), Van Morrison is an artiste seemingly bound to a heavy-duty work ethic, churning out one release after another at a startlingly regular, workmanlike pace and only occasionally hitting some majestic artistic heights. DOWN THE ROAD might seem like a slow starter, but hear it through and it will gradually but definitively distance itself from the crowded, often samey pack of VM releases immediately preceding it. While the first few tunes are forays into folk-rock, R&B, and balladry of a sort far from uncommon in the Morrison repertoire, things pick up considerably midway through.
"Talk is Cheap" is an uncompromising blues tune that could be a BLONDE ON BLONDE-era Dylan outtake. "Choppin' Wood" bears an Ivory Joe Hunter-like backing, but the lyrics compare favorably to Van's '80s fave "Cleaning Windows." The Cab Calloway-style minor-key blues of "Whatever Happened to PJ Proby?" support quirky lyrics lamenting the loss of British rock cult figures Proby and Screaming Lord Sutch. Perhaps most impressive is "Man Has to Struggle," which manages the considerable feat of mating humanist philosophy to a soul groove. You never can tell what a mercurial sort like Van has up his sleeve.
Industry Reviews
4 stars out of 5 - ...Reflective...Morrison fondly evokes his greatest hits...[He] turns his autumnal fire into spring fever, yearning for love with the potency of a man in the prime of life - and voice.
Rolling Stone (06/06/2002)
...Finds Van patrolling his own comfort zone, revisiting familiar licks and topics...n
Mojo (06/01/2002)
4 stars out of 5 - ...Reflective...Morrison fondly evokes his greatest hits...[He] turns his autumnal fire into spring fever, yearning for love with the potency of a man in the prime of life - and voice.Mojo (6/02, p.100) - ...Finds Van patrolling his own comfort zone, revisiting familiar licks and topics...n
Rolling Stone (06/06/2002)
|
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
All rights reserved.
