Remembering Now

47作目、約3年ぶりとなるオリジナル・アルバムでも期待を裏切らない、これぞVan Morrisonという作品が届きました!アカデミー賞主題歌賞にノミネートされた「Down To Joy」が収録されたファン待望のワクワクが詰まった作品です!

47作目となるスタジオ・アルバム!未発表曲蔵出しアルバム、『New Arrangements and Duets』から約9カ月ぶり、オリジナル作品としては『What's It Gonna Take?』以来3年ぶりとなるオリジナル作品。内容はブルーアイド・ソウル・シンガー、Van Morrisonの魅力を堪能できるソウル、ジャズ、ブルース、フォーク、カントリーを豊かにブレンドした原点回帰的な作品となっている。
■仕様:デジスリーヴ・パッケージ、ブックレット

Van Morrison worried many fans with 2022s Whats It Gonna Take?, a COVID-era paranoid political rant. Fears eased somewhat with the two solid musically linked albums Moving On Skiffle and Accentuate the Positive in 2023, offered in the roots style so influential during his pre-Them career. Remembering Now also embraces the musical rearview, but refracted through the lens of the present. He revels in the brands of Irish R&B, Celtic blues, country, soul, and balladry that made him, but was pursued so intimately on questing albums from 1979s Into the Music and 1991s Hymns to the Silence. Morrisons lyrics here reveal what hes learned in 80 years. Over 14 songs, he plays guitar, saxophone, and piano; hes backed by his quintet, horns, a backing chorus, Seth Lakemans Celtic fiddle, and strings by the Fews Ensemble, conducted by Joanne Quigley. Opener "Down to Joy" was featured in director Kenneth Branaghs 2021 film Belfast. A swinging Celtic soul jam, it offers punchy, elegant horns, chunky Stax-esque guitars, and a whining pedal steel above a shuffling beat, as Morrison testifies to gratitude and amorous devotion: "She was standing there before me (There before me) When I was coming down/I said I do adore thee (I adore thee) When I was coming down to joy…. "If It Wasnt for Ray" is a skiffle-drenched, countrified R&B tune offered in tribute to Ray Charles, giving the icon much credit for his own career. "Havent Lost My Sense of Wonder" is a poignant, tender manifesto. Above a whispering B-3, he sings, "I havent lost my sense of wonder/even though things arent working out… Though Ive had my fill, Ive been through the mill/Im still signing "peace, be still." "Lover, Lover and Beloved" is a country-soul tune that recalls Charles great country ballads with its orchestration, and its sung with raw, simmering passion. Second single "Cutting Corners," is a rock-kissed Celtic soul tune drenched in loneliness and regret despite its hook. Morrison takes a gratifying saxophone solo. The next three selections – "Back To Writing Love Songs," "The Only Love I Ever Need Is Yours," and "Once In A Lifetime Feelings" – are excellent, tender expressions of love in different musical vernaculars. The next three – "Stomping Grounds," "Memories and Visions" and the revelatory "When The Rains Came" (the latter could have been on Common One) – look to the past to find equilibrium in the here and now. "Remembering Now" is a resonant, autobiographical, jazz-blues ballad with killer B-3 from Richard Dunn. Nine-minute closer "Stretchin Out" is a vamp driven textural gospel-blues driven by sweeping strings, piano and bass that is simply one of his most transcendent songs. Summarily, Remembering Now is aptly titled in its manner of observing personal history through the lens of life in the process of being lived in the moment. Morrisons been rambling in strange territory for the last five years, but this is proof that the restless wandering spirit didnt forget his Muse, or who he is. ~ Thom Jurek

傑作『New Arrangements And Duets』以来9か月ぶりの新作だが、なんだか笑っちゃうほど快調なんである。リチャード・ダンが操るソウルフルなハモンド・オルガンを核としたR&B調、アコギの軽やかな音色に包まれたフォーク・ロックなど色とりどりで味わい深いオリジナルが揃っており、飽きる暇を与えない。豪奢なストリングスに彩られた終幕曲"Stretching Out"がマジ格別!
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