Album Review: Van Morrison - Born To Sing: No Plan B

The angry Irishman with the silken vocals is back again with his umpteenth album. The good news is that he's in fine form, using his jazz leanings together with some seriously great lyrics to take a new direction. Having been a huge icon for so many decades it's no surprise that he's made some great and terrible records along the way, but this time around he gets it right. The voice that soared in the seventies is now more of an instrument than a bird of flight, yet there is a power here and a message to boot.

A few of these songs are reminiscent of classic tracks from his back catalogue. Close Enough For Jazz has a mood and swing feel that comes close to Moondance, that wonderful love song. The jazz modality is perfect on If In Money We Trust, a song that gets under the skin with its simple but powerful lyrics and chords. There is a taste of the old school blues on Pagan Heart, which would've easily been taken from The Philosopher's Stone, one of those strange but memorable albums.

The velvet glove hits hard and straight to the point on songs like End Of The Rainbow, where he comments on the demise of the economic status quo of the west and particularly his own country. Perhaps having recently toured his classic album, Astral Weeks, has led to this reinvigoration of his muse. There are a few tracks on Born To Sing that deserve to be on his next 'best of', which could well be a big seller.