Van Morrison

The kick-off tune "Wild Night" earned Van another deserved FM hit, while the rest of the album offers more mellow celebrations of nature and love. Folksier than Moondance, this delightful album finds Van exploring different sides of his musical and vocal talents. The title track is a flat out beauty.

Tupelo Honey (Warner Bros. 1950), like all of Van Morrison's albums, is both a synthesis of
what has preceded it and a statement of something new. It has the musical compactness of
Moondance and some of the spirited looseness of Van Morrison His Band and The Street
Choir. It is also the best sounding record he has done so far, thus making up for one of the
main flaws on the last album: the inferior mix. Thematically, Van's songs of dedic... More >

Van seems to be turning into a machine and a natural man simultaneously. I like the machine a whole lot--this super-bouncy product is almost as rich in cute tunes as The Shirelles' Greatest Hits. But I worry that domestic bliss with Janet Planet--who here abandons liner notes to pose with hubby fore, aft, and centerfold--has been softening Van's noodle more than the joy of cooking requires. (Grade - A-)