March 25, 2006

HORSEFEATHERS HAS BEEN LISTENING: THE BELFAST COWBOY

        It is amazing in this day of debased, post modern culture to encounter excellence in pop music. Naturally it is not in Hollywood, nor in the precincts of advanced metrosexual 'art'. Listen carefully, for when Sharia law prevails, this music will not be heard. While Ivy League trained critics hail the deconstruction of sexual difference, heterosexual love and its vicissitudes remains the theme of country music and Southern blues. On Broadway, any play that fails to celebrate diversity of sexual tastes and support the gay agenda is doomed to Ben Brantley's scorn and derision. Multiculturalists dismiss the pleasures of Western country music and art. After all, didn't the cowboys exterminate the noble Indians? The Oscar for best film music just went to a 'song' about the difficulties of a pimp's life. What a joy then, to listen to Van (the Man) Morrison's new album Pay The Devil. These are cowboy songs and southern blues, about adults, about men and women, about love, about the conflicts and compromises of adult heterosexual life. The cowboy archetype, now under assault by Hollywood, provides Morrison with rich imagery and powerful themes of love, loss and longing. Isn't it interesting that nowadays it takes an Irishman to appreciate the essence of the American cowboy experience, its unabashed archetypal maleness? Contemporary Americans would be writing about the travails of closeted gay cowboys yearning to get in touch with their inner femaleness.
        Horsefeathers guarantees satisfaction. Our personal favorite is Big Blue Diamond, a magnificent celebration of the difference between the sexes and the unsatisfiable longings on both sides of the sexual divide. Here is a description of the album from the Amazon site:

There’s a reason they call Van Morrison the Belfast Cowboy. Now with Morrison’s latest album Pay The Devil, that good reason has resulted in a great new album. From the start, the deeply soulful sounds of the American South helped inspire Morrison to one of the most enduring and consistently impressive careers in music history. For forty-years, he’s drawn upon the greats of Rhythm & Blues to create his own distinctive and influential blend of soul and Celtic influences. On Pay The Devil, Morrison explores his inner cowboy more than ever before -- recording a compelling mix of his favorite country compositions as well as a few equally strong originals that more than earn their place among such distinguished company. And just as Morrison’s longtime hero Ray Charles did once upon a time on Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music, Morrison has taken some enduring, endlessly relevant songs of the south and somehow made them all his own. Those who have been following Van Morrison for years might praise him for his remarkable range in taking this turn down a country road. Recent years have seen Morrison cover the musical waterfront with recordings that touch upon traditional Irish music, jazz, skiffle and other musical forms that move him. But the secret of Morrison’s ongoing artistic success is that he has never followed fashion in the slightest. Rather he continues to be a working musician who simply follows his own soulful muse wherever it may lead him. The outstanding, plainspoken songs on Pay The Devil range from the familiar, like Morrison’s impressive take on Hank Williams’ "Your Cheating Heart" and Webb Pierce’s "There Stands The Glass" to somewhat less familiar Country & Western gems. It is a true tribute to Morrison’s genius as a vocal stylist that he can take a song as often covered as "Half As Much" -- recorded over the years by everyone from Hank Williams to Patsy Cline and Emmylou Harris – and manage to make it feel new all over again. He does so by clearly connecting with country’s timeless themes of love and loss and life, sin and salvation. Through it all, Morrison proves to be one hell of a fine, subtle straight-ahead country singer in the grand tradition of George Jones. Indeed, one of Pay The Devil’s many highlights is Morrison’s take on "Things Have Gone To Pieces," a dark gem written by Leon Payne that Jones made famous. Then there’s "What Am I Living For?" -- an old Chuck Willis number. Listen to how ! Morrison delivers Rodney Crowell’s early masterpiece "Til I Gain Control Again" -- one of the more recent copyrights included here and a standout effort on an album full of them. Yet even among such high standards, Morrison’s originals here are among the highlights – including "Playhouse" a sly, infectious song that one wishes the Genius of Soul had lived to record, and the title track – a reflection on making the devil’s music and a fine reminder that "one man’s meat is another man’s poison" To listen to Pay The Devil, one might naturally assume that Morrison has traveled to Nashville and handed himself over to Music City’s finest players and producers. Remarkably, Morrison has done nothing of the sort – recording Pay The Devil in Ireland with the same wonderful musicians who have been playing with him for years now with exceptional results. Even more remarkably, it turns out that Morrison has never even been to Nashville before. Regardless of that, he has made a classic album that sounds like Nashville at its finest and stands as tall as anything that’s come out of the town in recent years. Pay The Devil is not just great country music, it’s great music – whatever country you happen to come from. We’ve come to expect no less from Morrison. Finally, the Belfast Cowboy has come home.