Can You Feel the Silence?: Van Morrison: A New Biography (Paperback)

~ (Author) "It was on Hynford Street, in East Belfast, in a small terraced house that had belonged to his mother's family since she was nine, that..." (more)
Key Phrases: flamingoes fly, foggy mountain top, paying punters, Van Morrison, Astral Weeks, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Heylin's weighty new biography of enigmatic music man Van Morrison is an ambitious and prodigiously researched work. It is most gripping in the early chapters describing Morrison's rise from his working-class roots in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, to the top of the U.K. music charts with the hard-rocking R&B outfit Them, best known for their three-chord romp "Gloria." Heylin (Behind the Shades) paints a captivating portrait of the ambitious and driven young blues and soul enthusiast who would go on to play a historical role in the early 1960s British Invasion, alongside the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and The Who. But before Them could enjoy the success of its British musical peers, the rough-throated singer moved on, both musically and personally. Here the book gets bogged down, as Heylin chronicles Morrison's misbegotten business deals that leave him near destitute and endlessly bitter. Morrison flies through a succession of managers as fast as he shifts musical styles on such landmark albums as Astral Weeks and Moondance. To the reader, Morrison's reputation as a curmudgeon (seemingly well-earned from the anecdotal evidence presented here) doesn't compare to the transcendent experience of listening to his music.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Van Morrison first hit the charts in 1965 with the Irish rock band Them, but his 1968 solo album Astral Weeks, still one of rock's few universally acknowledged masterpieces, made him a critics' darling, and Moondance (1970) made him an FM-radio staple. Since then, he has been a prolific recording artist and a sometimes-incendiary live performer. Fusing R & B, jazz, blues, and Celtic folk, Morrison's music has grown increasingly to reflect the songwriter's spiritual quest. Legendarily cantankerous, Morrison is notoriously uncooperative with biographers and, for that matter, with most other humans, for which Heylin has compensated by talking with Morrison's many musical collaborators and perusing the three decades of previously published Morrison interviews. Fans whose interest flagged sometime during his lengthy career may find the last third of the book--largely a repetitive traversal of less-inspired, relatively nondescript later albums--rough going, but that's Morrison's fault, not his biographer's. Any popular musician who boasts highs as high as Morrison's best--not to mention his longevity--deserves a thoroughgoing biography like Heylin's. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press (October 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556525427
• ISBN-13: 978-1556525421
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #377,563 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A bit flawed but easily the best Van Morrison biography so far, December 27, 2005

By	M. McM "AOTT-TMF" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Can You Feel the Silence?: Van Morrison: A New Biography (Hardcover)

There aren't many Van Morrison biographies out there, and most of them rely on musical analysis as attempts to flesh out Morrison's life are often hindered by Morrison himself. This book falls a bit short, but it's still the best biography on Morrison to date.

People who call it a hatchet job are overreacting. Heylin isn't out to get Morrison, but he can't avoid the negative stories (given here in an 'oral history' format). This is a subject who has alienated so many important figures in his professional and personal life, and if Heylin were to cut back on the unflattering anecdotes, you wouldn't understand why Morrison has lost so many great collaborators over the years and how some of his closest relationships have fallen apart (and in return, impacted his work). In fact, one of the most interesting things about this book is how it digs deep into Morrison's written and recorded output, looking at songs he hasn't even released, and ties them with Morrison's own experiences. A few reviewers criticized Heylin for dismissing Morrison's opinions, but to be fair, Heylin still includes Morrison's take on his own work, often unedited; taken from numerous interviews, these passages show an artist who is often unwilling to talk about his work and even contradicts himself in different interviews.

This brings me to the next point: there is actually PLENTY of musical analysis. There's definitely a lot less than other Morrison books, but again, those books relied on musical analysis and don't come close to collecting the amount of research Heylin has presented here. In fact, this book actually does a great job explaining how certain albums came together.

More importantly, this book debunks numerous myths surrounding Morrison. Some of this is old news; for example, Richard Davis and others have been very upfront that "Astral Weeks" was a collaborative effort with little guidance from Morrison, even though he did write the songs. However, Heylin also argues that the sessions for "Hard Nose The Highway" were actually some of Morrison's most productive (often considered his weakest album, Heylin argues that this is a result of poor song selection, not a lack of inspiration as many critics have argued). He also points out that the "three-year drought" was actually much shorter and that plenty of significant recordings were made during that time - unfortunately it would take 20 years to release them. While the later chapters create a less flattering picture of the man's personality, they also command a complete re-evaluation of his 80's output, finding great merit in songs like 'Summertime In England' and albums like "No Guru..." and even "Down The Road." In fact, the chapter covering "Down The Road" is the biggest eye-opener; even though some information was reportedly censored (at the time of publication, Morrison was involved in a lawsuit, and the case's details had to be dropped), there is still a wealth of new information regarding the circumstances surrounding "Down The Road" and what could've been a "return to form."

One reviewer made a crucial point: we still don't understand how a complete grouch can make such transcendant, beautiful music. Heylin sort of tries, and one could theoretically connect the dots - Morrison's restless but capricious spiritual quest offers some hints, as does Morrison's visits to his own homeland leading up to his eventual return - but this should've been explored a bit more.

You're not going to find a Morrison bio with this much research. Yeah, Heylin's tone can be a bit curmudgeonly sometimes, but it suits the story.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ignore the Snob's Poor Ratings - This Book is Great!, February 13, 2004

By	Waki Ho (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Can You Feel the Silence?: Van Morrison: A New Biography (Hardcover)

I, for one, enjoyed this new biography of Van Morrison immensly. It's definetly up there with the best. It amazes me how people give books bad reviews and critisize the author just because they don't like what they read about their "heroes," and blame the author for it. Van Morrison is in no way going to give any author total access to him unless he has complete control and the book is guaranteed to be so whitewashed that the information in it would be totally unreliable. And I'm sure there are those close to Van who didn't want to participate in this book because of their concern of his privacy and how it might affect their friendship/relationship with him. I found the information in here to be quite interesting, including his failed business ventures, etc. After all, these things are what shape the man as he is today. Ignore the snobs who didn't like this book. If you love Mr. Morrison, you will enjoy it...unless you're one of those snobs. It really is a great book!

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Three of a kind, January 1, 2004

By	Richard Magee "Wish Ewe Were Hear" (Abingdon, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Can You Feel the Silence?: Van Morrison: A New Biography (Hardcover)

First of all, I agree with the kudos and complaints other reviewers have expressed about this book.
Most disturbing to me is Heylin's copping a mantra from "Summertime in England" as a title for his book (and the title really adds nothing to the work Heylin produces) and the subtitle "A New Biography," an obvious dig at Morrison's song "New Biography" in which he rails against others' invasions of his privacy. Heylin quotes Morrison singing "I can't even remember last week" and uses that to "prove" Morrison's take on any issue is worthless. The point of the line in the song is, how can people claim to recall who did/said what from decades ago in such detail when most people have trouble recalling the more recent past? Here, Heylin is either obtuse or disingenuous.
Most of what Heylin has to "expose" about Van Morrison could (and has) been said about Bob Dylan and Neil Young- the eccentric behavior, musical unpredictability, botched/abandoned musical projects, and lack of social skills. Given the creative output of these three, perhaps that's the only way to consistently tap into the muses that lead them on (that and the fact that if you want to succeed on a grand scale, you have to be willing to work without a net and allow yourself to fail on an equally grand scale). As Leonard Nimoy said during a stage show about Vincent van Gogh, "If a poet touches your heart with a line or a poem, isn't that enough? What do we expect of our artists? Must he also meet your social needs?" (paraphrased, but pretty close to the point). Considering van Gogh and Elvis Presley, Van doesn't seem nearly as dysfuntional as Heylin would have us believe.
That having been said, the point can be made that if Morrison finds the life of a singer-songwriter so intolerable, he could stop. Heylin is correct in pointing out that Van seems to crave the very attention he espouses to detest.
The bottom line is: like him or leave him. That goes for journalists, musicians, and fans alike. The same can be said for Heylin's works. Just as with Dylan, Young, and Morrison, I choose to read Heylin's works and appreciate the plusses and learn to bypass the negatives.