The Essential Van Morrison is a two-disc compilation album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released on August 28, 2015. It is part of Sony BMG's Essential series of compilation albums and includes tracks from Morrison's solo output, as well as tracks from his days with Them. The tracks consist of some of Morrison's biggest hits and popular album tracks from 1964 as leader of the Northern Irish band Them through his 2009 release Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl. The liner notes were contributed by David Fricke.
Reception
The Green Man Review says that the Northern Irish singer and songwriter has spent the past 50 years fusing American jazz, pop, blues, soul and rhythm & blues with Anglo-Irish folk music to create something that's been dubbed Celtic Soul. The Essential is a two-disc, 37-track collection from Sony Legacy celebrates that half-century of song, as part of a huge new reissue project.
Vintage Rock says that with the Essential Van Morrison is a double-disc, 37-track career-spanning anthology that kicks things off in grand style as a thorough introduction to Van Morrison. It all starts with those early Them nuggets like "Gloria" and "Here Comes The Night" before moving onto to Morrsion's first solo hit "Brown Eyed Girl." Of course, "Astral Weeks," the title track of his second solo album changed the game entirely, leading to a career of musical exploration that transcends those early R&B and pop flavorings to more organic strains of country music, jazz, Celtic folk and rock.
Roz Milner from Bearded Gentlemen Music says:
Track listing
Disc one
Disc two
Personnel
Van Morrison – vocals, guitar, rhythm guitar, harmonica, tambourine, backing vocals, production, Al Gorgoni and Hugh McCracken – guitars Jay Berliner – classical and steel-string acoustic guitars Barry Kornfeld – acoustic guitar on "The Way Young Lovers Do" Eric Gale – lead guitar Russ Savakus - bass guitar Richard Davis – double bass Paul Griffin – piano Garry Sherman – organ, conductor, actual arranger, musical supervisor The Sweet Inspirations – back-up vocals for "Brown Eyed Girl" Gary Chester – drums Connie Kay – drums Warren Smith Jr. – percussion, vibraphone
Them (track one) Peter Bardens – piano, organ Billy Harrison – guitar Alan Henderson – bass John McAuley – drums, piano, harmonica