Into the Music

Last updated

Into the Music
Van Morrison Into the music cover.jpg
Studio album by
Van Morrison
ReleasedAugust 1979
RecordedEarly 1979
Studio Record Plant, Sausalito
Genre Rhythm and blues, rock and roll, Gaelic music
Length49:30
Label Warner Brothers Records (US/Canada) / Mercury (Worldwide, excl. US/Canada)
Producer Van Morrison, Mick Glossop
Van Morrison chronology
Wavelength
(1978)		Into the Music
(1979)		 Common One
(1980)
Singles from Into the Music
  1. "Bright Side of the Road" b/w "Rolling Hills""
    Released: September 1979
  2. "Full Force Gale" b/w "Bright Side of the Road"
    Released: December 1979
  3. "You Make Me Feel So Free" b/w "Full Force Gale"
    Released: 1980

Into the Music is the 11th studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, and was released in August 1979. It includes "Bright Side of the Road", which peaked at number 63 on the UK Singles Chart, and other songs in which Morrison sought to return to his more profound and transcendent style after the pop-oriented Wavelength . The record received favourable reviews from several music critics and was named as one of the year's best albums in the Pazz & Jop critics' poll.

Contents

Recording

Into the Music was recorded in early 1979 at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California, with Mick Glossop as engineer. [1]

During the recording of the album, one of the musicians, trumpet player Mark Isham, referred Morrison to Pee Wee Ellis who lived nearby. Morrison brought him in to do the horn charts for "Troubadours", but Ellis remained and worked on the entire album. The band also included Toni Marcus on strings, Robin Williamson on penny whistle, and Ry Cooder playing slide guitar on "Full Force Gale". [2]

Music and lyrics

Morrison wrote most of the songs while he was staying with Herbie Armstrong in the Cotswold village of Epwell, England, and the sense of place is reflected in the spirit of the music. During this time, he would often walk through the fields with his guitar composing the future album's songs. [3]

Erik Hage commented that after the favourable commercial reception of Wavelength , Morrison was inspired to "return to something deeper, to once again take up the quest for music that was spontaneous, meditative, and transcendent—music that satisfied the other side of his artistic nature." [4] Morrison was quoted on his opinion of the album, "Into the Music was about the first album where I felt, I'm starting here...the Wavelength thing, I didn't really feel that was me." (1988) "That's when I got back into it. That's why I called it Into the Music." (1984) [5]

The opening track, "Bright Side of the Road" peaked at number 63 on the UK Singles Chart. The healing power of music would be subtly introduced on "And the Healing Has Begun", and would be a continuing theme in Morrison's music. Although celebration of love and life was the predominant theme of the album, this was especially true of "Troubadours", "Steppin' Out Queen" and "You Make Me Feel So Free". [6] "Troubadours" is an uplifting celebration of the singer-songwriter from ancient days, walking through towns "singin songs of love and chivalry". "Rolling Hills" is a joyful song in which the singer directly refers to Christianity and to living his life "in Him" and reading the Bible. The album is notable for its interpolation of an elegiac version of the fifties pop hit "It's All in the Game". It was a B-side of the Morrison song "Cleaning Windows". [7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [8]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [9]
The Great Rock Discography 8/10 [10]
Tom Hull A+ [11]
MusicHound Rock Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [12]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [13]
The Village Voice A [14]

In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone , Jay Cocks hailed Into the Music as a daring "record of splendid peace" and "vastly ambitious attempt to reconcile various states of grace: physical, spiritual and artistic". "That's what this album is about, proudly and stunningly and with no apologies", Cocks wrote. "Resurrection. Real Hope." [15] Tom Bentkowski from New York found Morrison's spirituality casually but confidently expressed in songs that are "introspective, impressionistic", and "charged by the author's overwhelming belief in them". [16] High Fidelity was impressed by Morrison's ability to explore a diversity of universal emotions and called the album "the full-circle complement to his most cosmic, allegorical work", veering from gospel-rooted R&B and Gaelic songs to rock and roll blended with "heartfelt religious fervor". "There's a general sense of happiness and clarity here", the magazine wrote, "as if Morrison has finally distilled his feelings down to their most essential musical level." [17] In The Village Voice , Robert Christgau deemed Into the Music his best record since 1970's Moondance while writing that like Bob Dylan, Morrison had "abandoned metaphorical pretensions, but only because he loves the world". Morrison's simple odes to rural life, he believed, were made vivid and deeper by backing musicians such as Marcus and "by his own excursions into a vocalese that has never been more various or apt." Christgau viewed "It's All in the Game" as the album's only great song, however, and was somewhat critical of the "lightweight rockers" and "You Know What They're Writing About", which he felt sounded tedious halfway through. [14]

Don Snowden of the Los Angeles Times described Into the Music as "a more personal, more definitely Van Morrison album than Wavelength", but complained that "Bright Side of the Road" and "You Make Me Feel So Free" lacked the "rhythmic punch and melodic substance" of the artist's early-1970s R&B songs and that elsewhere, "tempos often drag when they should push and few of the melodies make any lasting impression." Snowden also wrote: "Despite sporadically interesting passages, the four songs on the second side carry on far too long." [18] Reviewing for the NME , Paul Rambali welcomed Morrison's return to Veedon Fleece -style musical arrangements but said, with the exception of "Full Force Gale" and "Rolling Hills", they lacked the precision that Jeff Labes had brought to the artist's earlier work and instead "merge the songs into a jaunty, lightweight mass". He also said that Morrison's singing lacked conviction and concluded: "I hate records like this – neither particularly good nor especially bad but just, well, pleasant. They hang there frustrating you in the run-off grooves ... And I hate this even more because Van Morrison made it, and because he set out with the right idea this time, too." [19] John Rockwell, in The New York Times , opined that "the trouble is largely the sound of Mr. Morrison's voice, which seems to this taste almost impossibly swallowed and strangulated." [20]

Into the Music was voted the sixth-best album of 1979 in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics nationwide; [21] Christgau, the poll's supervisor, ranked it fourth on his own year-end list. [22] In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (1983), Dave Marsh later said the second half's suite of nocturnal ballads was "the greatest side of music Morrison has created since Astral Weeks ". [13] Morrison biographer Erik Hage called the record "a fully fleshed-out musical vision that often surrenders to rapturous moments of pure beauty". [2]

Aftermath

After the release of Into the Music and before his next release Common One in 1980, Morrison appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival with a fleshed-out band. He performed two of the songs from the album, "Troubadours" and "Angeliou". These two songs featured Morrison interacting with the brass section, composed of Pee Wee Ellis and Mark Isham. Erik Hage describes this musical relationship between Morrison and the two brass musicians as "simply stunning". [23] Morrison's 2006-released DVD, Live at Montreux 1980/1974 , contained these performances of the two songs.

The 29 January 2008 reissued and remastered version of Into the Music contains alternative takes of "Steppin' Out Queen" and "Troubadours".

Track listing

All songs written by Van Morrison, unless noted.

Side one
  1. "Bright Side of the Road" – 3:47
  2. "Full Force Gale" – 3:14
  3. "Steppin' Out Queen" – 5:28
  4. "Troubadours" – 4:41
  5. "Rolling Hills" – 2:53
  6. "You Make Me Feel So Free" – 4:09
Side two
  2. "Angeliou" – 6:48
  3. "And the Healing Has Begun" – 7:59
  4. "It's All in the Game" (Charles Dawes, Carl Sigman) – 4:39
  5. "You Know What They're Writing About" – 6:10
2008 Compact Disc bonus tracks
  2. "Steppin' Out Queen" (Alternate take) – 7:00
  3. "Troubadours" (Alternate take) – 5:30

Personnel

Musicians

Production

Charts

Chart performance for Into the Music
Chart (1979)Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report) [24] 16
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [25] 33
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [26] 13
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [27] 16
UK Albums (OCC) [28] 21
US Pop Albums [29] 43

Notes

  1. ↑ Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence?, p.523
  2. 1 2 Hage, The Words and Music of Van Morrison, pp. 90-91
  3. ↑ Turner, Too Late to Stop Now, p. 141-142
  4. ↑ Hage, The Words and Music of Van Morrison, p. 88.
  5. ↑ Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence?, p.345
  6. ↑ Rogan, No Surrender, p. 327
  7. ↑ Marsh, Dave (1989). "The 1001 Greatest Singles". control.lth.se. Archived from the original on 4 February 2002. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
  8. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Into the Music - Overview". AllMusic . Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  9. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press.
  10. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2004). "Van Morrison". The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Canongate U.S. ISBN   1841956155.
  11. ↑ Hull, Tom (June 2016). "Rhapsody Streamnotes (June 2016)". tomhull.com. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  12. ↑ Rucker, Leland (1996). "Van Morrison". In Graff, Gary (ed.). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide . Detroit: Visible Ink Press. ISBN   0787610372.
  13. 1 2 Marsh, Dave (1983). "Van Morrison". In Marsh, Dave; Swenson, John (eds.). The Rolling Stone Record Guide (2nd ed.). Random House. p.  345-46. ISBN   0394721071.
  14. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (8 October 1979). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice . Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  15. ↑ Cocks, Jay (1 November 1979). "Into the Music". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2008.
  16. ↑ Brentkowski, Tom (22 October 1979). "Van Extraordinaire". New York . pp. 114–15.
  17. ↑ "Van Morrison: Into the Music". High Fidelity . Vol. 29, no. 2. 1979. pp. 138–39.
  18. ↑ Snowden, Don (23 September 1979). "Van Morrison: Into The Music". Los Angeles Times . Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
  19. ↑ Rambali, Paul (25 August 1979). "Van Morrison: Into The Music (Mercury)". NME . Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
  20. ↑ Rockwell, John (2 September 1979). "Dylan and Morrison in a Religious Vein". The New York Times. p. D20.
  21. ↑ "Pazz & Jop 1979: Critics Poll". The Village Voice. 1980. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  22. ↑ Christgau, Robert (1980). "Pazz & Jop 1979: Dean's List". The Village Voice. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  23. ↑ Hage, The Words and Music of Van Morrison, p.91
  24. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 208. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
  25. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Van Morrison – Into the Music" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  26. ↑ "Charts.nz – Van Morrison – Into the Music". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  27. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Van Morrison – Into the Music". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  28. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  29. ↑ "Van Morrison Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard . Retrieved 5 November 2023.

Related Research Articles

<i>Hard Nose the Highway</i> 1973 studio album by Van Morrison

Hard Nose the Highway is the seventh studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1973. It is his first solo album since his 1967 debut Blowin' Your Mind! to contain songs not written by Morrison. A cover version of the song "Bein' Green", usually associated with Kermit the Frog, is included, as is a take of the traditional song "Purple Heather". The album also contains the single "Warm Love," a fan favourite.

<i>Its Too Late to Stop Now</i> 1974 double live album by Van Morrison

It's Too Late to Stop Now is a 1974 live double album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It features performances that were recorded in concerts at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, California, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, and the Rainbow in London, during Morrison's three-month tour with his eleven-piece band, the Caledonia Soul Orchestra, from May to July 1973. Frequently named as one of the best live albums ever, It's Too Late to Stop Now was recorded during what has often been said to be the singer's greatest phase as a live performer.

<i>Wavelength</i> (album) 1978 album by Van Morrison

Wavelength is the tenth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, and was released in the autumn of 1978. The album has a different musical sound from his previous albums, leaning towards a pop rock sound with prominent electric guitars and synthesizers. Wavelength was Morrison's best selling album at the time of the original release. Mick Glossop, Bobby Tench and Peter Bardens were given credit for special assistance in production.

<i>Common One</i> 1980 studio album by Van Morrison

Common One is the twelfth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1980. The album was recorded over a nine-day period at Super Bear Studios, near Nice, on the French Riviera. Its title is in the lyrics of the song "Summertime in England": "Oh, my common one with the coat so old and the light in her head".

<i>Inarticulate Speech of the Heart</i> 1983 studio album by Van Morrison

Inarticulate Speech of the Heart is the fourteenth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1983. Morrison said he arrived at the title from a Shavian saying: "that idea of communicating with as little articulation as possible, at the same time being emotionally articulate". As his last album for Warner Bros. Records, he decided to do an album which had more than the usual complement of instrumental tracks. As he explained in 1984, "Sometimes when I'm playing something, I'm just sort of humming along with it, and that's got a different vibration than an actual song. So the instrumentals just come from trying to get that form of expression, which is not the same as writing a song." Although not expanded upon, of note is that a special thanks is given to L. Ron Hubbard in the liner notes. The reissued and remastered version of the album contains alternative takes of "Cry for Home" and "Inarticulate Speech of the Heart No. 2".

<i>Beautiful Vision</i> 1982 studio album by Van Morrison

Beautiful Vision is the thirteenth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in February 1982. It continued Morrison's departure from R&B at the time, instead favoring Celtic folk and American jazz in its music. As with many of Morrison's recordings, spirituality is a major theme and some of the songs are based on the teachings of Alice Bailey. Other songs show Morrison's Celtic heritage and reminiscence of his Belfast background.

<i>Poetic Champions Compose</i> 1987 studio album by Van Morrison

Poetic Champions Compose is the seventeenth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1987 on Mercury Records. It received generally positive reviews from critics, most of whom viewed it as adequate mood music.

<i>Irish Heartbeat</i> 1988 studio album by Van Morrison and The Chieftains

The eighteenth studio album Irish Heartbeat by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison is a collaboration with the traditional Irish musical group the Chieftains, released in 1988. It was recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, Ireland, and reached number 18 in the UK album charts.

<i>Avalon Sunset</i> 1989 studio album by Van Morrison

Avalon Sunset is the nineteenth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released in 1989 by Mercury Records to both commercial and critical success. In 2008, Avalon Sunset was reissued and remastered, featuring an alternate take of "Whenever God Shines His Light", and a version of "When the Saints Go Marching In" with additional lyrics by Morrison.

<i>Hymns to the Silence</i> 1991 studio album by Van Morrison

Hymns to the Silence is the twenty-first studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was his first studio double album. Morrison recorded the album in 1990 in Beckington at The Wool Hall Studios and in London at Townhouse and Westside Studios.

<i>Days Like This</i> (Van Morrison album) 1995 studio album by Van Morrison

Days Like This is the twenty-third studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1995. It is a diverse group of songs offering a variety of moods and styles. It ranked No. 5 on the UK album charts and was nominated for the Mercury Prize.

<i>Back on Top</i> (Van Morrison album) 1999 studio album by Van Morrison

Back on Top is the twenty-seventh studio album by Northern Irish singer/songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1999 by Point Blank. It reached the Top Twenty in seven countries, building on the success of 1997's The Healing Game.

<i>The Philosophers Stone</i> (album) 1998 compilation album by Van Morrison

The Philosopher's Stone is a compilation album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison released in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Summertime in England</span> 1983 single by Van Morrison

"Summertime in England" is the longest song on Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison's 1980 album, Common One, and is approximately fifteen minutes long. Although the album on which the song appeared was not critically or commercially successful, the song would be performed by Morrison in concert for almost two and one-half decades, taking on new meaning when performed live. A truncated version of the song with an early fade-out was also released as the B-side of the 1983 single "Cry for Home".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bright Side of the Road</span> 1979 single by Van Morrison

"Bright Side of the Road" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1979 album Into the Music. It was also one of the outtakes that made up the 1998 compilation album, The Philosopher's Stone. As a single "Bright Side of the Road" was released in September 1979 and charted at No. 48 in the Netherlands, No. 63 in the UK and just outside the Billboard Hot 100 in the US at No. 110. In 2020, the song reached its highest radio airplay chart position in Ireland, peaking at #2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleaning Windows</span> 1982 single by Van Morrison

"Cleaning Windows" is a song written by the Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, recorded on his 1982 album Beautiful Vision.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Real Real Gone</span> 1990 single by Van Morrison

"Real Real Gone" is a hit single written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1990 album Enlightenment. It has remained a popular live performance tune and Morrison has included it on the set lists at many of his concerts since releasing it.

<i>Live at Montreux 1980/1974</i> 2006 video by Van Morrison

Live at Montreux 1980/1974 is the first official DVD by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released on 16 October 2006. The films consist of two separate performances by Van Morrison at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. It was certified gold in May 2007 and platinum in June 2009.

<i>Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast</i> 1984 live album by Van Morrison

Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast is a live album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1984. It was recorded from four live shows in March 1983 at the Grand Opera House, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The album was composed of songs from Morrison's last four recordings. It is the second live album Morrison released, following 10 years after It's Too Late to Stop Now.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dweller on the Threshold (song)</span> 1984 single by Van Morrison

"Dweller on the Threshold" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and first released on his 1982 album Beautiful Vision. It was released as a single on the B-Side in 1982 with the instrumental "Scandinavia" as the "A" side. Another release in 1984 had a live version of "Dweller on the Threshold" as the A-Side.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.