Van Morrison - Roll With The Punches (2017) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Roll With The Punches – Van Morrison’s 37th studio album - sees him simultaneously hand-picking a selection of rhythm and blues classics (by the likes of Bo Diddley, Mose Allison, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Lightnin’ Hopkins among others) and recording a set of new self-written songs. It’s an album that features raw, intimate interpretations of some of the cornerstones of Rock’n’Roll alongside five new numbers by one of our most consistently brilliant recording artists.

Roll With The Punches was produced by Van Morrison and recorded with an incredible team of studio collaborators including Chris Farlowe, Georgie Fame, Jeff Beck, Paul Jones and Jason Rebello. Van commented: From a very early age, I connected with the blues. The thing about the blues is you don’t dissect it – you just do it. I’ve never over-analysed what I do; I just do it. Music has to be about just doing it and that’s the way the blues works – it’s an attitude. I was lucky to have met people who were the real thing – people like John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Witherspoon, Bo Diddley,

Van commented: “From a very early age, I connected with the blues. The thing about the blues is you don’t dissect it – you just do it. I’ve never over-analysed what I do; I just do it. Music has to be about just doing it and that’s the way the blues works – it’s an attitude. I was lucky to have met people who were the real thing – people like John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Witherspoon, Bo Diddley, Little Walter and Mose Allison. I got to hang out with them and absorb what they did. They were people with no ego whatsoever and they helped me learn a lot.

“The songs on Roll With The Punches – whether I’ve written them or not – they’re performance oriented,” he continues. “Each song is like a story and I’m performing that story. That’s been forgotten over years because people over-analyse things. I was a performer before I started writing songs and I’ve always felt like that’s what I do.”



TRACKLIST
1 Roll With The Punches 03:58
2 Transformation 03:32
3 I Can Tell 03:51
4 Stormy Monday / Lonely Avenue 05:31
5 Goin' To Chicago 05:22
6 Fame 05:07
7 Too Much Trouble 03:05
8 Bring It On Home To Me 05:39
9 Ordinary People 04:42
10 How Far From God 03:48
11 Teardrops From My Eyes 03:54
12 Automobile Blues 03:40
13 Benediction 03:12
14 Mean Old World 05:00
15 Ride On Josephine 03:03