Track Listing

1. How Can A Poor Boy
2. School Of Hard Knocks
3. That's Entrainment
4. Don't Go To Nightclubs Anymore
5. Lover Come Back
6. Keep It Simple
7. End Of The Land
8. Song Of Home
9. No Thing
10. Soul
11. Behind The Ritual

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4570 in Music
• Released on: 2008-04-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.com
On April 1st, Lost Highway will proudly release Keep It Simple, the new album from Van Morrison. Keep It Simple is Morrison's first album of new material since 2005, and the first in several years in which he composed all 11 songs specifically for one album.

In the interim the legendary artist had a year that may be unprecedented for any living artist, having released three separate collections of his hits, with the latest, Still On Top entering the UK charts at #2 and selling platinum, proving the ongoing appetite for his unrivalled work.

His music has always incorporated the widely varied influences he heard and absorbed since his childhood days on the streets of Belfast- long before the bands of his youth and his initial breakthrough with the band he started early on- called "Them."

On Keep It Simple, Morrison honors all those varied influences - Ulster-Scots Celtic, Jazz, Folk, Blues, Country, Soul and Gospel - and an added surprise of a mighty Ukelele -most times melding them all together at once creating his unmistakable signature sound.

In some of these songs Morrison addresses the propaganda of the myth perpetrating rock music world. There is a definite theme that recurs throughout the album, especially in the title track.

In keeping with that idea, Keep It Simple does not boast the big horns or expected string arrangements of some of Morrison's previous work. What it does feature are gorgeous songs rich with emotion, depth and beauty.

Amazon.com
Those familiar with Van Morrison’s ever mercurial muse could hardly have been surprised when he turned up on the artistically centered, avant-country label Lost Highway to pay tribute to a era-spanning slate of country icons on the Nashville imprint's ‘06 collection, Pay the Devil. But while the ensuing years were dominated by several rich anthologies of Morrison’s work, he’s returned here to masterfully show his love of country was no passing fancy. As the title suggests, Morrison’s self-produced approach to the genre is both musically and emotionally elemental, a no frills approach that fits him like a well-worn pair of Tony Llamas. Indeed, even as he’s addressing matters of musical style and substance in an unusually introspective way on "That’s Entertainment" and "Soul," the veteran’s singing here is so natural and deceptively effortless as to disguise how forcefully Morrison has immersed himself in the country mold – or, more to the point, remade it lovingly in his own image, also marking the first time in several years he’s penned all the songs on one of his albums. Whether offering a little tutelage about the vagaries of fate on "School of Hard Knocks," taking W.C. Handy’s "St. Louis Blues" as the starting point for the slow-burning, Hammond B3-seeped country blues lament "Don’t Go to Nightclubs Anymore," or preaching the backroads Zen gospel of the title track and Banjo-seasoned elegy "Song of Home," Morrison’s warm, world-weary voice connects with themes that are as familiar as sunshine – and every bit as fundamentally complicated. --Jerry McCulley

Amazon.com
Born in Belfast, Van Morrison's father was an avid collector of American blues and jazz records. Morrison grew up listening to AMERICAN music like Leadbelly, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGee, John Lee Hooker, Mahalia Jackson, and Lightnin' Hopkins. He grew up surrounded by every kind of American musical influence. From the age of 13, he was adept at playing guitar, sax and harmonica and played with a series of local showbands along with Skiffle and Rock 'n' Roll groups, and Brian Rossi at the Plaza Ballroom. His early love of music, for the music, has certainly paid off.

Morrison's music continues to have that authentic American Blues, Jazz and melodic Folk sound that he loved and listened to in his childhood, long before those early showbands and well before his initial 1964 (HIT RECORDS) with his band called THEM. It’s a little recognized yet open secret that VAN MORRISON was, in fact, the band THEM.

In recognition of his unique position as one of the most important songwriters of the past century, Van Morrison was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, by the late great RAY CHARLES, in New York City in June 2003. Additionally, he was honored, in 2007, for his musical contribution to films. Presented by Al Pacino, this award highlights the depth and breadth of his compositions, as used by some of the most notable directors in the Motion Picture Industry today.

The 2008 release of KEEP IT SIMPLE is Van Morrison's 35th album. It is his first album of new material since 2005, and the first in several years in which he COMPOSED all 11 songs specifically for one album.

On KEEP IT SIMPLE , MORRISON wears all the "hats" as COMPOSER, ARRANGER, LYRICIST and proves himself once again an astute and accomplished PRODUCER, artfully choosing in this recording to keep all the vocals and instruments on this album in their organic form/ first takes.

KEEP IT SIMPLE features Morrison on the Sax, Harmonica and a special highlight throughout is his integration of uniquely composed arrangements on the Ukelele.

Accordingly, KEEP IT SIMPLE honors ALL of Morrison's varied influences as it is packed full of "Ulster-Scots Celtic" melodies mixed with SOUL, Jazz, Blues, Folk, Country, and Gospel - most times melding them all together once again establishing his unmistakable signature sound.

This record does not boast the big horns of some of Morrison's previous work. But, don't let the title fool you. Keep it SIMPLE is EVERYTHING but SIMPLE - it is a Multi-faceted record filled with mystical layers of sound -start to finish -with Songs from the Soul and gorgeous melodies, rich with emotion, depth and beauty. -truly a record that has something for everyone.

VAN MORRISON has journeyed far and wide since his early days in Belfast, but has invariably come back to the philosophy summed up in the title of this extraordinary new record.

As Keep It Simple is released, keeping true to the music, and arguably the new Hardest Working man in Showbusiness, Morrison consistently continues a busy schedule of concerts playing to packed theatres across Europe, Canada and the United States.

Customer Reviews

A warm, authentic, restrained bluesy affair.
The ever-enduring crooner returns with a collection of stripped-back, simple songs diverging how it feels to be reaching the twilight of life. Yet Van Morrison keeps all the controlled energy of someone who still has something to pass on to the world.
"Keep It Simple" is a mainly bluesy affair. He's returned to the usual mixture of autobiographical fare and the kind of mix of jazz, folk, blues, country and soul that may be chock-full of lyrical cliche but is always lifted by a voice that really hasn't deteriorated much in the last twenty years. Let's face it: the blues wouldn't be the blues without it's lyrical template. It's the way it's sung that matters, and Van is still peerless in this respect.
Husky, slurred, simple yet honest, the album is one enduring constant is in its title: the acceptance that less is more and that with restraint true quality always prevails.
After five decades of prolific and heart-felt melodies this is amazingly Van Morrison's 33rd studio album but is shows as much dedication as many new artist's debut.
His first recording of original material since 2005 it's also the first album penned solely by Van Morrison's own hand since "Back On Top" in 1999.
You have to try very to hard to find Van Morrison doing much wrong and even when he's not breaking new ground there's still generally enough going on to keep his music worth a listen.
On this one, he does more than just tow the line and even offers up one or two gems in the making - "Lover Come Back" and "End Of The Land" prove in particular why he's not yet disappeared into retirement.
There's a certain grace to Van's stripped-back band and as always he evokes images of sorrow and anguish but with such beauty and warmth that you can't help but smile when you hear him.
It maybe that he has already reached his peak, but what "Keep It Simple" proves is that with the right combination of sensitivity and commitment to his art Van Morrison can still stay ahead the rest of the field and, what's more important, can do it with dignity.
The CD is a better Van Morrison album than anyone had a right to expect - not least on its closing song. Fanning out from a rimshot-riding mandolin phrase, the killer track "Behind the Ritual" returns to a theme that has informed his best songs from "Into the Mystic" and on.
Drinking wine and dancing like a dervish, Van finds "the spiritual behind the ritual".
The supporting cast acquit themselves admirably as well. Of special note is the steel guitar of Cindy Cashdollar (of Asleep At The Wheel). The only downside is that the backing vocals are a trifle over-egged at times.
But on the whole this is a lovely welcome back to a man who's been increasingly offhand in his output of late.
It may look simple, but only a master like Van could pull this off.
Another career high from a great original in the 40th anniversary year of his classic "Astral Weeks".
Simple, but totally brilliant.

Average Van Still Better Than Most
Keep It Simple - like most latter day Van Morrison - is neither as brilliant as you might hope, nor as disappointing as you might fear.

The problem, for me, is the decline of Morrison's songwriting. While he was never a lyricist in the class of Dylan or Joni Mitchell, he could once conjure marvelous images and had a poet's ear. He also had the vocal chops - blending jazz, blues and soul - to create a unique style of music. Where immobile steel rims crack /And the ditch in the back roads stop /Could you find me? /Would you kiss-a my eyes? /To lay me down /In silence easy /To be born again (Astral Weeks) Those words read well off the page, but as performed by Van Morrison, they were magic. As a singer, he had no peer, and the combination of his words and music lifted Morrison into the highest echelon - alongside Dylan and Mitchell. His best songs were autobiographical but universal, beautifully crafted, tinged with mystery and ambiguity.

While he has had many ups and downs along the way, the deterioration of Morrison's lyrics might be traced to the otherwise triumphant Hymns to the Silence (1991). Since then, there have been a raft of songs about the woes of being Van Morrison in the music business - Professional Jealousy, Why Must I Always Explain?, Big Time Operators, Songwriter, They Sold Me Out, and now, School of Hard Knocks. Then there are the songs about the woes of simply being Van Morrison - Some Peace of Mind, Too Long In Exile, Melancholia, Underlying Depression. Now there's Don't Go the Nightclubs Anymore.

Morrison's response to criticism of his self-absorption is the title song of Keep It Simple: They mocked me 'cos I told it like it was/Wrote about disappointment and greed/Wrote about what we really didn't need in our lives/Make us feel alive and whole.

That brings us to the real problem, which is not so much Morrison's subject matter as his execution. Lyrically, Don't Go To Nightclubs Anymore and Keep It Simple (to give but two examples) are simply uninspired. They are too literal, like unedited diary entries. It's one thing to keep it simple, another to make it banal.

Too many recent Van Morrison songs lack any real insight or imagination, let alone the sparkling imagery and wordplay of which he is (or was) capable. At worst, they are little more than a pastiche of hackneyed phrases.

The biggest disappointment on Keep It Simple is Behind the Ritual, in which he literally sings blah blah blah blah. The effect, from the man who sang Madame George and made an art form of repetition (the loves to love/ the loves to love) is self-parody.

So why three stars? Because, lyrics aside, Keep It Simple is a fair collection of songs. They don't score highly for originality, but at this stage of Morrison's career, you wouldn't expect that. The arrangements hardly have a hair out of place. Sans horn section, the album has a consistent, intimate groove. Although there are a variety of song forms (blues, folk, pop) the album feels all of a piece. The band is excellent, especially long-time sideman John Allair on the B3, and the singer, he's Van Morrison for Christ's sake.

The radio-friendly That's Entrainment is the brightest moment - a simple three chords, an infectious underlying rhythm, and a clever play on words (entertainment/entrainment) make this a contender for future 'best of' compilations. Lover Come Back is a simple but effective song of yearning. Song of Home is a nostalgic, folky piece with a lovely sense of place, providing the welcome Celtic quota.

It's worth pondering what you'd make of Keep It Simple if you'd never heard of Van Morrison. My best guess is that I would regard the album as quite a find. (There aren't many unknowns, after all, who can sing like Van Morrison.) The point is that any new work by an artist of Morrison's stature will inevitably be assessed against the standards of the artist's best work.

A lot of new music is lightweight, blatantly derivative, gimmicky, or ephemeral in its appeal. Keep It Simple is none of those. It's better than most stuff that makes it onto, ummm, polycarbonate.

This CD is certainly worth a listen, and there's much to recommend it. Just don't pay too much attention to the words.

new jazzier music from an Irishman
Other than "Moondance" which came out when I was in high school and includes the song "Moondance" as well as a copy of Van Morrison's greatest hits, that was all I owned by him. Thanks to Amazon.com's feature of being able to listen to "snippets" of songs from each CD, I liked what I heard and ordered this CD. Van Morrison still has a good voice and each cut is good and it's not like you want to skip a couple. It's a little more bluesy that I remember his older music to be. I recommended this CD to several of my friends and relatives.