Friday 11 November 2016

What we're listening to. Van 'Keep me singing'.


No you'll know we love Ivan Morrison. We grew up on his music, he lives/lived near our offices so we'd see him out and about as well as his son/daughter go to the same school as Sarah in Streamabout.

But we're Van traditionalists and so the later 'No Plan B' type Albums we took them for what they were. Perfectly good but not classics.

So you always want a return to form. And here, Ladies and Gentlemen, is it.

2016 'Keep me singing' is as good as it gets. Very much fits in with the 'Wavelength' or 'No Guru' series but there's a lot of beautiful work in here. Despite that is, a dreadful Album title, awful cover design and picking the least strong track as the single. Who does that?

It's his 36th Album and chilled. But astonishingly we see John Platania on the credits so that gives you a sense of the roots of this. 

It's perfect really but you have to be a Van fan to get it. And if you're not, it's not a bad place to start. Great record from the Healer. Just add it and don't hesitate. It's nice to have him back at 71. 

Of course you can then go back to earlier this year and the new volumes of 'It's too late to stop now'. That's possibly his best, ever.





Previous "listen to's" you'll also find on this blog (you can search them in the Search top left on the Blog)......Frank Sinatra 'Songs for Swinging Lovers': Al Stewart 'Year of the Cat': Stevie Ray Vaughan 'Texas Flood':Frank Ocean 'Blond': Jimmy Buffett 'Son of a Sailor': Marc Cohn 'Marc Cohn': Bill Withers 'Complete Sussex and Columbia': Hendrix 'Electric Ladyland': ABC 'Lexicon of Love': Rickie Lee Jones 'Rickie Lee Jones': Billy Joel "Glass Houses": Rodriguez "Cold Fact": Prefab Sprout 'Steve McQueen'; Chet Baker 'Live 64-79'; The Stone Roses 'Stone Roses'; Joe Jackson 'I'm the Man'; Oasis 'Morning Glory'; Bob Dylan 'At The Budokan'; Van "It's too late to stop now Volume 2/3/4"; Air 'Moon Safari'; Talking Heads 'Stop Making Sense'; Lynyrd Skynyrd 'One for the road'; Marvin Gaye 'Whats Goin on'; Mercury Rev 'Deserters Songs'; Dave Matthews 'Crash'; Beyonce 'Lemonade'; Prince 'Sign O the times'; Daft Punk 'Random Access Memories'; Amy Winehouse 'Back to Black';Police 'Outlandos D'Amour'; Michael Jackson 'Off the Wall'; Carole King 'Tapestry'; Beatles 'Red Album'; Sex Pistols 'Never mind the Bollocks'; Sam Cooke 'Live at Harlem Square'; The Doors 'LA Woman'; Thin Lizzy 'Live & Dangerous'; Kendrick Lamarr 'Butterfly'; Aretha Franklin 'Amazing Grace'; Clapton '461'; Massive Attack 'Blue Lines'; The Clash 'London Calling'; Chris Isaak 'At The Filmore'; Bob Dylan 'Street Legal'; Bad Company 'Straight Shooter'; Jackson Browne 'Love is Strange'; Lou Reed 'Transformer'; Steely Dan 'AJA'; Stones 'Black+Blue'; Stephen Bishop 'Careless'; Nils Lofgren 'Night after Night'; Mike Oldfield 'Tubular Bells'; Neil Young 'Harvest'; Led Zep '4'; David Bowie 'David Live'; Van Morrison 'It's too late to stop now'; Wings 'Band on the Run'; Rod Stewart 'Atlantic Crossing'; Ryan Adams 'Heartbreaker'; Santana 'Essential'; Bob Dylan 'Desire'; Roxy Music 'For your pleasure'; Bob Marley 'Legend'; Stephen Fretwell 'Magpie'; James Taylor 'Sweet Baby James'; Deep Purple 'Machine Head'; Springsteen 'Darkness on the edge of town'; Leon Bridges 'Coming Home'; Eagles 'Hotel California'; Jungle; Aretha 'Soul Queen'; Neil Young 'After the Goldrush' ; Zappa 'Overnite Sensation'; Fleetwood Mac 'Rumours'; Keith Jarrett 'Koln Concert'; Doobies 'Southbound'; Stevie Earle 'I feel Alright'; Tom Waits 'Closing Time'; Pink Floyd 'Dark Side'; Van Morrison 'Moondance'; Eric Church 'Caught in the Act'; Randy Newman 'Little Criminals'; Elton John 'Madman across the water'; Patti Smith 'Horses'; Doobies 'Captain and Me'; Steely Dan 'Can't Buy a Thrill'.