Van Morrison: Veedon Fleece

This is one of those uneven albums whose unevenness you forgive because the good tracks are so extremely good. With, by my reckoning, seven out of ten tracks worthy to be ranked with Astral Weeks and Moondance, this has to be considered one of Morrison’s best, in spite of its lapses. I wish the lyrics were more coherent and focused. I wish a few relatively dull songs like “Cul de Sac” and “Comfort You” were replaced by something more interesting. I wonder why Van sang “Who Was That Masked Man?” entirely in falsetto. But there’s a lot of magic here, starting with the rolling slow jazz of “Fair Play to You,” surging through “You Don’t Pull No Punches But You Don’t Push the River” and “Bulbs,” and ending with the bittersweet pastoral nostalgia of “Country Fair.”

We stood and watched the river flow.
We were too young to really know.

Maybe somebody can listen to that song without remembering young love. Not me.