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┌────────┐ ██▀▀
────┤ Info ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
Artist | Van Morrison
Title | Versatile
Genre | Rock Format | Album
Source | CD Time | 68:21
Label | Exile Store | 2017
Catalog | 60256705335 Rip | 2017
Bitrate | 769 kbps Size | 394.61 MB
Freq | 44.1 kHz Encoder | FLAC 1.3.1
┌────────┐
────┤ Tracks ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
01. Broken Record 3:15
02. A Foggy Day 3:33
03. Let's Get Lost 3:37
04. Bye Bye Blackbird 3:45
05. Sky Boat Song 4:00
06. Take It Easy Baby 4:07
07. Makin' Whoopee 4:51
08. I Get A Kick Out Of You 4:09
09. I Forgot That Love Existed 3:37
10. Unchained Melody 4:32
11. Start All Over Again 4:40
12. Only A Dream 5:29
13. Affirmation 6:03
14. The Party's Over 3:09
15. I Left My Heart I San Francisco 6:01
16. They Can't Take That Away From Me 3:33
┌────────┐
────┤ Notes ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
Equal parts blue-eyed soul shouter and wild-eyed poet-sorcerer, Van
Morrison is among popular music's true innovators, a restless seeker whose
incantatory vocals and alchemical fusion of R&B, jazz, blues, and Celtic
folk produced perhaps the most spiritually transcendent body of work in the
rock & roll canon. Subject only to the whims of his own muse, his
recordings cover extraordinary stylistic ground yet retain a consistency
and purity virtually unmatched among his contemporaries, connected by the
mythic power of his singular musical vision and his incendiary vocal
delivery: spiraling repetitions of wails and whispers that bypass the
confines of language to articulate emotional truths far beyond the scope of
literal meaning.
"Versatile" is Morrison's 38th album, and follows the release of the
excellent R&B and blues covers collection "Roll With The Punches" by less
than three months. Like its predecessor, it's primarily a covers set, but
its focus is on jazz and pop standards from the Great American Songbook
with six originals added for good measure. Historically, these experiments
haven't worked for rock artists: Rod Stewart delivered five overblown,
badly sung collections from the canon, and Bob Dylan delivered five discs
of highly idiosyncratic interpretations of the stuff. Even Boz Scaggs tried
them with very mixed results.
Morrison fares better than his peers due to experience - standards have
peppered his set lists for decades. "Versatile" is not a pillar in his
catalog, but it's not a cynical cash-in, either. Morrison surrounds himself
with a septet that includes saxophones, trombone, keys, guitar, bass, and
drums. Most of these tracks were recorded in hotel lounges in Ireland's
County Down, adding to the slippery jazz feel. The canonical material
proves a real interpretive challenge. Curiously, he opens the record with a
throwaway new original entitled "Broken Record", that shows off his band's
fingerpopping swing quotient but little else.
He quickly recovers with a fine reading of the Gershwin's "A Foggy Day",
showcasing his fluid phrasing and empathic lyric interpretation. His Chet
Baker worship is well known, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that he
takes on "Let's Get Lost". His take is jaunty, offering tinges of Jimmy
Rushing-inspired R&B while retaining its identity as a jazz tune. While his
muted scat groove on Cole Porter's "Bye Bye Blackbird" is overly strident,
he gives a polished, nuanced performance to the composer's "I Get A Kick
Out Of You". "Makin' Whoopee" contains a nice bluesy chart (Dave Keary's
electric guitar playing recalls Grant Green's), but Morrison's vocal is
uncomfortably stilted.
Among his own tunes are two new ones - the punchy, Jimmy Witherspoon-esque
"Take It Easy Baby" and the contemplative, nearly spiritual, modal,
instrumental "Affirmation" with Sir James Galway guesting on flute - as
well as beautifully rendered rearrangements of catalog material - "I Forgot
That Love Existed", "Start All Over Again" and "Only A Dream". There is
also a deeply satisfying arrangement of the traditional "Skye Boat Song"
that melds Celtic soul with Celtic swing as Morrison's smoky alto sax leads
the rest of the horn section's lithe groove.
While he could have left off "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" as it adds
nothing to the the canonical versions by Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra,
readings of "The Party's Over" "Unchained Melody" and the Gershwin closer
"They Can't Take That Away From Me" are impeccable examples of Morrison's
mercurial phrasing and limpid modern arrangements that make swing their top
priority. "Versatile" has its flaws and will likely appeal most to longtime
fans, but Morrison fully invests himself in each tune, singing them as if
he wrote them. This is head and shoulders above similar efforts by his
peers and a solid addition to his shelf.
┌────────┐
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└────────┘