Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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65 of 70 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Play it Again - with Mixed Feelings, November 10, 2004
Van Morrison is an absolutely amazing individual who has performed in a huge array of styles in his decades as a musician and singer. That array of mixed styles is probably the largest flaw in this collection. A much better Van Morrison collection would need to be a boxed set dividing his music into styles: soul, R&B, pop, funk, and rock, though even those styles are perhaps less than inclusive and in some cases it may be difficult to determine where a particular song fits, rather than aiming for a retrospective on a single disk.
Another problem with this CD is the flow of the music. There seems to be no pattern to how the music is laid out, either in terms of era or style. Essentially the CD seems disorganized, as though someone had put the songs they wanted to include on the CD into a hat and started choosing them one at a time. I have read that Van Morrison wanted nothing to do with this CD, and I think the end result explains why.
Possibly the remaining concern is that the music selected is the most popular of Van Morrison's work. I understand the need to have some measure of commercial value in the release of a greatest hits or best of collection, but such a collection tends to pass over some of the better music of many artists. Once again, a boxed set could present some of Van Morrison's artistically excellent music that was less commercially successful. Of course, the fans most interested in that kind of music likely already have it on the albums, but why not represent the true scope of an artist?
Getting past my issues with the organization of the music, this CD is perhaps the best single CD collection of Van Morrison available, explaining the four star rating. Some of the songs I had forgotten, or perhaps never knew, were Van Morrison's.
Included on this CD are soul songs like "Bright Side of the Road" and "Queen of the Slipstream." "Queen of the Slipstream" is also heavily spiritual. In a completely different vein are songs in a style I call crooner, suitable for night clubs, like "Moondance," "And It Stoned Me," and "Have I Told You Lately." "Moondance" immediately calls to mind "Mac the Knife."
There are songs that were once called funk or funky, like "Warm Love" and "Cleaning Windows." There is the funk-tinged spiritual song "Whenever God Shines His Light," sung in a style highly reminiscent of Billy Joel on "River of Dreams."
Then there is the pop and rock Van Morrison, represented by hits "Gloria," with its Stones-like sound, "Brown Eyed Girl," which is perhaps Van Morrison's most recognized song, "Full Force Gale," and "Domino," among others. In another twist of styles is "Wonderful Remark," which has a very Springsteen-styled sound.
Van Morrison is no copycat. He chooses styles to fit the music, and his own very unique sound is represented on songs like the previously mentioned "Brown Eyed Girl," "Jackie Wilson Said," "Domino," "Wild Night," and "Dweller on the Threshold."
Van Morrison's career has entered its fifth decade, experimenting with styles and sounds throughout. Van Morrison's sound has not so much evolved as just been the sound appropriate for his intent at the time. He seems equally at home with singing in whatever style he feels like singing at the moment. Some singers have said they have sung styles that they would not revisit as they age. Van Morrison will continue to sing the style appropriate to his mood, regardless of his age.
With all its flaws, this CD is probably the best available single collection of Van Morrison's work. It is also one of his biggest sellers, if not THE biggest. His musical ability overwhelms all flaws and makes this a highly enjoyable and valuable CD for a discerning musicologist's collection. Choose "The Best of Van Morrison, Vol. 2" to expand your best of Van Morrison collection further.
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great introduction, February 22, 2000
This was my first Van Morrison CD, and it turned me into a fan. As an introduction to his work, it's unbeatable, and one of the best "best of" out there. Now that I have other Van CDs, it's obvious that Into The Mystic and Tupelo Honey (two of the best songs ever from any artist) should have been included here. However, if you want to get to know the music of Van The Man, Brown Eyed Girl, Moondance, Gloria, Have I Told You Lately, Sweet Thing, Whenever God Shines His Light and Wild Night, to name a few, will give you a good idea. One last note: regarding the "censored" Brown Eyed Girl debate... I have the American version of this CD, and though the lyrics in the liner notes do not include the "making love on the green grass" line, the song on the CD does.
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Compilation But Far From Great, February 3, 2000
This release, which provides an overview of Van's career from 1964-1990, was probably compiled with a minimal amount of effort. There are no rare tracks or compelling liner notes included with this selection as there are on many greatest hits CD's. The selection of songs is a bit erratic and misses a couple of obvious choices, among them "Tupelo Honey". There are probably reasons for this. When this disc was released the rights to several of the songs were controlled by different record companies. Becuase of this Van fans could not obtain any sort of comprehensive offering of his songs. So while this CD solved that problem, it created others. First issue, which isn't huge, is that the collection does not flow well. We get 4 key tracks from the 1960's ("Baby Please Don't Go"; "Gloria"; "Here Comes The Night"; and "Brown Eyed Girl") but they are randomly mixed in with his material from the 1970's and 1980's. Also, it would have been a nice touch to include a couple more songs from the early Warner Brothers period (1968-74), including some of the B-sides or out-takes that have yet to make it on CD (some examples of the songs were contained on the "Philospoher's Stone" double-CD, but others continue to be unavailable). Van has had such a productive and multi-faceted career that it is hard to gather the highlights in some kind of logical order, but it can be done with care (as it was on the double-CD anthology "The Story Of Them Featuring Van Morrison"). Some record labels have released several greatest hits packages for one artist, but for Van this is only compilation to be had, and for all of its flaws it will have to do until something better comes along.
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