Morrison, Van: Roll With The Punches (CD)

Seminal, genre-blurring records imbued with folk, jazz, and mysticism, including Astral Weeks, Moondance and Veedon Fleece, have long since crowned Van Morrison king of Celtic soul. Yet the artist’s first love was always the blues, and on September 23, 2017, he went back to the blues with his hard-hitting 37th album, Roll With The Punches.

Van Morrison’s long and distinguished career began with him fronting fiery Belfast outfit Them, whose evergreen mid-60s hits “Here Comes The Night”, “Baby Please Don’t Go” and “Gloria” (the latter covered by Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and Patti Smith) displayed Morrison’s love of R&B. The Northern Irish star has come full circle, returning to the genre with a vengeance on Roll With The Punches, wherein a series of blues standards rub shoulders with a selection of freshly-minted Morrison originals.

Equal parts hungry and accomplished, Roll With The Punches was recorded with an incredible team of studio collaborators including Chris Farlowe, Georgie Fame, Jeff Beck, Paul Jones and Jason Rebello. Collectively, they show off their chops on a raw’n’slinky version of Bo Diddley’s “I Can Tell” and a spirited medley of T-Bone Walker’s “Stormy Monday” and Doc Pomus’ “Lonely Avenue”, while Morrison flexes his versatile vocal cords on two of the album’s best self-penned numbers: the subtle, James Carr-esque “Transformation” and the pugnacious, Chicago-style blues of the title track.

1. Roll With The Punches
2. Transformation
3. I Can Tell
4. Stormy Monday / Lonely Avenue
5. Goin' To Chicago
6. Fame
7. Too Much Trouble
8. Bring It On Home To Me
9. Ordinary People
10. How Far From God
11. Teardrops From My Eyes
12. Automobile Blues
13. Benediction
14. Mean Old World
15. Ride On Josephine