Length 50:10 | ||
Released UK 17 March 2008US 1 April 2008 Keep It Simple(2008) |
Keep It Simple is the thirty-third solo studio album recorded by Northern Irish singer/songwriter Van Morrison. It was released on 17 March 2008 (see 2008 in music) by Exile Productions Ltd./Polydor in the UK and on the Lost Highway Records label on 1 April 2008, in the U.S.. His previous studio album Pay the Devil was also released on the Lost Highway label, in March 2006. The album debuted at No. 10 on the US, UK and Canada charts and No. 7 on European Top 100 Albums. This album achieved Morrison's highest ranking in US charts.
Contents
This is the first studio album of all new original material since his 1999 album Back on Top. Other albums released since then have contained some cover songs. The May 2005 album, Magic Time, was composed of ten originals and three cover songs.
The album features most of the various genres that Morrison has been influenced by such as jazz, folk, blues, celtic, country, soul and gospel.
Composition
In an interview on BBC Radio Four on 10 March 2008, Morrison spoke of his inspiration for the songs on the album: "It's got elements of blues, folk, gospel - all my influences . . . Curtis Mayfield. It's got a lot of inspiration from various things I was inspired by out there, but it comes out like a new album."
Morrison wrote all eleven songs featured on the album and has been quoted as saying: "I felt I had something to say with these songs."
In one of the songs, "That's Entrainment", Morrison says he has explained his approach to the music on the album. In his words:
Entrainment is when you connect with the music. . . . Entrainment is really what I'm getting at in the music. . . . It's kind of when you're in the present moment - you're here - with no past or future."That's Entrainment" was played for the first time, at the beginning of the second hour, on Chris Evans BBC 2 Drivetime show on Wednesday, 30 January 2008, with Evans commenting: "The new Van Morrison album came with a shoot-to-kill warning if played before a certain date, but that's now been lifted so we can play it."
Promotion
Morrison announced a short United States tour to promote the album with appearances in Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee (at the Ryman Auditorium); Boston, Massachusetts; and in New York City, starting on 11 March 2008. During this tour, he also performed at La Zona Rosa in Austin, Texas, at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music conference and festival on 12 March 2008.
In the U.K. on 15 March, BBC Radio 2 presented an exclusive concert performance of Morrison performing all of the songs from the album.
Morrison gave an interview on BBC Radio Four's Today show in the morning on 10 March 2008 and an hour long interview on the Paul Jones show at BBC Two Radio the same evening.
Reception
On its first week of release the album reached number ten on the U.S. charts, which is Morrison's highest placement ever in the U.S. His sixth solo album, Saint Dominic's Preview, charted at #15 in 1972.
Most of the reviews were favourable with four star ratings by The Star, The Sun, The Times and Uncut.
"There's a certain grace to Van's stripped-back band and as always he evokes images of sorrow and anguish but with such beauty and warmth that you can't help but smile when you hear them." Mat Strowbridge/inthenews.co.uk
"Typically the band settles into a groove while Morrison lifts off into the trancelike realm he calls 'entrainment'." Anthony Decurtis, Rolling Stone
Track listing
All songs by Van Morrison
- "How Can a Poor Boy?" - 5:43
- "School of Hard Knocks" - 3:44
- "That's Entrainment" - 4:32
- "Don't Go to Nightclubs Anymore" - 4:31
- "Lover Come Back" - 5:15
- "Keep It Simple" - 3:34
- "End of the Land" - 3:16
- "Song of Home" - 4:13
- "No Thing" - 4:31
- "Soul" - 3:37
- "Behind the Ritual" - 6:59
iTunes Bonus Track
(available UK week of 17 March 2008 and U.S. on 1 April 2008)
- "Little Village" - 6:11 (Live) (Album Only)
Vinyl Bonus Tracks
- "Blue & Green" - 5:52 (Live)
- "Little Village" - 6:11 (Live)
- "And The Healing Has Begun" - 7:11 (Live)
Recorded live in concert at the Blackpool Opera House (UK) 26 January 2008