Avalon Sunset (Remastered) Van Morrison

• 1 Whenever God Shines His Light 04:53
• 2 Contacting My Angel 04:59
• 3 I'd Love to Write Another Song 02:55
• 4 Have I Told You Lately 04:18
• 5 Coney Island 02:03
• 6 I'm Tired Joey Boy 02:31
• 7 When Will I Ever Learn to Live In God 05:39
• 8 Orangefield 03:52
• 9 Daring Night 06:14
• 10 These Are the Days 05:10
• 11 Whenever God Shines His Light (alternative take) 03:51
• 12 When the Saints Go Marching In 06:01
• Total Runtime 52:26

Info for Avalon Sunset (Remastered)

Avalon Sunset is the nineteenth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison.

The album opens with "Whenever God Shines His Light", issued as a successful single that charted at No. 20 in the UK and was a duet with Cliff Richard. The album contains the religious ballad "Have I Told You Lately", which became a hit single for Morrison, reaching #12 on the Adult Contemporary Charts and was a bigger hit for Rod Stewart in 1993. This song was included on Morrison's 2007 album, Van Morrison at the Movies – Soundtrack Hits.[citation needed] Brian Hinton compares the idyllic female in "Orangefield" to Beatrice in the Divine Comedy.

Phil Keaggy covered "When Will I Ever Learn to Live in God" on his 1993 album Crimson and Blue.

On Avalon Sunset, Rob Sheffield wrote, Morrison sang about God and love in a scat-influenced style, set against a musical backdrop of mellow folk rock. According to Donald Clarke, the album combined "religiosity and Celtic feeling, a sort of superior New Age music".

Van Morrison, vocal, guitar, producer
Alan Barnes, baritone saxophone
Neil Drinkwater, accordion, piano, synthesizer
Dave Early, drums, percussion
Georgie Fame, Hammond organ
Cliff Hardie, trombone
Carol Kenyon, backing vocals
Katie Kissoon, backing vocals
Henry Lowther, trumpet
Arty McGlynn, guitar
Steve Pearce, bass
Clive Culbertson, bass
Roy Jones, drums, percussion
Cliff Richard, vocal on "Whenever God Shines His Light"
Stan Sulzmann, alto saxophone
Gavyn Wright, string section leader

Digitally remastered

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.