WIN VAN MORRISON'S NEW CD!Reviews of Van Morrison and the Robert Cray Band

Jazz-influenced Rock: Van Morrison’s Magic Time
It’s easy for me to think of Van Morrison’s music being Jazz-influenced Rock, remembering how I jazz dance-stepped down a hiking path while singing “Moondance” to myself, buoyed by a secret teenage love, the object of my crush just down the path. I ran-hiked to the swinging tune in my head, pausing to wait for the beat on the rough-hewn stairs. It was a product of my birth that I was discovering Van Morrison’s jazzy classic some 20 years after its release, but in it, I came to know how jazz and rock could make such harmonies.

Now in 2005, Van Morrison has released his 38th solo album, Magic Time. Over the span of Morrison’s work, he has explored rock, folk, pop, Gospel, blues, hymns, country, soul, and more, but those jazz elements always come to bear their influences on the artistry.

While it is the jazz influence in the music that got me dancing down that hiking path some 15 years ago, Magic Time draws me in on the bluesy songs. “Keep Mediocrity at Bay” gets Morrison honkin’ on the harmonica recalling the train whistle harmonica of the legendary Sonny Terry. Much like the feeling from the Moondance album, “Keep Mediocrity” makes it possible to imagine finding Morrison at the broken down bar in your neighborhood, singing songs for the community.

Unfortunately, the late career challenge spoken of in these blues (“gotta fight every day to keep mediocrity at bay”) comes after succumbing to the mediocre, soft jazz on the first track, “Stranded.”

But the blues, the blues jump on down the tracks—as on the railroad rhythm of “Evening Train.” The album ends with more country blues on “Carry on Regardless,” as if we’ve now gotten off the train and are walking down a dusty road away from the station.

A Gospel soul soaks the blues of “They Sold Me Out,” an apparent knock on the music industry but fully drawing on parallels to Christ being betrayed by Judas and the temple leaders. The more R&B side of the blues frames “Gypsy in My Soul,” which is akin to the blues of the Robert Cray Band (see below).

Aside from the blues, the jazz is still here in a big band fashion on “This Love of Mine.” There’s also the coy “I’m Confessing,” bringing out Morrison’s scat singing.

Yet, this album feels too disjointed at times, as if you just want Van to stick with one thing for a just a bit longer instead of jumping around stylistically from one track to the next. However, the strength of the tracks mentioned above can’t be denied. Plus, “Celtic New Year” brings forth the jazz-dipped folk rock from 38 albums ago (the solo debut, Astral Weeks), a welcome return to “Caravan” (Moondance).

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Thanks to Van Morrison, Geffen Records, and Special Ops Media for the review and giveaway CDs.


Blues Rock: The Robert Cray Band’s Twenty
Robert Cray isn’t the kind of bluesman who knocks you over, wowing you with lightning solos, huge sound, or blazing tempos. Sidled up to an R&B sound, the Robert Cray Band simply draw you into the blues, like inhaling fresh air that courses through your cubicle-staled body. That’s not taking anything away from Cray as a guitarist. He makes that guitar sing its own blues, but as on “Poor Johnny,” the opening track of the new album, Twenty, it sounds subdued until you find that you’re completely engrossed in the groove.

Twenty is actually the band’s 14th release, half of the number of releases of as Van Morrison’s solo career and about half of the years, but the Cray Band are certainly leading players of the blues that Morrison has more recently been exploring. There’s a little connection to Morrison on Cray’s choice to cover the William Bell/Booker T. Jones classic, “I Forgot to Be Your Lover,” which starts with the line, “Have I told you lately that I loved you?”—a phrase which became the title of Van Morrison’s song from 1989’s Avalon Sunset. The Bell/Jones song is like the reality antithesis to Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” sexual soul.

Don’t let the slow soul fool you, though, because Cray and the boys can get the joint jumping. “I’m Walkin’” is Motown soul, T-bird convertible riding in the sun. Written by drummer Kevin Hayes and his brother, Chris, the song gets the quip right, “If you fool me twice, girl/I think it’s a shame on me,” in contrast to President George W. Bush who fumbled over it, saying, “Fool me once, shame on......(long pause) shame on you. Fool me …(long pause) can't get fooled again.”

“Does It Really Matter” is another soul jumper, featuring the blues of daily life like searching for “your sunglasses and monster remote.” Those 60’s soul feelings come even more to the fore on “That Ain’t Love,” written by Cray but heightened by Jim Pugh’s keyboards, as if the piano is standing in for the background singing girls.

Thanks to Robert Cray and Sanctuary Records for the review CD.