Customer Reviews

Hymns to the Silence

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

What a wonderful album to have. All of Morrison's eclectic tastes can be found here, delivered with a sparkling production clarity befitting this grand tenor.

"Take me back", "Need your kind of loving" and "Ordinary Life" are solid rock standards of guitar and barrel house piano. "Be Thou My Vision" and "See me Through" are beautifully rendered gospel hymns with an Irish twist. "I'm carrying a torch" is an aching love ballad. "Hyndford Street" and "Pagan Streams" are autobiographic spoken verse sonnets delivered in Morrison's delightful Ulster brougue. "Quality Street" and "All Saints Day" are such charming pop hooks that they seem to be derived from a by-gone era of Gershwin. All throughout, the set is accompanied ably on Hammond organ by the fluid Georgie Fame and the sensuous saxophone of Candy Dulpher.

Van Morrison has a wealth of recorded material to choose from, with varying degrees of consistency, but this album spans the radiance of his talents of songwriting and arrangement in such a concise manner that his elusive muse could ever allow. His voice has grown fuller with age. This is a mature work that I would endorse to anyone seeking a primer on this great man's career.

Hymns To The Silence is an opus magnum where Morrison's talent reaches awesome new heights. The album impresses on many levels: the lyrical ingenuity, melodic beauty, intelligent arrangements and above all the expert mastery of many different musical styles, including country, folk, soul, rock and gospel.

Although every track is memorable and tuneful, my favourites include I'm Not Feeling It Anymore with its galloping rhythms and flowing melody, the rocking Ordinary Life, a wry observation on life, the jaunty, jazzy So Complicated and the beautiful authentic country song I Can't Stop Loving You.

Very personal observations like Professional Jealousy and Why Must I Always Explain have more of the folky feel about them, especially the second one with its hypnotic melody line. Perhaps the greatest moment is Be Thou My Vision, an extraordinarily powerful hymn that is one of this artist's best descriptions of spiritual ecstasy.

In this regard, the title track is gripping too, but more subdued and restrained, creating a feeling of awe. See Me Through (Just A Closer Walk With Thee) is also very moving but a more traditional slice of gospel and it reminds me of Astral Weeks. The soulful song Take Me Back with its wistful harmonica likewise has a touch of that great album.

Hymns To The Silence is an uplifting work of genius on a par with Astral Weeks, Moondance and Tupelo Honey but provides greater variety than any of them. Every track here has some special quality and the alternating musical styles make it a wonderful and inspiring listening experience.

This is my Friday night after work music, my
Saturday night party music, and my quiet Sunday
morning music rolled into one. Yes, I too,
never get tired of the second cd. Hymns to the
Silence and Carrying a Torch are beautiful. I even
like Village Idiot alot. The clips they chose
are so questionable. Get this Van and open
a nice red wine. It's his best.

Oddly enough, I didn't pay Van Morrison too much attention while I was growing up in the late 60's and early 70's. I knew his many hits well, enjoyed them, but never really delved into him. I was mainly into the rambling progressive rock of that era. As I entered my early 30's, I found myself with a copy of "Avalon Sunset" and realized what I'd been missing all those years. This double disc set came out in the Fall of 91. Public radio was playing it often and I just had to hear more. Though it swings too wildly between moods to have a sustained flow to it, it contains what I feel are some of the best songs he'd written since "Moondance". Every style he had ever done up to this point is covered, not rehashed. His reading of "I Can't Stop Loving You" with The Chieftains is priceless. It ranks right up there with Ray Charles splendid version. The first disc is the stronger of the two, but the second one isn't a slouch either. "On Hyndford Street" is an incredible spoken word reverie set to ambient electronic sounds. The mood he evokes there is incredible. The second disc also has "Carrying A Torch" which is one of the most heartfelt ballads he's ever penned.
There's another spoken word piece called "Pagan Streams", but it falls a bit short as does his version of the hymn, "Be Thou My Vision". In spite of a few short commings, this disc holds a special place in my heart as it's overall spiritual tone hepled get me through a very difficult few months in my life, after the sudden death of my partner of eight years at the hands of two car theives in Detroit.

If you're not too familiar with Morrison's work, I'd recomend this beacuse it covers so much musical territory. These two discs cover about 97 minutes, and you might find that some of what you didn't care for much on the first few listenings grows upon you. It's all here. from Chicago style blues, Country, Jazz, to Celtic folk mysticism. I would also recomend "Moondance", "Tupelo Honey", "Saint Dominic's Preview", "Enlightenment" and "Avalon Sunset". Morrison's output has been massive over the last 30+ years. It's hard to keep up with him, but very rewarding in the trying.

To name just a few descriptive words . . .

When I first bought this album, "Brown Eyed Girl" was about the extent of my VM knowledge. Boy did I learn a lesson: Van the Man has so much more depth than Brown Eyed Girl displays . . .

Van takes us through an incredible journey of soul, gospel, blues, jazz, Celtic, and meditative music. The only element that remains constant throughout is that beautiful voice in the foreground . . .

Listen to this CD as you are trying to fall asleep. Gems like "Take me Back" will surely transport you to a time or place in your life where there are no such things as "problems." The title track is soothingly angelic, followed immediately by "Hynford Street," which is more a poetry reading than a song, but incredibly moody. It must be an autobiographical piece about his childhood, and his fond memories will certainly transpire to your own fond memories.

"Carrying a Torch" "It Must be You" "I Need Your Kind of Loving" are heart-wrenchingly romantic pieces . . ."Some Peace of Mind" and "So Complicated" a little on the jazzy side. . all other songs have some merit to them, but I won't go through all 22 of them. Get the album and find out for yourself!

Okay, enough raving . . .I think I'd like to go listen to the album!

If you are a Christian who can't stand the smarmy elevator sounds that pass for Christian music today, and you want to hear a few songs that will really move you, listen to Van's See Me Through, By His Grace, and Be Thou My Vision on this album. Other good (non-religious) songs include I'm Not Feeling it Anymore, Why Must I Always Explain, and Ordinary Life. Most of the remaining songs, which I have not mentioned, reveal a quieter Van and are good for background music, but they are not really worthy of repeated playing.

Hymns To The Silence is an opus magnum where Morrison's talent reaches awesome new heights. The album impresses on many levels: the lyrical ingenuity, melodic beauty, intelligent arrangements and above all the expert mastery of many different musical styles, including country, folk, soul, rock and gospel.

Although every track is memorable and tuneful, my favourites include I'm Not Feeling It Anymore with its galloping rhythms and flowing melody, the rocking Ordinary Life, a wry observation on life, the jaunty, jazzy So Complicated and the beautiful authentic country song I Can't Stop Loving You.

Very personal observations like Professional Jealousy and Why Must I Always Explain have more of the folky feel about them, especially the second one with its hypnotic melody line. Perhaps the greatest moment is Be Thou My Vision, an extraordinarily powerful hymn that is one of this artist's best descriptions of spiritual ecstasy.

In this regard, the title track is gripping too, but more subdued and restrained, creating a feeling of awe. See Me Through (Just A Closer Walk With Thee) is also very moving but a more traditional slice of gospel and it reminds me of Astral Weeks. The soulful song Take Me Back with its wistful harmonica likewise has a touch of that great album.

Hymns To The Silence is an uplifting work of genius on a par with Astral Weeks, Moondance and Tupelo Honey but provides greater variety than any of them. Every track here has some special quality and the alternating musical styles make it a wonderful and inspiring listening experience.

I've often regretted, with each VM album release, the fact that I never discovered the guy until "Too Long In Exile", which netted the Belfast Bard a little bit of US Adult Contemporary play, if only because John Lee Hooker played on the album - which is WONDERFUL, BTW.

I've been catching up ever since.

At any rate, HTTS will resonate particularly well if you've been exposed to the "spirituals" VM has decided to treat so tenderly on this album. It will also resonate well if you are, as I am, completely addicted to his passionate, unpretentious vocal styling and sensitivity. Even your most cynical atheist would give pause to his rendition of Cristy Lane's "Just Another Walk With Thee", if only because of the 'intimate detachment' that the Bard pulls off. Throwing my atheist/relativist friends a bone, the bulk of the songs are, indeed, non-religious, and kick an even greater amount of barnyard animal out of the cynic. Enjoy at high volume with a nice Pinot Noir.

Out of all 40 albums that Van has released, this is the best for those who share his spiritual, meditative quest. The second CD reaches transcendental heights, especially on the title cut, and the narrative Hyndford Street which follows. May you continue your quest, Van, and take us with you!

Hymns To The Silence is one of those recordings I owned on cassette, but hadn't yet got around to replacing it with CDs. Since I rarely play cassettes anymore, it lay neglected in its case for years until recently. When I played it through again, I realized that I had been missing some great music so when I saw the CD on sale recently at San Diego's Mojo Records for 14 dollars I couldn't resist the upgrade.
Before reviewing the CD, I read other reviewers' comments and was surprised by the number of reviewers who strongly liked one disc but thought the other filler. In my view, there are some great songs and a few throwaways on both of them. And I think its funny that some reviewers complain about Van's religious songs. Hey, Van is a spiritual guy! Get over it!
On disc one, my favorites are Professional Jealousy, Ordinary Life, So Complicated, and the soulful See Me Through Part II.
On disc two, I like All Saints Day, Be Thou My Vision, Carrying A Torch, Quality Street (the music more than the words), It Must Be You, and I Need Your Kind of Loving.
What's a throwaway? Well, I'm not much into his childhood narratives, we've heard them all before. And then there is the incessant griping about the price of fame. But other than the few songs in those veins there are a lot of worthwhile songs including a few that are among Van's best such as the previously mentioned Ordinary Life, Carrying A Torch and It Must Be You. If the lyrics weren't so trite and repetitious, Quality Street would be in that rank as well.
I have been a Van Morrison fan from the beginning and so have heard his high points and his low. Hymns To the Silence is an ambitious project of such scope that it would be hard for him to be on top of his game musically for the duration, and he isn't. So I can't give this CD five stars. There are many Van Morrison albums that are superior overall to this one. But the quality of the music is enough to give it a four-star rating. So if you are a Van Morrison fan, Hymns to the Silence belongs in your CD collection.