buffyleigh
did-not-listen
I'm a bit taken aback by the production, it is said he did it by himself, and it shows (not in a good way), sometimes the sound is muddy, sometimes, instruments are too far away or too saturated (once again, not in a good way). It sometimes leans to kind of jamming sessions (and again, not in a good way). Note that I love DIY, I love saturation and improvisation, but it somehow succeeds in spoiling these. I also feel like it lacks coherence, going in different directions in a uncoordinated fashion. The country bits are a bit boring too. It's kind of frustrating because it seems to me that this album has potential, but wasted... and while listening to it I read about Van Morrison and I am even less inclined to give it a good rating.
This is another album where my view of it is coloured by the current political leanings of the artist. Van Morrison seems to have turned into a tin foil hat anti-vaxer with his latest album having a song “They Own the Media”. No prizes for working out what he’s alluding to here. I listened to this album anyway and didn’t really enjoy it. File in the bin with Morrissey, Clapton et al.
Lots of people seem to be rating this based on now-80yo Morrison's political views, which I find a bit strange. The album itself is .. fine? The recording/production isn't great, but otherwise it's listenable.