Entertainment

Still singing: Van Morrison 'goes with the flow' on new LP

Van Morrison releases his new album Keep Me Singing today. Ralph McLean sat down with the 'Belfast Bard' to talk about writing, recording and why playing live is now his preferred means of expression

Van Morrison's new LP Keep Me Singing is released today
Van Morrison's new LP Keep Me Singing is released today Van Morrison's new LP Keep Me Singing is released today

WHAT can you tell us about the origins of Keep Me Singing?

Well it's about keeping the work interesting for me, who's doing it. The work's not enough after a while. One has to make it interesting for one's self – well, I do anyway – because if it's not interesting then I don't want to do it. You're competing against yourself, like.

Memory Lane is a central track for the record; can you tell us about it?

Well, it's basically just a story that was running through my head that day. So I just pulled the car over and wrote it down and then I put the melody to it when I got to the studio.

As to what it's about, I myself am wondering: I think it's about asking some strangers 'Is this the place that was once called Memory Lane?'

You know, it changes your perception of the past looking at places now, which are obviously going to be different.

For instance, you go and look at a place that you remember from way back and all of a sudden, it's either not there or it's been replaced by something else, so I think that's what it's about. To me, it's like a black and white movie kind of thing: "It's getting dark on Memory Lane".

Do the changes you've seen in music over the years sadden you?

Well, on a kind of musical level, yeah, I think it's much more oriented to pop music. Like, I don't think I could have done what I did when I started out – the R'n'B Club. I mean I don't think that could be done nowadays.

There was a whole different time period with different values, different rules. There wasn't as much going on, you didn't have the future shock of a thousand albums a month or whatever it is now. Do you know what I mean?

And there was space to do things in experiment. That's obviously happening a different way now. The whole recording thing is totally changed, because it's more long-winded now recording an album, putting an album together. It's much more complicated now.

The new kids on the block, they don't relate to how everything was done live and all that. So the whole thing to me is very boring: in the early days it was much more exciting, it was like all fresh, it was happening now. Everything was happening in present time – including the recording.

Now, like the mixing takes longer than the whole recording process. The mixing is about three times as long as recording it.

At one point, James Brown was putting out about six albums a year. That couldn't be done now. That could never be done now, it would just be impossible. To get one out in a couple of years… maybe.

Is playing live where you're most comfortable?

Well, it's not where I'm most comfortable, it's where it's 'real'. I mean, it's never comfortable because it's always a job and every gig is different and you have to know which audience you're dealing with and different kinds of gigs – but it's real, you know, playing live is real.

Whereas the whole process of making a record, getting a deal, putting it out, for somebody who has been in it as long as me, it's not interesting. It never was that interesting, but it's even kind of less now.

The gigs seem to be the easiest part now because it is what it is. It's in present time, you do the gig, you pack up and you're gone, you go on to the next one.

It's like instant communication and it's all about communication. Whereas now, the recording process, it's not about communication, it's about technical stuff. It's not about communicating anymore.

That's why people get fed up in this business I'm in. A lot of people just get enough money and then they retire. I still need to play music and I can do that live, I don't really need to keep recording if it's this boring.

The title track Keep Me Singing is joyous. What was the inspiration for that one?

Well yeah, that's about people who knew me before I was famous and there's less and less of them now. So, it's good to see people who knew me before I was famous because they relate to me a completely whole different way which is more real, realistic.

I don't buy into the fame thing but unfortunately, everybody else does.

What's your relationship with your older songs these days?

I'm basically doing them 'in the now', because obviously something I wrote when I was 20, I mean, it's not going to have any relation to me now.

How do you feel about Astral Weeks now? You've done it in its entirety in the past, would you reconsider returning to it again?

Well, I think I did do that, it worked to a certain degree but again, I can't really relate to the songs, because I was just a kid.

I mean I wrote those songs between '66 and '68, I mean I wasn't even 20. I didn't know anything, I didn't know what the hell was going on in the world, you know.

I was just doing what I thought I should be doing then and it was very idealistic.

What does music give to you?

You can look at it as just 'Well, let's just kind of learn this song and play it from A to B' or you can use it for other purposes, utilising it for healing purposes, for myself and others.

You know, people write to me all the time saying that they had a healing listening to my music and also the process in a way heals me too at the same time.

You've spoken about not enjoying the recording process too much. Where do you go from here?

Well, I feel better about this one. I just feel the majority of the songs are much better I think and it's more expansive, I think it opens up more.

So I think just keep going. I think there's a flow with this, there's sort of a flow so… go with the flow.

:: Keep Me Singing is released today. Van Morrison plays The Waterfront Hall, Belfast on December 18. Tickets on sale now via Waterfront.co.uk and Ticketmaster outlets.