Van Morrison - Enlightenment

2008 newly remastered sound and expanded packaging including lyrics of Enlightenment, an album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1990. It reached No. 5 on the UK charts. Exile/Polydor releases this album as part of a batch of two of the four catalogue reissues of Morrison's albums dated from 1971 through 2002. In "Enlightenment" Van once again ruminates on spiritual matters, but this is probably the most sober and matter-of-fact expression of his personal struggle toward understanding that he has ever offered. "I'm in the here and now and I'm meditating / But still I'm suffering," Morrison admits, "But that's my problem." Album Description

An overlooked gem

One of the most obscure entries in Van's catalog, but I rather enjoy it. It's mostly a very melodic, soothing bunch of tunes. The exception to this is "Real, Real Gone," one of Van's typical infectious R&B rave-ups. Otherwise it's pretty laid-back, with several great tunes (title track, which actually questions the nature of enlightenment; "So Quiet in Here," "Avalon of the Heart," with nice if slightly overdone orchestration - incidentally, it name-checks the previous album, the slightly creepy "See Me Through," which ends with a gripping romantic monolog). And the super-extended track, "In the Days Before Rock `n' Roll," almost works - great jazzy vamp, and the sections Van sings in his normal voice are thrilling. But when he adopts the heavy Irish accent that already ruined "Coney Island" for me, it gets annoying. Still, I can just ignore that and focus on the aforementioned great jazzy vamp, which I absolutely love. The full-on, loose, swinging jazz of "Starting Over Again" also makes for good listening. I'll admit I'm not a fan of the accordion breaks on "Memories," but none of these songs are bad. Few are exceptional either, but I enjoy it quite a lot just the same. October 6, 2008

Here's Your Pain Medication

Instead of perscribing percocet for pain they should just perscribe Van Morrison.This album would work great for that,but then again so would pretty much all of his albums.This is if not his best,certainly one of his best of the 90's.The first half from "Real Real Gone" to "See Me Thru" is as clear and refreshing as water and just flawless.I mean the whole album is great,but I would be surprised if a person could listen to the first half of this album and not feel better than they did before.That's the game Van plays:"The Healing Game".The early nineties albums(This one,Hymns to the silence,etc.)would be the last he did with that great Van mixture of Celtic,Rock,R@B,Soul,Blues all mixed into one.His newer albums are great too,they just seem to cover the same musical style unlike this one where you really can't call this music any one style other than good music from the soul.I am so grateful for all the music that Van Morrison has out there to share with us.This would be the one I would call the best of his last twenty years.You can turn the volume up all the way on "So Quiet in Here" and some how it will still be quiet.I find it extremley ironic that Van was one of the few artists of the late 60's who wasn't all about doing drugs for mind expansion and yet all these years later he still is making mind expanding music while most of the other artists of that era have either died or burnt out long ago.If you want to be enlightened by "Enlightenment" don't try to analyze the lyrics and figure out what it means,Just Listen and be healed. September 22, 2008

Two Hands Clapping - And They're Mine! "Enlightenment" Gets A Superb Remaster & Two Fairly Good Bonus Tracks!

"Enlightenment" is part of the 2nd wave of Van Morrison remastered reissues to hit the shops in 2008 (see full list below). Released Monday 30 June 2008 in the UK and 1 July 2008 in the USA, it also boasts an upgraded booklet and 2 bonus tracks for the first time.

Here's the layout (58:52 minutes):
Tracks 1 to 10 make up the original album - it was released in October 1990 on Polydor
Tracks 11 and 12 are previously unreleased bonus tracks - "Enlightenment (Alternate Take)" and "So Quiet In Here (Alternate Take)"

The upgraded booklet has the lyrics to the two Alternate Takes after the rest of the album, session notes and beneath the see-through inlay is a photo that matches the original artwork. Disappointingly, there's no new liner notes, no interview, no photos - but the really greats news is the remaster - the original analogue tapes have been 96K/24Bit Remastered for this release and the sound quality is superlative - much better than the very quiet sound that came off the original 1990 CD. I've waited 18 years to hear "See Me Through" in this sound quality - and it was worth the wait.

The bonus tracks are a mixed bag; the alternate version of "Enlightenment" is heavy on the vocals and the keyboards - while Georgie Fame's tinkering is lovely, Van's vocals are very forced and it sounds like what it is - a run-through - a take trying to find the true soul of the song. It's good, but nowhere near as good as the finished take. "So Quite In Here" fares better - it's delicate, lovely in places - and deserves the moniker of `bonus track'.

"Enlightenment is "Avalon Sunset" Part 2 and a firm fan favourite - this excellent remaster finally gives it the sonic muscle it's long deserved. Recommended.

PS:
30 Van Morrison albums are re-issued in remastered form throughout 2008 and into early 2009. Each title contains an upgraded booklet; previously unreleased bonus tracks and all will be at mid-price. The releases are in 4 batches as follows:

28 January 2008 (7 titles)
Tupelo Honey (1971), It's Too Late To Stop Now (2 CD Live Set) (1974),
Wavelenght (1979), Into The Music (1979), A Sense Of Wonder (1985),
Avalon Sunset (1989) and Back On Top (1999)
(see SEPARATE REVIEWS for all 7)

30 June 2008 UK/1 & 8 July 2008 USA (8 titles)
Veedon Fleece (1974), Common One (1980), Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart (1983), Live At The Grand Opera House, Belfast (1984), No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986), Enlightenment (1990), A Night In San Francisco (2CD Live Set) (1994) and The Healing Game (1997)
(see also SEPARATE REVIEWS for "Veedon Fleece", "Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart", "Common One", the live 2CD set "A Night In San Francisco" and "No Guru, No Teacher, No Method")

November 2008 (7 titles)
Saint Dominic's Preview (1972), A Period Of Transition (1977), Beautiful Vision (1982), Poetic Champions Compose (1987), Hymns To The Silence (2CD Studio Set) (1991), How Long Has This Been Going On (Live At Ronnie Scott's) (1995) and Tell Me Something - The Songs Of Mose Allison (1996)

January 2009 (8 titles)
Hard Nose The Highway (1973), Irish Heartbeat (with The Chieftains) (1988),
Too Long In Exile (1993), Days Like This (1995), The Story Of Them (2CD Set) (1999), The Skiffle Sessions - Live In Belfast (with Lonnie Donegan & Chris Barber) (2000), Down The Road (2002) and What's Wrong With This Picture? (2003)

PPS:
Those hoping to see desperately needed sonic upgrades of his 1st and 2nd album masterpieces on Warner Bothers "Astral Weeks" (1968) and "Moondance" (1970) or even "His Band & The Street Choir" (late 1970) will be disappointed to hear that they're NOT in this re-issue campaign - on either side of the pond. "Astral Weeks" and "Moondance" in particular have both been languishing around on crappy-sounding non-remastered CDs for over 20 years now and they're glaringly obvious omissions in this supposedly 'extensive' re-issue campaign. These universally recognized masterpieces have long deserved 2CD DELUXE EDITION treatment (some tracks in remastered form are available across the 3 volumes of "Best Of"). However, I've recently been informed by a good source that all 3 are NOW AVAILABLE since June 2008 in JAPAN in RHINO REMASTERED form. See the excellent Japanese site CDJAPAN.CO.JP for details (worded in English). July 1, 2008

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