Keep It Simple | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | UK 17 March 2008 US 1 April 2008 | |||
Genre | Jazz, folk, blues, Celtic, country, soul, gospel | |||
Length | 50:10 | |||
Label | Exile Polydor-UK, Lost Highway-U.S. | |||
Producer | Van Morrison | |||
Van Morrison chronology | ||||
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Keep It Simple is the thirty-third album by Northern Irish singer/songwriter Van Morrison, released in March 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.
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." [1] [2] Unlike his preceding releases, the album was entirely self-penned, with Morrison saying, "I felt I had something to say with these songs." [3] 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." [4]
Morrison announced a short United States tour to promote the album with appearances in Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee (at the Ryman Auditorium); Boston, Massachusetts; and in New York City, starting on 11 March. During this tour, he also performed at La Zona Rosa in Austin, Texas, at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music conference and festival on 12 March. [5] [6]
"Entrainment" was played for the first time, at the beginning of the second hour, on Chris Evans BBC Radio 2 Drivetime show on Wednesday, 30 January, with Evans commenting: "The new Van Morrison album came with a shoot-to-kill warning if played before a certain date, but that's now been lifted so we can play it." [7] On 8 March, Morrison gave an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today show, and an hour long interview on the Paul Jones show on BBC Two Radio. [8] [9] On 15 March, Morrison performed all of the songs from the album on concert broadcast on BBC Radio 2. [10]
The album was released on 17 March by Exile Productions Ltd./Polydor in the UK and on the Lost Highway Records label on 1 April in the US. His previous studio album Pay the Devil was also released on the Lost Highway label, in March 2006.
Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 69/100 [11] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [12] |
Entertainment Weekly | (B) [13] |
inthenews.co.uk | [14] |
The Mirror | [15] |
Popmatters | [16] |
Rolling Stone | [17] |
The Star | [18] |
Uncut | [19] |
On its first week of release the album reached No. 10 on the US charts, which was Morrison's highest placement in the US at that point. [20] [21] His previous highest charting effort was his sixth solo album, Saint Dominic's Preview , which rose to No. 15 in 1972. In 2016, Keep Me Singing would rise to No. 9, his best score to date.
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." [22] Rolling Stone notes how "the band settles into a groove while Morrison lifts off into the trancelike realm he calls 'entrainment'." [23] The Guardian praised Morrison's "velvety gargle", and the many "tasteful, blues-by-numbers shuffles", but concluded, "Perhaps a spot more complication for album 34 might help." [24]
All songs by Van Morrison
(available UK week of 17 March 2008 and U.S. on 1 April 2008)
Recorded live in concert at the Blackpool Opera House (UK) 26 January 2008
Chart (2008) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Albums Chart | 10 |
U.S. Billboard 200 | 10 |
U.S. Billboard Top Internet Albums | 2 |
Canada Top 100 | 10 |
European Top 100 Albums | 8 |
Norway Albums Top 40 | 7 |
Swedish Albums Top 60 | 11 |
Irish Albums Chart | 12 |
German Albums Top 50 | 12 |
Dutch Albums Top 100 | 12 |
New Zealand Top 40 Albums | 15 |
Italy Top Album Chart | 32 |
Sir George Ivan "Van" MorrisonOBE is a singer-songwriter and musician from Northern Ireland whose recording career spans seven decades.
Georgie Fame is an English R&B and jazz musician. Fame, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still performing, often working with contemporaries such as Alan Price, Van Morrison and Bill Wyman. Fame is the only British music act to have achieved three UK No. 1 hits with his only top 10 chart entries: "Yeh, Yeh" in 1964, "Get Away" in 1966 and "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde" in 1967.
Magic Time is the thirty-first studio album by Van Morrison, released in 2005 by Geffen Records. It debuted at No. 25 on the US Billboard charts and No. 3 in the UK - Morrison's best UK chart debut until Still on Top – The Greatest Hits opened at No. 2 in 2007. Rolling Stone ranked 'Magic Time' seventeenth on The Top 50 Records of 2005.
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Saint Dominic's Preview is the sixth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released in July 1972 by Warner Bros. Records. Rolling Stone declared it "the best-produced, most ambitious Van Morrison record yet released."
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.
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.
Down the Road is the twenty-ninth studio album by Northern Irish singer Van Morrison. The album has a nostalgic tone, lyrically and musically, and its arrangements mix R&B and blues with country and folk, and, with a few exceptions, like "Georgia on My Mind," the music is most often rooted in 1950s and early 1960s popular music.
Too Long in Exile is the twenty-second studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. The album was produced by Morrison and draws on urban blues and soul jazz sounds, including collaborations with John Lee Hooker and Georgie Fame. Released in 1993 by Polydor Records, Too Long in Exile received positive reviews from most critics and reached #4 on the UK Albums Chart. It reached #29 in the US, Van Morrison's highest ranking since 1978's Wavelength (#28) and until 1999's Back on Top (#28).
Irish Heartbeat is the eighteenth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and 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.
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.
"Tupelo Honey" is a popular song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and the title song from his 1971 album, Tupelo Honey. The title derives from an expensive, mild-tasting tupelo honey produced in the southeastern United States. Released as a single in 1972, it reached number 47 on the U.S. pop chart.
Geraint Meurig Vaughan Watkins is a Welsh singer, songwriter, rock and roll pianist and accordionist. He has backed many notable artists, including Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Van Morrison, Mark Knopfler, Paul McCartney, Roy St. John, Shakin' Stevens and most recently Status Quo. He has also pursued a solo career and issued a number of albums under his own name, the most recent of which, Rush of Blood, was released in September 2019.
"That's Entrainment" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 2008 album, Keep It Simple.
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