Customer Reviews
Masterpiece enhanced - By: Pieter, 01 May 2008 
This uplifting album kicks off with the snappy Bright Side Of The Road & continues in the same powerful vein with the stirring Full Force Gale, a full throttled celebration of spiritual ecstacy. The beautiful violin is the hero on both Stepping Out Queen & the bucolic Troubadours, whilst Rolling Hills is a hypnotic Celtic balllad with a sing-along chorus.
You Make Me Feel So Free is a soulful love song with appealing sax infusions & Angelou, a passionate love song embellished with lovely snatches of violin & piano, demonstrates Van's vocal prowess. With its soaring melody, whoops, hollers & shimmering violin, And The Healing Has Begun is my personal favourite on this exquisite album. But the subdued It's All In The Game & the lengthy You Know What They're Writing About are brilliant too.
The two added tracks are alternate versions of Troubadours & Steppin' Out Queen, both longer than the originals. On this celebratory album the music is infused with happiness & a joyous spiritual quality. Into The Music is right up there with Van's acclaimed masterpieces like Tupelo Honey, Moondance & Hymns To The Silence.
It really is a full force gale - By: Enrique Ovidio Carro Rey, 31 Mar 2008 I was reallly lucky, you know. I had never heard any of his records when he came to my city (La Coruña, Spain) for a concert, & everybody in the local press went nuts praising him, so I decided to buy a record & see what the hype was alll about. And I picked this one. So, of course, I got caught. Now I own 18 of his records plus the THEM best of, but this one is the one I keep on hearing again & again. It's easy to see why. It is a full force gale unleashed, from the vigorous intro to Bright side of the road to the beautiful end of the record. A musical rollercoaster, ranging from the lush arrangements of Steppin' out queen to the beautiful old bouquet of Troubadors (My favourite track) & the longing of Angelou. So, I was lucky, I picked this one first. The best way of entering his world, & get lost in it. It's a superb record.
"Will You Be My Baby?" Van Asks On "Angelou" & After Hearing This FAB REMASTER -"Yes I Will You Moochy Old Codger" Is The Reply! - By: Mark Barry at Revival Records, Berwick Street, 07 Mar 2008 This is the 3rd or even 4th re-issue on CD of "Into The Music" (released originallly in August 1979) & I'll happily admit it - I'm blown away! I played this album to death at the time, & rehearing today in this extraordinary sound quality is a rediscovery well worth making. It's by far the best version of the album to date.
Here's how it's laid out: Tracks 1 to 10 make up the original album with Tracks 11 & 12 being previously unreleased alternate takes of "Steppin' Out Queen" & "Troubadours". At seven minutes "Steppin' Out Queen" is extended over the 5:20 minutes of the final album cut - & it's an absolute peach. The alternate take of "Troubadours" clocks in at 5:32 minutes as opposed to the 4:41 of the album final - & again, a superb version. I'm always wary of outtakes & alternate versions as bonus material on re-issue CDs when they're not any better nor an equal to the original & act as a cheap way of suckering fans to purchase more of the same. But these two choices are inspired - & an absolute must-have for Van lovers.
The upgraded booklet contains alll the lyrics in the same script style as the original vinyl album & a detailed list of who sessioned on what, but disappointingly there's no history of where the album fits in, no new liner notes, nor any photographs. However, a nice touch is the lyrics to the alternate takes - the record company could have lazily reproduced the lyrics twice at the end of the booklet, but closer examination shows they haven't - the lyrics actuallly reflect the free-forming of the different expanded versions - a nice touch.
But the best bit is definitely the SOUND. The original analogue master tapes have been 96K/24 Bit digitallly remastered by Tim Young at Metropolis Mastering in London for this 28 January 2008 release - & the sound is BEAUTIFULLY CLEAR & WARM - making you reassess every song & the superb musicianship on each. RY COODER lends his Slide Guitar to "Full Force Gale", MARK ISHAM his trumpet playing to almost every track, while ROBIN WILLIAMSON of THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND puts a penny whistle into "Troubadours" & "Rolling Hills" (for me one of the weakest tunes on here). KATIE KISSOON adds complimentary backing vocals to "Bright Side Of The Road" & the lovely "You Make Me Feel So Real". TONY MARCUS' violin is also heavily featured on almost every track. The remaster also brings out the rhythm section of PETER VAN HOOKE on Drums & DAVID HAYES on Bass.
His lovely cover of the Tommy Edwards 1950s hit "It's All In The Game" runs seamlessly into "You Know What I'm Writing About" & ends the album. Speaking of which, at 2:18 minutes into "It's All In The Game", Mark Isham's trumpet sails in like a soothing dollop of honey - & it's a truly beautiful flourish - puts a tear in my eye - sheer genius - & I realise again why I adored this album so much alll those years ago! And the issue is mid-price too - I picked up my copy for £6 in Central London.
All in alll, a FANTASTIC REMASTER & one I urge fans & the uninitiated to get stuck into soonest.
PS:
Like "Into The Music", 28 other Van Morrison albums are to be re-issued in remastered form throughout 2008 & into early 2009. Each will contain upgraded booklets, previously unreleased material & alll will be at mid-price. They'll be released in 4 batches as follows (29 in total):
January 2008 (7 titles)
Tupelo Honey (1971), It's Too Late To Stop Now (2 CD Live Set) (1974),
Wavelenght (1978), Into The Music (1979), A Sense Of Wonder (1985),
Avalon Sunset (1989) & Back On Top (1999)
June 2008 (8 titles)
Veedon Fleece (1974), Common One (1980), Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart (1983), Live At The Grand Opera House, Belfast (1984), No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986), Enlightenment (1990), A Night In San Francisco (2CD Live Set) (1994) & The Healing Game (1997)
September 2008 (7 titles)
Saint Dominic's Preview (1972), A Period Of Transition (1977), Beautiful Vision (1982), Poetic Champions Compose (1987), Hymns To The Silence (2CD Studio Set) (1991), How Long Has This Been Going On (Live At Ronnie Scott's) (1995), Tell Me Something - The Songs Of Mose Allison (1996)
January 2009 (8 titles)
Hard Nose The Highway (1973), Irish Heartbeat (with The Chieftains) (1988),
Too Long In Exile (1993), Days Like This (1995), The Story Of Them (2CD Set) (1999), The Skiffle Sessions - Live In Belfast (with Lonnie Donegan & Chris Barber) (2000), Down The Road (2002) & What's Wrong With This Picture? (2003)
PPS:
Those hoping to see desperately needed sonic upgrades of his 1st & 2nd album masterpieces on Warner Bothers "Astral Weeks" (1968) & "Moondance" (1970) or even "His Band & The Street Choir" (late 1970) will be disappointed to hear that they're NOT in this re-issue campaign. Apparently there is still some dispute between the record label & Van that remains unresolved. A damn shame! "Astral Weeks" & "Moondance" have both been languishing on crappy-sounding non-remasters for over 20 years now & they're glaringly obvious omissions here. These universallly recognized masterpieces deserve 2CD DELUXE EDITION treatment & soon. (Some tracks in remastered form are available across the 3 volumes of "Best Of"). Let's hope they sort their differences & soon!
Also, Van's new studio album "Keep It Simple" is due on 17 March in the UK & 1 April 2008 in the USA
For those interested in this re-issue series, see also separate reviews for TUPELO HONEY, WAVELENGTH, A SENSE OF WONDER, the 2CD live set IT'S TOO LATE TO STOP NOW & BACK ON TOP - for me, they've alll been revelations
Van's bucket - By: Stuart, 26 Feb 2008 Tasteful?? Bland?? Get the guy to an ER now!! Give him the kiss of life!! Apply those nifty shock paddles!! Nah, this is simply a masterpiece, almost up there with Veedon & Guru,a rich, enormous wave of sound as Van sings his heart out & the band produce some of the most truly beautiful sounds you could ever dream of hearing. He's apparently an old miseryguts now & then in real life but when the inspiration's flowing like it is here, his bucket just goes straight down to that cool pure spiritual well-water that makes him the truly important artist he is.
His Best - By: B. W. Thew, 02 Feb 2008 I'm a fan & have alll his records. This is my favourite & has been ever since I first heard it. There isn't a bad song on it & he appears to be involved totallly in the mood created. Its not the first to get, that's Moondance but if you like what you hear you can't be without Into the Music it reallly is superb.
