The Best of Van Morrison

Release and reception

The Best of Van Morrison was Morrison's first greatest hits album and featured songs that were compiled from 25 years of material. including "Wonderful Remark", a song which first appeared on the soundtrack to the 1983 film The King of Comedy. The album became one of the best-selling records of the 1990s, spending a year and a half on the UK charts, helping Morrison regain his commercial popularity during the decade. It also debuted at number one in Australia on the ARIA Albums Chart. In the United States, the album never reached the Top 40 of the Billboard 200 but remained on the chart for more than four-and-a-half years. In 2002, the album was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), having shipped four million copies in the US. Morrison was reluctant at first to have a greatest hits album released, although its success encouraged him to personally select tracks for the second and third volumes in 1993 and 2007, respectively. According to Andrew Gilstrap from PopMatters:

As the story goes, Van Morrison wanted nothing to do with his first greatest hits collection ... He probably warmed up to the idea, though, after the sales figures started pouring in—year after year after year.

The Best of Van Morrison was acclaimed by critics from Goldmine and Q magazine, who called it essential. In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau said although the songs are not sequenced chronologically, the album flows as a unified and "spiritually enlightened" work that also reflects the compilers "upbeat market savvy". He took note of the seven songs from Morrison's music in the 1980s, particularly "Wonderful Remark", writing that they live up to the standards of his 1970s albums Moondance (1970) and Into the Music (1979). In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine viewed the record as an exceptional compilation and a perfect sampler of Morrison's music, which is made to "seem a little more immediate and accessible than it usually is" on his studio albums. The Best of Van Morrison remains his best-selling release.

Track listing

All songs written by Van Morrison, except where noted.

1. "Bright Side of the Road" – 3:45
2. "Gloria" – 2:37
3. "Moondance" – 4:31
4. "Baby, Please Don't Go" (Big Joe Williams) – 3:03
5. "Have I Told You Lately" – 4:18
6. "Brown Eyed Girl" – 3:03 - The mono single edit
7. "Sweet Thing" – 4:22
8. "Warm Love" – 3:21
9. "Wonderful Remark" – 3:58
10. "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)" – 2:57
11. "Full Force Gale" – 3:12
12. "And It Stoned Me" – 4:30
13. "Here Comes the Night" (Bert Berns) – 2:46
14. "Domino" – 3:08
15. "Did Ye Get Healed?" – 4:06
16. "Wild Night" – 3:31
17. "Cleaning Windows" – 4:42
18. "Whenever God Shines His Light" (duet with Cliff Richard) – 4:54
19. "Queen of the Slipstream" – 4:53
20. "Dweller on the Threshold" (Morrison, Hugh Murphy) – 4:47

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.

Charts

Album - UK Album Chart

Album - Billboard (North America)