Track Listing

1. Wild Night
2. (Straight to Your Heart) Like a Cannonball
3. Old Old Woodstock
4. Starting a New Life
5. You're My Woman
6. Tupelo Honey
7. I Wanna Roo You [Scottish Derivative]
8. When That Evening Sun Goes Down
9. Moonshine Whiskey

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12928 in Music
• Released on: 1997-06-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered

Amazon.com essential recording
Van Morrison's "Caledonia soul"--his unique blend of Irish mysticism and spiritual questing, literary allusion and blue-eyed R&B--can be as beautiful and deeply emotional as any music ever made. That's certainly the case on 1971's Tupelo Honey, one of the finest albums of Morrison's long career. Kicking off with the classic "Wild Night," Tupelo Honey is as completely joyous as the normally bitter Van gets, particularly on the title track and the unabashedly grateful, slow-building "You're My Woman," both among the most moving love songs he's recorded. --David Cantwell

Customer Reviews

A Splendid Early Effort By Van The Man!
This is a classic and very popular effort by a young Van Morrison at the apex of his earlier phase in the late sixties and early seventies. There are a number of timeless songs here, including the title cut of "Tupelo Honey", the original version of "Wild Night", later covered quite well by John Cougar Mellencamp, and also "Like A Cannonball". My own personal favorites include both "I Want To Roo You", a lovely traditional Irish love song, and "Old Woodstock", referring to his time spent living in the small and now very touristy Woodstock, Vermont, while he lived here in the states for a number of years. It is an elegiac, evocative, and haunting recollection of life lived on the outskirts of conventional life, a man flirting with a countercultural lifestyle, and lovingly extolling the virtues of a simple life well lived. For all his fabled success and uncounted millions, Morrison has never forgotten his humble origins or the ordinary life most people live. This is a terrific album, and one that is most representative of his early work and unforgettable voice and musicianship. Enjoy this one

Van Morrison goes country
Many people are familiar with "Wild Night" the hit single from "Tupelo Honey" that was inexplicably covered by John Mellencamp a few years ago. Be forewarned, from there Morrison spends much of the rest of the album evoking the sounds of rural America, climaxing with "Moonshine Whiskey," which extolls the virtues of "southern love...deep in the heart of Texas." There are some great songs here, none sweeter that the title track, which has recently been used in several films. Overall, a solid effort from a master artist.

Tupelo Shows Van's Extraordinary Range and Styles
Purchased on a friend's recommendation, I was somewhat skeptical on how this album can be different from other Van Morrison albums, but I have to say I am pleasantly surprised. Not only am I shocked that the song Tupelo Honey has not found its way onto any "greatest hits" compilation albums, it perhaps ranks up there with "Into the Mystic" in terms of a classic soul and song. This album has a country flavor to it, but not overbearing. Songs such as When That Evening Sun Goes Down and I Wanna Roo You have the country bent to it. You're My Woman is a great love song that ranks up there with Crazy Love off of "Moondance."