Van Morrison: Keep It Simple

With Van Morrison's astounding 35th album release, he opted to, as the title states, "Keep it Simple," by returning to his roots and for what he is most well-known. Van's music has obvious tones of blues, jazz, folk and soul, and here he blends those together into a web of tunes that span various ages and genres.The album opens with a hearty blues song, "How Can a Poor Boy?" A steady blues rhythm leads the song, with a slick electric lead and Van playing an authentic old-fashioned harmonica.

Later on the album is another jazzy blues, "Don't Go to Nightclubs Anymore." A soft organ plays Van through the song, with a light guitar and warm backing vocals. The mere tune reminds one of a smoke-filled, half-empty jazz bar, with the entire scene in black-and-white. An easy drumbeat marches throughout the song, and Van repeats over this the numerous things he no longer does since he has grown older.

If any is to be found on this album, "That's Entrainment" is Van's traditional upbeat love song. It is very possible to hear bits of "Brown-Eyed Girl," "Domino" and "Gloria." Yet no matter how many times he sings a song similar to this, he can always make it sound refreshing. His vocals are perhaps at their best on this song, and are relaxed and lulling.

Yet in all honesty, Van's voice is definitely not the high point of the album. There are points in songs where Van Morrison's voice gets too relaxed, or more particularly, lazy, and he sounds much like Bob Dylan singing live: completely incomprehensible. If not for the title of the song "Behind the Ritual" being at my disposal, I would have no idea what any of the words of this song were. At 4:30 into this song, he begins to repeat what very well may be the word "love," yet it sounds like he is continuously singing, "Blah blah blah."

Instead, most of the high points come in the form of the music itself. The organ in "End of the Land" is some of the best I have heard in contemporary rock and folk, and the banjo in "Song of Home," while simple, completely out-does Morrison's lackluster performance. "Soul" also showcases a great saxophone solo.

"School of Hard Knocks" has a great lead guitar, extremely reminiscent of Mark Knopfler's later solo work, particularly his latest "Kill to Get Crimson." Van's lyrics aren't his best by any means, with, "I was educated by the school of hard knocks / Who's going to patronize me now?" However, his voice does come through clearly for most of the song, which is refreshing.

The album's title track, "Keep it Simple," is Van's statement of purpose for the album. He claims music has become too greedy and disappointing, and he wants to take his own music back to its glory days, when people sang for love of music. Regardless of personal opinion, it's difficult to overlook his point of view, seeing as he's been in the business for longer than many of us have been alive. This might be Van's way of explaining his lazy vocals: many recordings from the "golden age" were deficient in terms of sound quality, particularly compared to what recording equipment can do today. His lax voice may be hearkening back to those days, when one might have needed to listen closely to pick out the lyrics. Though I doubt it.

It's very admirable of Van Morrison to recall the days when folk music was such a popular form. I can't hold much against Van for having lackluster vocals. Indeed, many new bands today put no energy into vocals at all. It's just difficult to hear his voice go this way after having so much wonderful crooning from him in the past. The album is definitely worth a listen, at the least. The life-long Van fans will find this to be true to Van's style. But if you're looking to get interested, start with something earlier.