Seven Welcome Reminders of the Genius of Van Morrison

Van Morrison is one of the most commanding figures of the modern pop era, someone who was marvelous when he made his U.S. chart debut in 1965 with the band Them and will continue to enchant audiences as long as he steps up to a microphone.

But there was a point when his genius seemed both the richest and most focused--a period that stretched from his early solo days through the landmark “Astral Weeks” album in 1968 to this two-disc live collection that was recorded in 1973 (partly at the Troubadour and Santa Monica Civic Auditorium).

“I just want to rock your soul, baby,” Morrison shouts at the end of “Into the Mystic,” and his best music lives up to that goal. Like Bob Dylan and Al Green, the Irishman follows his own creative impulses in ways that defy commercial trends and stylistic boundaries.

Though his unbending independence has led to all sorts of surprising--and, on occasion, disappointing--turns, Morrison combines in this album and elsewhere pieces of blues, gospel, folk, rock and jazz, as if none of the styles alone was sufficient to express his frequently spiritually tinged feelings.

“Too Late,” one of seven Morrison albums that have been released in new, remastered form, features both Morrison songs (including “These Dreams of You,” “Cypress Avenue” and “Saint Dominic’s Preview”) and several outside tunes (among them, Sam Cooke’s “Bring It on Home to Me” and Ray Charles’ “I Believe to My Soul”).

Regardless of who wrote a particular song, Morrison sings it with such startling electricity and individual phrasing that it’s hard to imagine any other singer of his generation not being at least a bit intimidated by hearing it. A splendid work.

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**** Van Morrison, “Tupelo Honey,” Polydor. This is not only the best of the other six albums just re-released by Polydor (a series running chronologically from “Tupelo Honey” through 1978’s “Wavelength”), but is also probably the most accessible album Morrison has ever made.

Though it was actually recorded in San Francisco, the 1971 collection has such a disarming, country-flavored tone that it sounds as if it could have been recorded in a studio next to the one Bob Dylan used in Nashville to cut “Nashville Skyline.”

From the sexual expectation of “Wild Night” to the sweet optimism of “Starting a New Life” to the good-natured devotion of “I Wanna Roo You,” this album is such a romantic mood-setter that it serves as a sort of earthy or, perhaps, rural equivalent of Sinatra’s candlelight pieces.

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*** Van Morrison, “Hard Nose the Highway,” Polydor. It’s interesting to listen to this 1973 package because it is widely considered the weakest of Morrison’s ‘70s albums. The material is spotty and the arrangements a bit too radio-friendly, but there is still an individuality and spark that makes it far more vital than the works of most of the parade of artists who have been influenced by Morrison. Did anyone say Counting Crows?

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).