Van Morrison - So Quiet In Here

You readers all know that the title is a link to Amazon's album page or the artist's website, right? Good. Just checking.

Tonight, we have another track from Van Morrison. From his 1990 album Enlightenment, which I consider the pinnacle of his career, it's a pleasant, calm song that my father first heard in an art gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Unfortunately, it took him a while to figure out the artist, partially because Van can sound so different between songs and especially decades. In the days before Google, it was quite the challenge to pin down a song if you had nothing to go on but the lyrics. And if the main lyric wasn't the title, then heaven help you.

Anyway, the piano, violin, and bass guitar sound great in this song. I can see it fitting in really well when you have some close friends over for a dinner party. Picture the evening winding down as you enjoy "a glass of wine with some friends, talking into the wee hours of the dawn."

I'll tease Van's lyrics a little and suggest that individual glasses would be better.

Van Morrison - And The Healing Has Begun

This song seems appropriate to start 2008. Everyone's in that resolution/self-improvement frame of mind, so let's feature a musical illustration of that. From the 1979 album Into the Music, it marks a significant turning point in Van Morrison's career.

It's got a little of everything - piano, (very) high strings, drums - a characteristic Irish-influenced Van song. It really wouldn't be out of place on his first solo album, Astral Weeks.

Incidentally, this is the song the street performer (just credited as "Guy") is playing at the beginning of the film Once.

Especially recommended if you like:

• 1967-1974 Van Morrison
• Wow, he has a pretty unique sound. I'm not sure what else.