Van Morrison: Tupelo Honey - 1971
"When I went to the West Coast these people weren't that available so I had to virtually put a completely new band together overnight to do Tupelo Honey. So it was a very tough period. I didn't want to change my band but if I wanted to get into the studio I had to ring up and get somebody. That was the predicament I was in" - Van Morrison
After two comparatively vibrant, soulful, brassy albums, Van Morrison caught the zeitgeist post-Woodstock and, like Bob Dylan, relocated to a farm to live a tranquil life far from the madding crowd.
This is very much reflected in the material on this album, from 1971, although, ironically, the actual recording of it took place in California after Morrison's wife, Janet Planet, had convinced him to move there. He then had to get a new band set up, and this led to a bit of tension in the recording process. This was according to Morrison, but if there was fraughtness, you would never have known from the album's smooth, bucolic and relaxed vibe.
Let's check out the sweetness of that honey.....
Wild Night sounds like it is straight off 1970’s Street Choir - with an upbeat Celtic soul bass and drum intro and some strident horn riffs just like Domino which opened that previous album. However, this would prove to be one of the only pure pieces of Celtic soul on this album. It was an album in which Morrison was to go bluesy bucolic, like Bob Dylan on Nashville Skyline and Self Portrait. That whole laid-back country feel was the thing of the day. That said, though, Straight To Your Heart (Like A Cannonball), despite its county rock twangy guitar riffs and double-time waltzy beat still has some Celtic flute, lively “la-la-la” backing vocals and a catchy hook. After which, though, it gets decidedly different in tone.
Old, Old Woodstock is laid-back, tender and quite beautiful. Lovely gentle bass line on it. It is an appealing slice of slow-paced soul-bluesy rock. Far more reflective and low-key than anything on the previous album. Van ruminates on his peaceful, rustic life with his woman and child on the farm. He sounds a man very much at one with himself. Bob Dylan would do similar on the following year's New Morning. He also lived in the same part of the USA. It has a lovely piano bit in the middle too. Even on a comparatively understated track like this, however, Morrison still owns the track, his vocals rising confidently above the impeccable backing.
Starting A New Life is a cornerstone for the themes on the album. All country harmonica and acoustic guitar it celebrates exactly what the title says. It is nice and peaceful but it doesn’t hit you between the eyes, but then that was presumably not the intention of this album.
You're My Woman is a solid, potent bluesy rock ballad in praise of Van’s woman - the enigmatic Janet Planet. There is some excellent saxophone at the track’s climax. Some critics have had a problem with Morrison’s supposedly macho approach to “his woman”. Personally, I don’t. It was a song of its time. It was a blues song. Nothing to get too irked about.
Because there are no copper-bottomed Morrison classics on this album (apart from the title track), it is easy to overlook it in comparison with Moondance or St. Dominic’s Preview, which does it a bit of a disservice. There is some good material on here.
Now, let’s get to Tupelo Honey. Simply in my top five Van Morrison songs of all time. Big, dramatic, romantic, soulful. It has the lot. “She’s as sweet as Tupelo Honey, she’s an angel of the first degree…”. Does it get much better? Maybe - try “men with insight, men in granite….”. This magnificent, moving, inspirational track is packed full of classic moments. Jack Schroer’s saxophone against the ring guitar chords for one. The twin acoustic solos in the middle part. Just blooming beautiful. Then Van returns - “you can’t stop us on the road to freedom…” Oh my, you grumpy old deity. You lift my soul at times.
Country pleasures return with the Dylanesque (Self Portrait era) and acoustic I Wanna Roo You. When The Evening Sun Goes Down is even more country rock-ish, sounding just like The Band, Leon Russell and early Elton John. It has echoes of the country material Morrison would record years later on Pay The Devil. In the past I have tended to dismiss these last few tracks, being so blown away by the title track, but listening to them again reveals hidden joys.
Moonshine Whiskey's pedal steel guitar and catchy refrain continues the straw-bale hoedown feel, although Van gets all soulful in the middle when he serenades his “Texas sweetheart, all the way from Arkansas…”. Even in this jaunty country number he gets some classic Celtic soul Morrison-isms into it.
This is an often underrated Van Morrison album. Yes, it is no Astral Weeks or Moondance but it is worthy of more than just the occasional listen. I am glad I dug it out again.
PS - the alternative version of Wild Night included on the remaster is excellent. You also get Van's lively take on the gospel of Down By The Riverside.
