Van Morrison - The Healing Game (1997) Expanded Remastered 2008
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 339 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 133 Mb | Scans ~ 172 Mb
Label: Exile Productions Ltd., Polydor | # 5308757 | Time: 00:58:24
Singer/Songwriter, Pop/Rock, Folk-Rock, Blues, Blue-Eyed Soul
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 339 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 133 Mb | Scans ~ 172 Mb
Label: Exile Productions Ltd., Polydor | # 5308757 | Time: 00:58:24
Singer/Songwriter, Pop/Rock, Folk-Rock, Blues, Blue-Eyed Soul
Van Morrison never stopped recording during the 1990s, but for a little while it seemed as if he was disconnected from his muse. It wasn't so much his series of jazz cover albums – he'd return to this vein often in subsequent decades – but his songwriting that showed signs bitterness, particularly on 1995's Days Like This, where he seemed dismissive of the very notion of being a songwriter. In that light, it's hard not to see 1997's The Healing Game as a rejuvenation. Indeed, the album's very title suggests that Morrison is in the process of mending fences and reconnecting with a sense of joy, a process that began during his deep dive into Mose Allison and other bluesy jazz artists in the mid-'90s. Morrison retains that sense of swing on The Healing Game – he also retains keyboardist Georgie Fame, who would become a fixture on Morrison's albums over the next two decades – and it invigorates a set of songs that aren't necessarily all that different from what he's been writing as of late; he's still specializing in ballads, blues, and folk-rock colored by R&B.