release date: Dec. 1984
format: cd (2008 remaster)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]
producer: Van Morrison
label: Exile / Polydor - nationality: Northern Ireland, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Tore Down a la Rimbaud" - 2. "Ancient of Days" - 3. "Evening Meditation" - 5. "What Would I Do" - 6. "Sense of Wonder" - 8. "If You Only Knew" - 10. "A New Kind of Man"
15th studio album by Van Morrison originally released by Mercury is released 1½ years following Inarticulate Speech of the Heart. Here he returns to his formula of combining soul, rhythm & blues, celtic folk in a singer / songwriter fusion arranged using a traditional backing band and incorporating Hammond organ and brass.
It may contain the 'usual' spiritual song titles like "The Master's Eye", "Evening Meditation", as well as the title track itself, but the overall impression here is not with a search of religious belief in mind as much as a selection of nicely arranged and well-orchestrated songs. Van is well-known for writing everything on his own, but here he has made room for a song by Ray Charles, one by Mose Allison and a song credited William Blake, Adrian Mitchell, and Mike Westbrook.
The album is definitely a step up compared to the new age style of the predecessor, and without being a classic top-album from The Man, it's a rather well-arranged album with several fine compositions and he his vocal performance shines as always.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5 stars ]
