KEEP IT SIMPLE - VAN MORRISON
Forty years on, a new Van Morrison album is still welcome. “Keep It Simple” is his first collection of all-new material since 2005, and as the title hints, there’s not a lot of embellishment, just a kind of basic, rhythmic and melodic flow. “That’s Entrainment” is one of the better tunes, the title referring to Morrison’s word for hitting the sweet spot in a situation or performance. “How Can a Poor Boy” shows his streetwise side, with what sounds like a Hammond B-3 providing the muscle. “Don’t Go to Nightclubs Anymore,” a declaration of domestication, is either a brazen rewrite or affectionate tribute to Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.” The album is front-loaded with these relatively energetic tracks. Much of the rest is resigned, reflective and spiritually attuned, but not always keenly focused.
