Van Morrison: Latest Record Project Vol. 1 - 2021
This review is made up (in places) of my opinions about Van Morrison's opinions. I think mine are the correct ones, he no doubt believes the same of his. To quote Van himself, there's no why, why, why - it just is.
So here we go then, as I launch my own Morrison-style rant.
Morrison totally disgraced himself with his ignorant, imbecilic and irresponsible rejection of lockdown restrictions. So he couldn’t play live gigs for a while - there were lives at stake you foolish, selfish old man.
Anyway, enough of that, because if you have trawled through my reviews of his work, you will know that I love his music dearly. However, he seriously crossed the line with recent behaviour. Having refused to even listen to the moronic anti-lockdown diatribes he released as singles prior to this album, am I going to “cancel” him, to use the contemporary, highly irritating phrase? Possibly, but no, not quite for this album, because, perversely - and I stress that most strongly - to a certain extent it finds him getting back to what he does best - that is moaning about the music industry and the media instead of bellyaching about not being able to go to the pub and people choosing to protect themselves and wearing a mask - and I have got used to him doing that over many years now.
Where the problem comes is that with this latest offering that is only the start of it as he turns his sour invective on pretty much everything that you would depressingly expect a reactionary septuagenarian to target, and some. There is always that overbearing negativity these days in much of Morrison's lyrical output - and it's getting abjectly worse. Lockdown has left him with as much time on his hands as a teenage footballer-abusing online racist.
A cursory look at some of the album's titles leaves one in no doubt that Morrison is not a happy chap at all - Where Have All The Rebels Gone?, Tried To Do The Right Thing, The Long Con, Big Lie, Diabolic Pressure, Stop Bitching-Do Something, They Own The Media, Jealousy and the admittedly wonderfully-titled Why Are You On Facebook? (I'm not, Van. Never have been. Nor Twitter either). These titles betray a man beset by angst, annoyance, irritation, possible mild paranoia, a destructive feeling that "they" are out to get him and, of course, how stiflingly terrible it is to be a prisoner of the media, fame and the music industry for so long.
Furthermore, and very disturbingly, he seems to have gone all Morrissey on what sounds like a right wing rant on the track Western Man, where he claims that the West's supposedly deserved rewards have been unjustly taken from them by "foreigners". Oh dear. Oh dear indeed.
"I'm a targeted individual" he tells us on The Long Con. Maybe you are, Van, for turning into an idiot before our eyes and ears. Van also has a slightly unhinged pop at psychiatry on Psychoanalysts' Ball, but he comes across like Basil Fawlty panicking when he learned that there was a psychiatrist staying at the hotel. They're coming for you, Van.
On It Hurts Me Too he sounds like a schoolteacher about to administer a beating and declaring "this is going to hurt you more than it hurts me". He even finds time here to have a less than sly dig at those who dutifully buy his music in Latest Record Project - a retrospective-sounding track that - ironically - offers nothing new at all. I still like it, though, as I do the infectious Morrison-style jazzy bounce of his get-out clause excuse for his ranting, Only A Song. Love Should Come With A Warning is sumptuous Morrison Hammond B-3 organ-driven soul featuring impressive backing vocals.
I must briefly interject that, musically, there are no new furrows ploughed. Did you really expect there to be? I'm still more than ok with the album, instrumentally, and there is no reason why that shouldn't be the case - after all I love his trademark later era sound - but lyrically I am reaching the end of my own long road with Morrison. What a shame that it has come to this. I find, though, that paying scant attention to the lyrics and just enjoying the music is possible. For example, I love the sheer original r'n'b vibrancy of Where Have All The Rebels Gone? Tracks like Thank God For The Blues and A Few Bars Early are refreshing in that they leave the griping at the bar-room door and Van just plays and sings the blues. Thank God for that, not just for the blues.
Briefly returning to the lyrics, Van's maudlin self-pity on Tried To Do The Right Thing is actually quite touching. He sounds like a regretful old man who admits he has made mistakes here. "It all went wrong" he bemoans. You can say that again. Nothing much more for me to say is there?
As usual, as when I bought the previous album - it's possibly too late to stop now. Maybe after this interminable collection of vituperative rantings it really is time to stop. The problem is that I love the sound, delivery and backing of his ranting and probably always will. All things considered, it is still a really good album and I enjoy listening to it, despite the lyrical content. * Two weeks on, how do I feel about the album now? Well, I love it - good music and singing is exactly that - good. I'll ignore some of the dumber lyrics, letting Van rant on while I enjoy a really good album. I've become as perverse as Van himself, haven't I?
