Versatile Van Morrison

• 1 Broken Record 03:15
• 2 A Foggy Day 03:33
• 3 Let’s Get Lost 03:38
• 4 Bye Bye Blackbird 03:45
• 5 Skye Boat Song 04:01
• 6 Take It Easy Baby 04:07
• 7 Makin’ Whoopee 04:52
• 8 I Get A Kick Out Of You 04:10
• 9 I Forgot That Love Existed 03:37
• 10 Unchained Melody 04:33
• 11 Start All Over Again 04:40
• 12 Only A Dream 05:29
• 13 Affirmation 06:03
• 14 The Party's Over 03:10
• 15 I Left My Heart In San Francisco 06:01
• 16 They Can't Take That Away From Me 03:31
• Total Runtime 01:08:25

Info for Versatile

Nach dem gewaltigen Erfolg seines 37. Studioalbums Roll With The Punches, bereitet Van Morrison bereits die Veröffentlichung seines 38. Albums vor.

Versatile ist der eindeutige Beweis dafür, dass Van Morrison ganz anders gestrickt ist, als alle anderen Künstler. Als einer von sehr wenigen britischen Musikern, die einen garantierten Anspruch auf das Prädikat „lebende Legende“ haben, liefert Van aktuell neues Material in einer Frequenz, die selbst jüngere Musiker vor Scham erröten lässt. Dieser Arbeitsfleiß geht bereits auf seine frühen Tage als Musiker zurück, da es ihm schon damals ein Leichtes war innerhalb eines einzigen Jahres mehrere brillante Alben auf den Markt zu bringen.

Während sich Van auf Roll With The Punches deutlich all jenen Rhythm & Blues Platten zuwandte, die ihn schon ein Leben lang begleiten, sieht man ihn auf seinem neuesten Album eher in älteren Archiven graben, um so einige der großartigsten Jazz Standards des 20. Jahrhunderts zu interpretieren.

Quer durch die 16 Tracks von Versatile bietet Van Morrison so einige der für die moderne Musik maßgeblichen Stücke dar – in seinem äußerst einzigartigen Stil. Neben Songs, die einem breiten Publikum durch Künstler wie Chet Baker, Frank Sinatra, Righteous Brothers, Tony Bennett und Nat King Cole bekannt gemacht wurden, enthält Versatile auch sechs neue Kompositionen von Van persönlich, wie Broken Record – ein zeitloses Stück des Late-Night Swing. Van selbst sagt über Versatile: “Recording songs like these - especially the standards - gave me the chance to stretch out vocally and get back to the music that originally inspired me to sing - jazz!"

Versatile ist eine helle Freude, von Anfang bis Ende. Und obwohl es so vollkommen anders klingt als Roll With The Punches ist es doch unumstritten Van, der uns hiermit den – im Grunde nie benötigten – Beweis liefert, dass er auch im Alter von 72 Jahren noch immer keinen Gang zurückschalten will.

Van Morrison

Produced by Van Morrison

Van Morrison
One of music’s true originals Van Morrison’s unique and inspirational musical legacy is rooted in postwar Belfast.

Born in 1945 Van heard his Shipyard worker father’s collection of blues, country and gospel early in life.

Feeding off musical greats such as Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, Muddy Waters, Mahalia Jackson and Leadbelly he was a travelling musician at 13 and singing, playing guitar and sax, in several bands, before forming Them in 1964.

Making their name at Belfast’s Maritime Club Them soon established Van as a major force in the British R&B scene. Morrison’s matchless vocal and songwriting talents produced instant classics such as the much covered ‘Gloria’ and ‘Here Comes The Night’.

Those talents found full astonishing range in Van’s solo career.

After working with Them’s New York producer Bert Berns on beautiful Top 40 pop hit ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ (1967), Morrison moved to another realm.

Recorded over 3 days with legendary jazz musicians Astral Weeks (1968) is a still singular album combining street poetry, jazz improvisation, Celtic invocation and Afro Celtic Blues wailing.

Morrison would weave these and myriad other influences into the albums that followed in quick succession.

Reflecting on new life in America on the joyous Sinatra soul of Moondance (1970) and the country inflected Tupelo Honey (1971) he summoned old spiritual and ancestral life in the epic St Dominic’s Preview (1972) closer track Listen To The Lion.

Double live album Too Late To Stop Now (1973) highlighted Morrison’s superlative performing and bandleader skills. Mapping out a richly varied musical course throughout the 70s he shone among an all-star cast including Bob Dylan and Muddy Waters on The Band’s Last Waltz.

Indeed, borne of his Irish Showband instincts, the magic of the live performance has been a consistent feature of Morrison’s career.

Settling back into life in the UK in 1980 he released Common One an album centring on Summertime In England an extraordinary invocation of literary, sensual and spiritual pleasure the song would often become a thrilling improvised centrepiece to his live shows.

Steering his own course throughout the 80s on albums such as No Guru, No Method, No Teacher he claimed Celtic roots with The Chieftains on Irish Heartbeat. Teaming with Georgie Fame brought new impetus to his live show while Avalon Sunset saw him back in the album and single charts by the decades end.

Van Morrison continued to advance on his status as a game- changing artist through the 90s and into the 21st century.

Awards and accolades - a Brit, an OBE, an Ivor Novello, 6 Grammys, honourary doctorates from Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Ulster, entry into The Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and the French Ordres Des Artes Et Des Lettres - attested to the international reach of Van’s musical art.

Yet there was never any suggestion that Morrison, one of the most prolific recording artists and hardest working live performers of his era, would ever rest on his laurels.

Collaborations with, among others, John Lee Hooker, Ray Charles, Lonnie Donegan, Mose Allison and Tom Jones confirmed the breadth of his musical reach.

Morrison’s visionary songwriting and mastery of many genres continued to shine on albums celebrating and re-exploring his blues, jazz, skiffle and country roots.

The influence of the musical journey that began back in Post War Belfast stretches across the generations, and Morrison’s questing hunger insures that the journey itself continues.

Constantly reshaping his musical history in live performance, Morrison reclaimed Astral Weeks on 2009’s album Live At The Hollywood Bowl.

The subtitle of Van Morrison's latest album, Born to Sing: No Plan B, indicates the power that music still holds for this living legend. "No Plan B means this is not a rehearsal," says Morrison. "That’s the main thing—it’s not a hobby, it’s real, happening now, in real time."

With one of the most revered catalogues in music history and his unparalleled talents as composer, singer and performer Morrison’s past achievements loom large. But, as throughout his extraordinary career, how that past informs his future achievements and still stirs excitement and keen anticipation.

This album contains no booklet.