_ Veedon Fleece - Wasa favourite of mine simply

_ because it bears the the most resemblance to Astral

| Weeks (which means not much), but it has a fair

' amount of forgettable material. Though Van often

_ doesn’t make sense lyrically, he goes way off the

, deep end here. ‘‘Fair Play,’’ ‘‘Linden Arden Stole the

- Highlights,’’ “‘Cul De Sac’’ and ‘‘ Who Was That

_ Masked Man’’ are heart breakingly gorgeous. Com- bine half of this with half of St. Dominic's Preview (that’s what home taping is for) and you have a

_ flippin’ masterpiece.

Wavelength - A sell out, but fans may actually enjoy hearing Morrison do pop - it’s refreshingly unpreten- tious. Completely listenable, if not particularly mov-

ing.

Into the Music - The last blast of transcendence from Morrison. One of his most consistent efforts, though the voice has declined slightly. There’s not much to say about his great stuff, it’s just... great. Ah, but I won’t have to worry about that soon enough.

Common One - Closer to Into the Music than one may be led to believe. His babblings about poetry are truly wacko (**Did you ever hear about/ Wordsworth and Coleridge, baby). Two songs clock in atasleepy eyed fifteen minutes each. Nonetheless, it is asubtle and fairly lovely work.

Beautiful Vision - His last great album. Disturbingly, _ female back-up singers carry the bulk of the vocal

, weight. Nonetheless, the title is apt.

| fnarticulate Speech of the Heart, Poetic Champions "Compose, No Guru, No Method, No Teacher, Avalon Sunset, Enlightenmentand Hymns to the Silence - | _tefer to this stage as post-orgasmic Van (whether “that’s because this stuff sounds limp or satisfied of what is for you to figure out). The cold hard truth is _thatl just don’t give a good goddamn about this stuff | one way or the other. I mean, they’re all good, but

_ you only need one. These albums even look boring -

oe

anything witha fuckin’ swan on the cover can’t be too

| priiling. Also disconcerting are his constant ram-

' blings about poetry and philosophy; he used to make ‘the art, now he hails others’. After getting through all of one of these albums (probably an hours worth of muzak), | feel like hurting someone, Van Morrison tan grind this stuff out in his sleep, as his exhausting prolificacy proves.

No Professor is often seen as his best album of the

INAH El

PROOUCEO OY

a

eighties, but its virtues are lost on me (thougn hearing him sing about ‘‘gardens all wet with rain’’ again was nice). Enlightenment is one of his better marshmallow efforts, and contains the minor hit ‘‘Real Real Gone’’ (hearing the man get up over twelve beats per minute is downright exhilarating nowadays). His latest, Hymns to the Silence, is too much ofa dull thing.

Phew, that came outa little harsher than I’d intended. Maybe I demand too much from Van. After all, he consistently puts out quality, light music. Guess I’m just too damn macho.

First Things First The Headhunters

(Eureka) By Kirby Ferguson ADHUNTE RS

Bleah.

WEDNESDAY WMA Oph

CONFEDERATION CENTRE

UTR ta ha TANIA Le PU

PEI X-P RESS

February 20, 1992

Page 31