Saint Dominic's Preview [CD]

The album opens with the great rhythm and blues inflected Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven when You Smile), which has become a sort of standard on classic rock radio stations and easily ranks amongst the very best songs Morrison has ever composed (...and it was famously covered by Kevin Rowland and Dexys Midnight Runners on their Too-Rye-Ey album, which is just as essential as this). Next song Gypsy is a personal favourite, mixing elements of folk, jazz and psychedelic pop to great effect, with Morrison playing some great acoustic guitar to compliment the subtle shades of piano and the shimmering horns. The subject matter of the song is classic Van, bringing to mind Caravan from Moondance with it's romanticised image of dusky gypsy maidens and a life of undiluted joy. This was still Van's happy period, when he was married and living in up state New York (hanging out with Dylan and The Band)... later his work would become much darker and introspective, more akin to the classic sound of Astral Weeks and that legendary epic, T.B. Sheets.

I Will Be There is a nice little throw-away pop song, like some of the stuff on Tupelo Honey, which leads us nicely into the colossal genius of Listen to the Lion, a twelve minute stream of conscious ramble that never makes itself clear... instead, Morrison employs a number of subtle key changes and all manner of metaphorical imagery to keep us interested, not to mention that sterling voice, which is at something of an early peak here. The title track is more sublime genius (in fact, the last four songs are all impeccable), with a great sound and overall performance from Morrison and his band of session players, and a great, up-lifting refrain, which points towards Van's problems with his record label at the time (although the message is buried beneath layers of gorgeous symbolism)... whilst the great integration of the horns within the mire of piano, organ and guitars can also be found on the next track, the similarly effecting Redwood Trees.

My favourite track on the album is the loose and seemingly improvised epic, Almost Independence Day, which finds Van strumming repetitive, hypnotic chords on a 12 string guitar, underneath which we find some classical-style piano fills and an early use of the moog synthesiser. It's the song that points most towards the style of Astral Weeks... but whereas songs like Cyprus Avenue and Slim Slow Slider were dense, melancholic and claustrophobic, this seems to carry an enormous sense of hope, again relating to Van's issues over his career as well as his personal life; replete with a myriad of poetic imagery that brings to mind some of his literary heroes, like Beckett and Blake.

St. Dominic's Preview is, in my opinion, a great album, and is one to easily rank alongside the other Morrison albums of this era (...particularly the aforementioned His Band... and Tupelo Honey) and is a great record to progress onto if you already have his three masterworks, Astral Weeks, Moondance, and Veedon Fleece.

'Jackie Wilson Said' stands out as the explosive opening to the album, bursting with energy and raw passion. Although, it's not representative of the rest of the album at all... it's almost as if Van Morrison says after each song, 'Right, I've done that genre, let's move on to something else.', which is great for the album as the result is a tapestry of different styles and emotions. 'Listen To The Lion' is another highlight. Sung straight from the heart, I bet that after capturing this performance on tape, the producers gave Morrison a standing ovation. Van Morrison pushes himself to the limit, and the result is a fantastically emotional, yet stunningly simple song that flys by, despite being over 11 minutes long. The improvisation is a far cry from that you may have come to expect from the likes of 'Astral Weeks', which in comparison sounds rawer and less well planned, albeit qualities in themselves, I prefer this song over anything on 'Astral Weeks', a compliment indeed.

'Redwood Tree' again is classic Van Morrison, that is more similar to something you may find on 'Moondance', with a typical lyric about the simple things in life. 'Almost Independence Day' is another sprawling track that doesn't hit quite as hard as 'Listen To The Lion', but is still excellent. 'Gyspy' and 'I WIll Be There' are again highly listenable songs, but find it hard to compete when set against the standard of the other tracks on this album.

Little did I think when I bought this CD that it would be up there with the likes of my favourite albums of all time, but SDP is easily as high quality an album as anything by Bob Dylan, Neil Young or Paul Simon, and is easily accessible to the uninitiated, whom after a few listens to this, will no longer be.