I haven’t been too keen on Van Morrison’s last few albums. They were too jazzy or too bluesy. But Three Chords and the Truth is a “goldilocks” CD: just right! I enjoyed the songs on this new CD. From “Dark Night of the Soul” to “Up on Broadway” the music fills your ears with great music. Check out the sample below. It’s hard to believe that Van Morrison is 74 years old and still singing wonderful songs! Do you have a favorite Van Morrison song? GRADE: A
TRACK LIST:
1. March Winds in February 4:36
2. Fame Will Eat the Soul 4:53
3. Dark Night of the Soul 5:58
4. In Search of Grace 3:43
5. Nobody in Charge 4:13
6. You Don’t Understand 6:18
7. Read Between the Lines 3:42
8. Does Love Conquer All? 4:43
9. Early Days 3:42
10. If We Wait for Mountains 2:43
11. Up on Broadway 6:24
12. Three Chords and the Truth 5:01
13. Bags Under My Eyes 4:07
14. Days Gone By 7:43
It’s hard to pick just one when he has so many good ones to chose from. Probably Cypress Avenue. Followed by Tupelo Honey and Cleaning Windows. But I also like his early stuff with Them-Gloria, I Can Only Give You Everything, and Mystic Eyes.
Only saw him once. About 16 or 16 years ago at the Guinness Fest in Chicago. Elvis Costello joined him for an encore of Gloria.
Steve, I wished I’d been there with you to see Van Morrison and Elvis Costello singing “Gloria”!
Domino
Wild Night
Here Comes the Night
Gloria
Brown Eyed Girl
Moondance
We saw him once and the versions of his old hits that he did were as bizarre as Dylan doing his. Very disappointing.
Jeff, I prefer the early Van Morrison to the later Van Morrison. But THREE CHORDS AND THE TRUTH is Morrison’s best work in years!
“Domino” and “Moondance,” with “Wild Night” as the chaser. No matter how hard I try, I can’t get into any of his newer stuff—and, by “newer stuff,” I mean anything after about 1976.
I guess “three chords and the truth” is a famous line. I remember it from a U2 song, but I suppose it wasn’t original with them.
Deb,”Three Chords and the Truth” is an often quoted phrase coined by Harlan Howard–a 1950s song writer–which he used to describe the Country Music he wrote. The phrase caught on and has been used by many singers and record producers since.
Moondance and Brown-eyed Girl. Very predictable.
Patti, I’m considering the new AMAZON sound system that has garnered some good reviews.
It won’t sound as good as the system Art set up for you. Good fidelity has gone away since mp3 and then streaming.
Rick, you’re right about high fidelity. I have to listen to the new AMAZON system before I commit. But, for $199…
Speaking of music (an aside), we watched ECHO IN THE CANYON a couple of nights ago on Netflix. It’s worth a look. Jakob Dylan investigates the Laurel Canyon scene of (basically) 1965-67, with Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, David (“That’s not why they threw me out of the Byrds. They threw me out of the Byrds because I was an @sshole.”) Crosby, Stephen (Deb’s ex) Stills, Graham Nash, Brian Wilson, Michelle Phillips (I knew John Phillips wrote “I Saw Her Again” about her affair with Denny Doherty, but didn’t know the affair had started earlier and “Go Where You Wanna Go” was also about it), John Sebastian, Roger McGuinn, Lou Adler, Ringo Starr, among others (but, significantly, no mention of Joni Mitchell or The Doors). Dylan also did a tribute album (Jackie bought it, as she loves tribute albums like this) of the old songs, with younger people like Regina Spektor, Beck, Fiona Apple, and Norah Jones.
Jeff, I’ll check out ECHO IN THE CANYON. Some reviews bashed that tribute album because the “younger” artists didn’t quite capture the magic of the original songs.
No, the new versions don’t live up to the original – though some aren’t bad – but they do show some of the old stuff too.
One thing that was referenced a lot, which I have no memory of, was the 1969 Jacques Demy movie, MODEL SHOP. Apparently he wanted the unknown Harrison Ford to star, but Columbia refused, so Gary Lockwood starred with Anouk Aimee.
Deb, Steve is not looking good these days.
Sounds interesting—but I really don’t think you can make a documentary about Laurel Canyon and not include Joni Mitchell. Maybe she refused to be interviewed or give permission for her work to be used or discussed.
Now, Steve Stills is not an ex, he’s a secret husband in the alternate universe. My AU is full of secret husbands. (John’s AU girlfriend is J-Lo, just in case you think I’m not being generous with AU permits.)
Deb, I assume that Joni either didn’t want to participate or was in bad health at the time. It was released last year (September 20, 2018 at the LA Film Festival) , but Tom Petty was alive and well in the film, and he died in October of 2017, so it must have been filmed no later than 2017. Joni Mitchell’s brain aneurysm was May of 2015. Also, Jackson Browne is a lot grayer now than he was then, so clearly at least a couple of years back.
For those who enjoyed “Echo in the Canyon” I highly recommend “David Crosby: Remember My Name”, which attracted a lot of attention at Sundance last year and is now on DVD. It’s mostly about Crosby (DUH!), who was (and is) a much more interesting character than most of us remember.
Michael, my most vivid memories of David Crosby involve Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. I’ll check out DAVID CROSBY: REMEMBER MY NAME.
Early Morrison only, please.
Me too!
Brown eyed girl is the last title from him I remember.