Product Description

When you're what the music industry calls a "career artist", with an appeal based on something more substantial than one hit single or album, you can go one of two ways. You can coast along from album to album, churning out variations on the formula that made you successful early in your career, oryou can remain a vital, inventive artist, probing the outerreaches of your craft and continually searching for new vistas. THE HEALING GAME proves--not that there was any doubt--that Van Morrison is definitely in the latter camp.
Whiletracks like "Rough God Goes Riding" and "Waiting Game" rideon the same R&B feel that has been the backbone of many Morrison albums, the lyrics paint a portrait of a man whose struggle with the verities of love, life and death is unending.Through these conflicts, the Celtic soul man is continuallyforced to seek out new ways of dealing with the world and himself. Bolstered by his longtime cohort, organist Georgie Fame, and a full complement of first-class R&B musicians (including former James Brown sideman Pee Wee Ellis), Morrison tries to quench the fire in his soul through the cathartic healing power of the music.

Track Listing

1. Rough God Goes Riding
2. Fire In The Belly
3. This Weight
4. Waiting Game
5. Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
6. Burning Ground
7. It Once Was My Life
8. Sometimes We Cry
9. If You Love Me
10. Healing Game

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54905 in Music
• Released on: 1999-06-18
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Van is the Man
Great CD. Not as slimey as most of his 'newer' albums. Good bluesy songs. Classic Van Morrison!!

Fire in the belly and iron in the soul in songs of praise!
This is quite simply Van's best studio album of the nineties and sees him synthesise the blues, Jazz, celtic, gospel and soul influences that make his music a unique melting pot. After a couple of Jazz albums Van gets the dream team line up of Georgie on Hammond Organ and Brian Kennedy and Katie Kissoon on backing vocals and Pee Wee Ellis on Baritone Sax and whips them into a gospel like fervour. The collection is heavier than 1995's Days Like This and what we have here is real heart and soul music. Rough God Goes Riding is a blistering opener and sees Van using Irish literary allusion to apocalyptic effect and a fantastic Sax solo from Pee Wee that would make Coltrane jealous. Fire in the Belly follows with a deep soul groove and growl from Van whose interplay with Brian works brilliantly: this is one of his best endurance songs. The Weight segues neatly into The Waiting Game and the latter features a gorgeous melody full of tumbling leaves and golden autumn sum. Katie kissoon's backing vocals turn this song into a beautiful duet and spiritual high point of the album. We need of break from the soul and what Van gives us is a perfect slice of Celtic mysticism courtesy of several chieftains in Piper at the Gates of Dawn which celebrates the glories of the riverbank. The sixth selection is arguably one of Van's most intense forays into personal and spiritual allegory with the Bhuddist influenced The Burning Ground. Van tries to dump the jute and purify his troubled soul in a coruscating mantra that builds into a devastating climax. It once was my life is more jaunty and upbeat and fits into the Van sub-genre of songs that moan about the vagaries of fame and success but this is an enjoyable all the same. The Healing Game finale is a treat that builds around Fame's church-like organ and features wonderful doo wop backing vocals from the corner boys of Van's Belfast past. Van is back to where he began in sprit and in music,which is full of driving energy and full bloodied singing of a man who got healed. This album is an epiphany and essential for any fan of the man who in this collection is back on top!