Van Morrison & The Chieftains: Irish Heartbeat - 1988
Van Morrison has always been aware of his Irish musical heritage and here he joins up with traditional music and vocal group The Chieftains and re-visits a collection of traditional Irish songs. The fare is the sort that is regularly sung in bars all over Ireland, accompanied by the instantly recognisable bodhrán drum sound.
The songs don't necessarily require in depth analysis, save to say that Van's version of Raglan Road is just bloody marvellous - simultaneously moving and uplifting. You can literally hear the pleasure in his voice as he sings and encourages the band with his little vocal exhortations and when he whispers "listen". It is up there in my top ten Morrison songs of all time, it is that good. The moment Van starts to sing I get shivers down my spine, literally, then I invariably get all tearful, and I'm not even Irish (I am Celtic, however). If I am around when Van Morrison finally leaves this world, this will be the first of his songs that I play, along with Take It Where You Find It from Wavelength. Take me home, Van.
Other highlights are Star Of The County Down, Irish Heartbeat (which he had also recorded for 1983's Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart album, Celtic Ray, which had appeared on 1982's Beautiful Vision, Carrickfergus, the haunting, folky lament She Moved Through The Fair and the jaunty Belfast bar-room singalong of I'll Tell Me Ma.
A listen to this and you'll think you're in a bar in Kilkenny, Antrim or Wexford.