Listening To Van Morrison
by Greil Marcus

A subjective study of a handful of songs

It’s tempting to draw parallels between this latest offering from the much-respected Marcus and elements of Morrison’s own music, in that both set out on specific journeys but have an occasionally infuriating tendency to wander off at tangents. Case in point is the author’s chapter on Astral Weeks, which touches on the Mexico City Olympics of 1968, philosopher RG Collingwood and Taxi Driver before concluding, 37 pages later, “how inexplicable any great work really is”.

None of this should surprise readers familiar with Marcus’s 2005 book Like A Rolling Stone, which spent 200 pages dissecting a single Dylan track, but it inevitably means he’s less focused or satisfying than in his more celebrated titles, Mystery Train and Lipstick Traces. Instead, the author hones in on personal favourites in the Morrison catalogue (dismissing the bulk of Van’s 80s and 90s output as either “interesting failures” or “incomplete successes”) and tries to convey the gut feeling he gets from them.

The prose is as eloquent as always, Marcus on fine form when trying to get to grips with what Van himself calls the “yarragh” that informs his approach to traditional blues and folk, though his enthusiasm for the songs might be best suited to a live lecture with musical interludes, to help him over those tricky “inexplicable” hurdles.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

ISBN 9780571254446, 195 pages

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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