Van Morrison - Keep It Simple

Van Morrison is something of an enigma. Over the course of his illustrious career that nearly spans half a century, he has refused to be pinned down within any certain genre of music and his closest followers are often just as confused as the rest of us who hear his work. He has been cited as an influence to a multitude of established artists such as U2, Jim Morrison, Elvis Costello, Bob Seger, Damien Rice, David Gray, Colin James and more (I’m not kidding - there are many more.) It’s somewhat daunting to write a review of the latest album of a man whose music flutters through jazz, blues, country and rootsy rock. In his music, though, Morrison pulls no punches and lays everything out in his interesting lyricism and simple sound-beds.

Right from track one of ‘Keep It Simple’, we are taken down the back roads of blues as the song ‘How Can A Poor Boy’ repeats the phrase ‘How Can A Poor Boy get a message to you’ over and over again, making a bold assertion as to Morrison’s humble view of himself and his desire to relay his words to the world. It doesn’t stop there - track 2’s ‘School Of Hard Knocks’ lets the listener know what school Morrison was educated within (you guessed it - the school of hard knocks). Possibly the most interesting of all of the songs, though, is track 4 - ‘That’s Entrainment’. The song basically explains Morrison’s approach to the album and his approach to songwriting that requires us to lose everything and to just be in the moment of the song.

I put off writing this piece for a long time. I didn’t really know how to start an album review about a 50-year experienced pro musician whom I’d never really listened to before. The instrumentation on the album is nothing sinister or otherworldly and I probably won’t be listening to it more than a few times. What this album does, though, is present an appreciation and pre-text for all breeds of music fans. Morrison is someone who is a master of making something that appears to be simple into something infinitely complex once it is unraveled - and for that skill, I truly respect him. He has made music the way he wants for many years and let’s hope he does the same for many more years to come. The final album track rigidly sums up Morrison’s strong foundation in varied styles of music within a wavering industry of marketing and snakey people. Morrison is truly a musician, a man and a legend who has stood the test of time and who can be changed by ‘No Thing’:

“Everyone is the same - I’ve watched them come and go/
I don’t have time for the status quo/
I say ‘blessed be’ because I’m on my way/
‘Cause it ain’t gonna change no thing/’”