[.ca] Poetic Champions Compose

From Amazon.com:
If his albums are any indication, Van Morrison seems to have bounced between religions like a demented pinball. Amazingly, for a decade that saw the Belfast enigma explore Christianity and Scientology before returning, on Avalon Sunset, to Christianity, Poetic Champions Compose serves as a reminder that Van managed to even cram in an agnostic phase along the way. With this in mind, a desperately bleak version of the folk standard "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" lacerates the heartstrings. But the album shouldn't be assumed by any means to be a depressing affair. Three saxophone instrumentals, including the Miles Davis-influenced "Spanish Steps," lend a crisp Sunday morning feel to much of the proceedings, while "Queen of the Slipstream" and the live favorite "Did Ye Get Healed" suggest that, however bad the crisis of faith was (and the quite awesome preceding album No Guru, No Method, No Teacher suggests it was pretty bad), here is a man ultimately happy to find redemption in a love song. --Peter Paphides

The Most Heard Van:
I was a wedding photographer for many years & always tried to keep in touch with the DJ's. If the wedding was with an evangelical couple, this CD was normally played during the reception. This is one of Van's more happier & lighter CD's with love songs galore. Comes right after the more profound "No Guru, No Method, No Teacher" which gives a more quasi-Buddhist/Christian direct mystic appeal. Van Morrison always had the singing voice though very emotional & spiritual, can at times be rather rough & therefore many don't care for his songs. But this CD would be a good starting place to get use to his singing voice & enjoy the many styles & subject matters. Van is in top form with this CD, playing his beloved sax at times with a light jazz feel. Other songs are either R & B or straight ballad music. Try the "Listen to Samples" section, each of the songs are very good, the most famous song from the CD "Someone Like You" is not programmed for you to listen to. I gave this CD a "5" because the whole CD is good all the way through. I like other Van Morison CD's better, but their number would be off the chart.

SOME OF HIS BEST LATTER-DAY COMPOSITIONS AND PERFORMANCES:
Van Morrison discs will always retain a professionalism of musicianship and at least one great song. Poetic Champions is one of the latter day Van's best albums because a) he isn't resorting to synthesizers and other "flavor-of-the-week" produciton values that have dated much of his '80s work that would otherwaise be timeless, b) lyrically and musically, he doesn't shy away from sentimentality, but there is a distinct lack of Van's trademark cynicism, and c) it's one of the few examples post-Into theMusic, that Van really does seem to get let the music lead him, rather than the other way around. The album kicks off with the mellow-jazz lounge instrumental (!) "Spanish Steps". It's followed by one of the BEST all-time devotional songs "The Mystery". Other compositions of romance and renewed faith abound: "Queen of the Slipstream", "I Forgot That Love Existed", "Someone Like You". These songs are all excellent and are unabashed love songs, both joyous and joyful. The other great track here is the cover of the traditional "Motherless Children". Van does a wonderful, inspired reading of this song that has been covered from everyone from Blind Willie Johnson to Eric Clapton. Of Van's post-1980 work, this and Avalon Sunset are absolute must-owns (Hymns to the Silence and The Healing Game are damn good too).

JAZZY, ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC:
The instrumental Spanish Steps is the languid jazzy introduction to this album of understated songs. The album takes it name from a line in Queen Of The Slipstream, a gentle ballad with a haunting melody. I Forgot That Love Existed is another jazzy number with gorgeous instrumental flourishes, whilst Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child has more of a soul or R & B feel in its yearning vocals and has something of the same effect as Blind Faith's Can't Find My Way Home. Celtic Excavation is an ethereal and evocative instrumental with tinkling piano and a lovely lilting flow and Someone Like You is a slow and moving love song. My favourites include the bouncy Alan Watts Blues with its twanging guitar and the rhythmic uptempo Give Me My Rapture, a catchy inspirational song with great organ flourishes. The piece Did Ye Get Healed? has swirling female backing vocals and the album concludes with another jazzy instrumental titled Allow Me. The album is quite cohesive in creating a mood of contented contemplation with Morrison's characteristic spiritual undertone. It is probably not considered to be amongst his greatest work, but still a classic in my opinion.

Excellent CD!:
Buy it and you'll be pleased if you're a Van Morrison fan.

A superb/eclectic album:
"Poetic Champions Compose" features songs composed around a theme: the sophisticated and wise ruminations of an experienced musician and a brilliant (blues) musician. I place blues in parentheses because Van Morrison exceeds the scope of a single idiom, but he is still evermuch a musician rooted in the blues, in the deep spiritual longing and seeking that real blues music entails. This album paints the emotional realities of spiritual longing and realization, from doubt and emptiness ("Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child") to romantic love ("Queen of the Slipstream") to ecstatic wonder ("The Mystery"). This musician can vocalize true spiritual dignity and joy without cliché: songs like "I Forgot that Love Existed" and "Did Ye Get Healed" are proof. This is one of the best records out there.

• Spanish Steps
• Mystery
• Queen of the Slipstream
• I Forgot That Love Existed
• Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
• Celtic Excavation
• Someone Like You
• Alan Watts Blues
• Give Me My Rapture
• Did Ye Get Healed?
• Allow Me