Van Morrison
Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart

When the word comes from the heart, you can be sure that Van Morrison as a speaker can take the stage. It has been since the long-distant days of "Astral Weeks" that "Van the Man" allows no mediator between his deepest feelings and the listener, sometimes even challenging common aesthetic sense: for him, a raw blues that stems from the soul is always better than a cold, perfectly styled song. Nevertheless, he has made very few bad blues, mostly concentrated in the transitional records of his now forty-year career.

"Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart" (1983) certainly does not belong to that category. If not precisely seminal, it can be defined as a cardinal album (in the good sense, not the ecclesiastical one). It is here that the "Celtic" shift, often hinted at in previous works, finds its fulfillment. "Inarticulate" seems indeed an inappropriate adjective: the flow of feelings that was allowed to surge freely in "Astral Weeks" is well regulated and contained here within splendid musical forms, very well articulated, and highly pleasing. Van Morrison definitively reveals to us that an Irish heart beats within him, not only in the solemn "Irish Heartbeat", a blues anthem celebrating the union of his people, but especially in the wonderful instrumental tracks that render this album an original masterpiece, which anticipates by a few years the trend of reviving Celtic music, which would later become a fashion in the '90s, thanks also to the success of Enya, who is brilliant in her genre. Here, I can already see some purists frowning, but no worries: the robust blues shouter from "Astral Weeks" has not suddenly transformed into a delicate angel sprinkling the sky with sublime new age chants. His approach to tradition is careful and dutiful, more akin to the old Chieftains, with whom Van Morrison would incidentally collaborate multiple times. You can feel it in the irresistible jig "Connswater", as well as in the more picturesque "Celtic Swing", with its masterful blend of wind instruments softening and refining a strong rhythm. Staying with the instrumentals, "Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart (Part 1)" could easily serve as the soundtrack for a film set in the greener, more archaic Ireland, with those keyboard chimes sounding as clear as bells. Maybe there’s only one track with a certain new age relaxation: "September Night". Here, the customary clear keyboards are countered by angelic choirs, in a nocturnal idyll atmosphere.

So far, we've talked about instrumental music, and at a very high level, but "Inarticulate Speech..." also contains lyrics, and what lyrics! "Rave On, John Donne" is not only yet another example of musical perfection, with a warm and enveloping background highlighted by a spine-tingling sax, but it is also an impassioned appeal to mystical poets of all times, from John Donne himself to Khalil Gibran, including the beloved Yeats, urging them to make their immortal voices heard once more. Here Van Morrison translates into music one of his most cultured passions, and the result is pure Art (with a capital A). There are also soul-blues shouted from the depths of the heart, closer to the style of his beginnings. "Cry For Home" expresses the deep bond of every Irish person with their land, while "The Streets Only Knew Your Name" so eerily preempts in title and lyrics "Where The Streets Have No Name" by U2 that it raises a suspicion of plagiarism by Bono at the expense of his more illustrious (but less wealthy and famous) compatriot. "Higher Than The World" is a splendid synthesis of old and new Van: a strong, earthy voice on a very delicate, dreamlike background. The moving "River Of Time", with its repeatedly declaimed verses, powerful like a magic formula, recalls some of Blake's poems, another literary reference point for the Irish artist, additionally featuring music that is grand yet ominous. I'm a soul in wonder screams Van Morrison in "Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart (Part 2)". But in the end, he wouldn't even need to say it: it is evident that an album like this can only be the expression of a soul in a constant state of wonder, if not outright ecstasy.