FEATURE:
Blowin’ Your Mind!
Van Morrison at Seventy-Five: His Finest Cuts
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AS it is the seventy-fifth birthday…
IN THIS PHOTO: Van Morrison in 1969/PHOTO CREDIT: PoPsie Randolph/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
of Van Morrison today (31st August), I thought it was only right to put together a playlist of his best tracks. Unlike Shania Twain – whose fifty-fifth birthday I marked earlier in the week -, I am not doing this as a Lockdown Playlist: instead, I am doing it as a standalone playlist. Morrison has slammed socially distanced gigs, and he has caused a bit of controversy. The Belfast-born legend is no danger to causing a bit of trouble but, with forty-one studio albums under his belt and a legacy that stretches far and wide, one can forgive him! Through his career, Van Morrison has received many an honour. He has received two Grammy Awards, the 1994 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, the 2017 Americana Music Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting and has been inducted into both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2016, he was knighted for services to the music industry and to tourism in Northern Ireland. There are great articles written about Morrison, and I would encourage people to do a bit of reading and digging. Albums like Astral Weeks (1968), Moondance (1970), and Tupelo Honey (1971) are classics, but Morrison has remained pretty consistent and inventive right through his career. As a celebration of his remarkable work, I have put together a playlist that collects together some fine cuts…
PHOTO CREDIT: Caroline International
FROM a true master.