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| Keep It Simple | 
 enlarge | List Price: £11.99
Buy New: £6.49
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 21 reviews)
Sales Rank: 99
Category: Music
Artist: Van Morrison
Publisher: Polydor Group
Studio: Polydor Group
Manufacturer: Polydor Group
Label: Polydor Group
Media: Audio CD
Running Time: 49 minutes
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 602517626836
EAN: 0602517626836
ASIN: B0012RCXA0
Release Date: March 17, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | How Can A Poor Boy? | | • | School Of Hard Knocks | | • | That's Entrainment | | • | Don't Go To Nightclubs Anymore | | • | Lover Come Back | | • | Keep It Simple | | • | End Of The Land | | • | Song Of Home | | • | No Thing | | • | Soul | | • | Behind The Ritual |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Keep It Simple is Van Morrison's 35th album. Representing his first new material since 2005, it's also the first Van LP in a while for which he has acted as composer, arranger, lyricist and multi-instrumentalist (sax, harmonica, ukelele) as well as specifically composing all 11 songs for the one project. The album wears its title well as the blues number "How Can a Poor Boy" kicks things off in sparse but compelling style. The arrangements stay elegant and subtle throughout, leaving space for Morisson's chief weapon--his voice. At 63 he sounds as peerless as ever, even if his lyrical outlook is less mystical and more sober than before (see songs like "Don't Go to Nightclubs Anymore"). But when you least expect it, hints of his former lyrical powers return. "Into the Mystic" and the denouement "Behind the Ritual" are reminiscent of some of his best work, and while Keep It Simple cannot be compared to the visceral majesty and fanciful meanderings of Astral Weeks, it's one of his most enjoyable outings for a while. --Danny McKenna
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Where's The Muse? May 7, 2008
Oh dear. Another mediocre album. Van can knock album's like this out with his eyes closed. What happened to the creative muse? The lyrics are banal and it's a real plodder. Contains yet more 'hard done by' songs which are tiresome. Guess I'll just have to keep listening to classic Van - St Dominic's, Moondance, Tupelo Honey and, yes, Hard Nose The Highway.
 Understated and consistent April 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
While I wouldn't say this is a "return to form", as is always applied to reasonably appealing albums by old stagers, I would say that it has substantially more to recommend it than "Pay The Devil" and much of "Magic Time". All the cuts are solid and while lyrically treading the same old paths, the delivery (as always) and the musicianship raise them above the ordinary. There is a lovely effortlessness on this album. Yes, I know old Van can trot tunes like these out in his sleep, but somehow there is a bit more verve and vigour about this collection. Stylistically he's too old to change now, but what the heck.
I have to disagree with a previous reviewer and say that "Behind The Ritual" is a captivating cut, as is "Soul" and "End Of The Land". "Don't Go To Nightclubs Any More" is a great slow burning blues, and "That's Entrainment" has the obligatory Morrison moaning about things in general.
I like this album a lot, it grows with each play and is not destined for a few plays then nothing. It is a laster, I think.
Very listenable April 12, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I don't really have a history with Van Morrison. I know a few of his hits but have not been a huge fan so I don't know how this compares with his earlier material. What I can say though is that this is a very easy album to listen to and one which is growing on me each time I play it. It's mellow,laid back grown up music and I like it a lot.
That's more like it! April 8, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I've been listening to Van Morrison's music for nearly 30 years, and with heavy heart passed on his last two albums ("Magic Time", and "Pay the Devil") because his recent music no longer connected with me the way it had in the past; after all no-one yet has made great music out of whingeing about the record industry and the price of fame. Somehow the bar-room blues, skiffle and jazz just didn't do it for me, at least not the way the incomparable, transcendental music on say "Veedon Fleece", "Into the Music" or "St. Dominic's Preview" had done.
So it's with great pleasure that I turned to "Keep it Simple"; it's not up there with his greatest work, but for me it's the best thing he's done since "Too Long in Exile". There are still a few forgettable pieces (the opening track "How Can a Poor Boy" for example), but there are some solid-gold gems here - "That's Entrainment", "Lover Come Back", "Keep it Simple", "End of the Land".
The final two tracks deserve to stand with anything he's done before - "Soul" and "Behind the Ritual"; the latter in particular is superb, and my only disappointment was that it finished a mere six minutes in just when I thought it was getting really interesting.
So thanks Van for a splendid album :-)
Creeps Up Rather Than Jumps Out April 4, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The joys of this latest Van the Man album creep up on you. It was on the fourth listening that the pleasing melodies and catchy phrasings took root. It is a typically Van Morrison eclectic mix of tunes. The songs hang together beautifully and there are echoes throughout of previous recordings. The intros are particularly clear and crisp. I look forward to many more playings of this finely crafted album.
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