ALBUM OF THE DAY: Keep It Simple -Van Morrison (I wanted to do an Irish musician as it’s St.Patricks Day 🍀)
-the thirty-third album by Northern Irish singer/songwriter Van Morrison, released in March 17th 2008. It was Morrison's first US Top 10 album, and made the Top 10 in the UK, Canada and in some European countries. It was his first studio album of all new original material since Back on Top (1999), and includes elements of jazz, folk, blues, celtic, country, soul and gospel.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nA_1SM1BsZj6tb6NxL0k8MkGRw6l9lmmo
Morrison said that that album has "got elements of blues, folk, gospel - all my influences . . . Curtis Mayfield. It's got a lot of inspiration from various things I was inspired by out there, but it comes out like a new album." Unlike his preceding releases, the album was entirely self-penned, with Morrison saying, "I felt I had something to say with these songs."
Morrison said of the track "That's Entrainment", "Entrainment is when you connect with the music. Entrainment is really what I'm getting at in the music. It's kind of when you're in the present moment - you're here - with no past or future."
Most critics responded favourably with four star ratings from The Star, The Sun, The Times and Uncut. "There's a certain grace to Van's stripped-back band", one review found, "and as always he evokes images of sorrow and anguish, but with such beauty and warmth that you can't help but smile when you hear them."
Personnel:
Van Morrison - vocals, piano, alto saxophone, acoustic guitar, ukulele ("That's Entertainment", "Keep It Simple" and "Behind the Ritual")
John Platania - guitar
Mick Green - guitar
Ned Edwards - guitar, harmonica, backing vocals
Sarah Jory - steel guitar, banjo ("Song of Home" and "Don't go to Nightclubs Anymore")
Cindy Cashdollar - steel guitar ("No Thing" and "Lover Come Back")
Paul Moore - bass
David Hayes - bass ("No Thing", "Lover Come Back" and "End of the Land")
Geraint Watkins - piano, accordion ("Soul", "Keep It Simple" and "School of Hard Knocks")
John Allair - organ
Liam Bradley - percussion
Tony Fitzgibbon - fiddle ("How Can a Poor Boy?")
Neal Wilkinson - drums
Crawford Bell - acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Katie Kissoon - backing vocals ("Lover Come Back", "End of the Land" and "No Thing")
Karen Hamill - backing vocals
Margo Buchanan - backing vocals ("How Can a Poor Boy?", "Don't go to Nightclubs Anymore" and "Song of Home")
Stevie Lange - backing vocals ("How Can a Poor Boy?", "Don't go to Nightclubs Anymore" and "Song of Home")
Jerome Rimson - backing vocals ("School of Hard Knocks", "Soul" and "Behind the Ritual")
