Van Morrison
Hymns to the Silence

Premise: This is my first review on this site, so please be a little lenient with me, despite the complex choice.

With the very brief premise out of the way, let's start the review! Van 'The Man' Morrison is one of the supreme aces of global songwriting, a reputation matured and deserved thanks to a brilliant artistic career marked by a thick number of masterpieces and bold artistic choices. The album in question is, in my opinion, his best work of the 90s and perhaps the last ambitious album of his endless career. We are in 1991, one of the pivotal years of Rock music (enthusiasts will certainly not struggle to remember the record releases of that period), and 'our own,' about a year after 'Enlightenment,' returns to the scene with his first double LP of his career. The album stylistically represents a cornucopia of all Van's past musical experiences. Indeed, the cauldron presents some blues spices ('Ordinary Life,' 'So Complicated'), gospel ingredients ('By His Grace'), country with the company of the Irish band 'Chieftains' ('I Can't Stop Loving You'), numerous pop ballads, and even two hymns ('Be Thou My Vision' and 'Just a Closer Walk with Thee'). The first part of the album starts with 'Professional Jealousy,' where the dominant instrument is the flute, much loved by Van Morrison ('Astral Weeks') and characterized by a solemn style, even if the deliberate impression is that the first part of the album is more accessible than the second part, despite the memorable moments are certainly not lacking. In fact, among many, we have 'Why Must I Always Explain' which recalls the Celtic music of his Irish homeland (for more in-depth understanding, one might look into the areas of 'Veedon Fleece'). Van Morrison's lyrics have never been easy to interpret, but especially in the first part of this collection, we understand that Van primarily focuses on his artistic life, the challenges of living a normal life, and finding some peace of mind ('Some Peace of Mind'). As a closure for the first part, we find one of the two aces of the entire work: 'Take Me Back'. A song that recalls the hypnotic ballads of 'Astral Weeks,' with its dreamy progression, the strong presence of harmonica, and its obsessive mantra built on the repetition of certain words to give the song more evocativeness. One of the main characteristics of Van Morrison's music, according to me, although many might probably find an excessive self-referencing and repetition of some past artistic ideas.

The second record starts with two pleasant fillers that act as a 'bridge' for the second masterpiece of the album, the sweet lull of the title track, perhaps the best song of Van's 90s era. The lyrics hint at the love for a special person or the memory of a distant place, and as the music flows quickly in its 9-minute length, the listener goes into a trance and imagines being in a free place, full of poetry and solitude; perhaps the hymn to silence can also be perceived this way. Unlike the first record, the second one is less catchy and certainly more 'mystical.' Indeed, we listen to the magnificent 'On Hyndford Street,' a real prayer-like recitation on silence, a 'recitation' that is also echoed in the song 'Pagan Streams'. Pay attention, however, to the hymn 'Be Thou My Vision' as it will be hard to hold back the tears and not display emotion for anyone who loves a country like Ireland. The colossus of the grumpy Irishman ends in a less solemn and more workmanlike manner with three pop pieces that accompany us to the end of this long journey, where it feels obligatory to thank Van, because even if his music has never been so successful on the radio, quoting one of the verses from 'Take Me Back', I cannot deny that it 'Has so much soul'.

The four stars are justified, setting aside personal tastes, by the fact that Van Morrison has written better works, consequently making a comparison with the past unavoidable, and also by the presence of some fillers that undermine the overall judgment, but in the case of a double album, the second assertion is a risk to be accounted for. In conclusion, who to recommend this album to? Simply to those who loved the early Van Morrison and perhaps did not go beyond his most famous works, to someone who is looking for a refined, poetic, and passionate work, to anyone who loves both foreign and Italian singer-songwriter music, or even more simply to those who still consider, first and foremost, music as an art.