Published on Feb 9, 2001
If any artist would seem to fit into a bluegrass/country tribute
to their music, it might be Van Morrison. Sure, some of the songs
he’s been noted for have had more of a rock or a jazz edge to them,
but there always seems to be an acoustic backbone to his music, and
such tribute albums always seem to highlight the acoustic nature of
the music.
So what is different about
Into The Mystic: An Instrumental Tribute To Van Morrison?
The musicians involved in this project follow the same pattern as
other albums I’ve heard in this vein, and they’re more than adept
musically. The main difference might be that, occasionally, the
heart of the music seems to be lost.
Maybe it’s when a more recognizable shape is taken away from a
song like “Gloria,” which just doesn’t seem to work as well as one
would like it to. Maybe it’s that the musicians who take part in
this disc (including multi-instrumentalist David West) aren’t able
to capture the Celtic flavor of the music that Morrison always
seems to weave into his songwriting.
Maybe the occasional slip isn’t even the fault of the musicians;
no, maybe it’s just that Morrison’s music doesn’t lend itself
nearly as well to the translation. It’s not for lack of trying on
the band’s part, and I do tip my hat to them for the effort. But
because of Morrison’s style of song writing, it sometimes feels
like no new ground is being broken with these versions. Tracks like
“Bright Side Of The Road,” “Crazy Love” and “Into The Mystic” come
off sounding like something you might hear on a new-age album than
anything else.
This isn’t to say that
Into The Mystic is a bad album; indeed, if you’ve heard any
of the other discs from this collection, you’re bound to find some
things to smile about with this one. Their versions of “Domino,”
“Moondance” and “Brown Eyed Girl” do have an exciting amount of
musical kinetic energy, which shows the listener that this
undertaking was not fruitless.
Into The Mystic was an admirable attempt to pay tribute to
possibly one of the most underrated songwriters and musicians of
our time, and I’m sure if Morrison heard this disc, he would be
pleased that someone made this kind of effort to honor his work.
But while there are some stellar performances contained herein, the
disc itself doesn’t live up to expectations. Still, it was a good
try.