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From the Vault...
01/27/2013
#1344 |
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info
Van Morrison
"Tupelo Honey"
© Warner Bros. Records
Year of Release: 1971
Rating:
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track listing
Wild Night
(Straight To Your Heart)
Like A Cannonball
Old Old Woodstock
Starting A New Life
You're My Woman
Tupelo Honey
I Wanna Roo You
Scottish Derivative)
When That Evening
Sun Goes Down
Moonshine Whiskey
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WSVNRadio Archives
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Van Morrison
"Tupelo Honey"
Van Morrison returns as our Album Pick of the Week, with his 1971 release, Tupelo Honey.
The album leads off with its biggest hit, "Wild Night." Ronnie Montrose played guitar on the track/album, as when he and Morrison were working
together, Ronnie had been messing around with a guitar riff, and Morrison insisted it to be the intro to the song. The rest, they say, is History.
"(Straight To Your Heart) Like A Cannonball" is one of those many happy-go-lucky tracks Van Morrison had written/sung in his career. "Old
Old Woodstock" is his tribute to his previous life in upstate New York. Laid back sound. Strong sensitivity towards children and family life.
His then wife, Janet, was the inspiration to this song, as she provided background vocals. (And yes, that is Janet on the original album cover of
Tupelo Honey.)
"Starting A New Life" has a somewhat New Orleans jazz style, as the lyrics state to Morrison taking stock of himself, see how far he'd become,
and support from those who helped get him get to where he was, and together with them, to start a new life. "You're My Woman" is another laid back
track, also influenced by Morrison's wife, Janet. The title track is just about the same style as his a song from his previous album, His Band And The
Street Choir -- the song entitled "Crazy Love." It's another great tune; the "other" great song from Tupleo Honey, is "Wild Night."
Like the "Cannonball" tune, "I Wanna Roo You (Scottish Derivative)" has the Morrison happy-go-lucky style, and it could easily fit
today's country playlists, likewise the next track, the country-flavored, honky-tonk'er "When The Evening Sun Goes Down." The last track,
"Moonshine Whiskey" is compared to The Band, with its off-Country sound and a bit of R&B.
Interesting reading about this album from its Wikipedia page: Morrison wasn't really fond of this album, nor the one previous, His Band And The
Street Choir. The latter album is one of my favorite albums, and a fave from Morrison's career. Morrison said the songs from this album were
"left over from before"; songs that didn't fit for other albums released, or just put back on the shelf. Morrison was really trying to record a
Country and Western album. "Wild Night" is a Country song? Hardly! Tupelo Honey starts out as a laid back album, and gets way better
towards the end. Not to say this album is as exceptional as Street Choir, yet it is another good album from Morrison, just as many others.
(Although Astral Weeks was considered one of his finests, I tended to disagree. I guess I'll have to go back and listen to it again.)
"Wild Night" and the title track are the standouts -- Yet the entire album is another well-done production from Van "The Man" Morrison.
It's one of those albums that can be very relaxing to listen to. It's worth checking out.
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