Its title seems squarely in the pilgrim's camp, where much of Van Morrison's '80s music dwells, but 1990's Enlightenment offsets new glimpses of Morrison's oft-sought Avalon ("Avalon of the Heart") with darker confessions of human frailty and challenged faith. The opening "Real Real Gone" belies its hard-charging R&B verve (a welcome return to high-octane soul after his relatively becalmed, then-recent work) with admissions of weakness, and even the lyrical title song … mehrreveals confusion more than salvation. A few years later, such defeats might have prompted one of his crankier outbursts, but this set is brightened by the joyful reminiscences of "Youth of 1,000 Summers" and the epic "In the Days Before Rock 'n' Roll", in which Morrison's declamatory fervour is matched by poet Paul Durcan. The latter song is a gloriously apt Morrison moment, exulting in Little Richard as though he walked the same astral plane as William Blake--which, in Morrison's world, is exactly the point. --Sam Sutherland weniger
1 - Real Real Gone
2 - Enlightenment
3 - So Quiet In Here
4 - Avalon Of The Heart
5 - See Me Through… mehr
6 - Youth Of 1,000 Summers
7 - In The Days Before Rock 'n' Roll
8 - Start All Over Again
9 - She's My Baby
10 - Memories weniger