At The Movies, the 2007 Van Morrison compilation released before the even more recent Best Of Vol 3, is a wonderful anthology.
It reveals Morrison as a sometime great songwriter. Just listen carefully to the lyrics of Someone Like You, Real Real Gone, Moondance and Have I Told You Lately That I Love You – pop for grown-ups doesn’t get any better than this.
The vocals – particularly the towering performances on Caravan and Comfortably Numb –remind you that Van The Man has the finest singing voice in rock. And if you haven’t heard Morrison for a while, you might well be surprised at the sheer musicality of his catalogue.
At The Movies is an intriguing release, though. Why are there so many live tracks? Presumably so that Morrison receives royalties that would otherwise go to Warner Brothers if their album tracks had been used.
Why was Brown-Eyed Girl re-recorded? Presumably to divert royalties to Morrison and away from Bang, Morrison’s hated first label as a solo artist.
And why was the cinema on the cover artwork given the exceedingly unlikely name of “CALVIN”? Presumably it’s a joke by a very witty Belfast Calvinist. It certainly made this fellow Calvinist laugh out loud!
Super album: a must-listen for grown-up fans of mature popular music.
Gerry Smith
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