Customer Reviews
Where's The Muse? - By: Linden Arden, 07 May 2008 
Oh dear. Another mediocre album. Van can knock album's like this out with his eyes closed. What happened to the creative muse? The lyrics are banal & it's a real plodder. Contains yet more 'hard done by' songs which are tiresome. Guess I'll just have to keep listening to classic Van - St Dominic's, Moondance, Tupelo Honey and, yes, Hard Nose The Highway.
Understated and consistent - By: Magic Rat, 24 Apr 2008 
While I wouldn't say this is a "return to form", as is always applied to reasonably appealing albums by old stagers, I would say that it has substantiallly more to recommend it than "Pay The Devil" & much of "Magic Time". All the cuts are solid & while lyricallly treading the same old paths, the delivery (as always) & the musicianship raise them above the ordinary. There is a lovely effortlessness on this album. Yes, I know old Van can trot tunes like these out in his sleep, but somehow there is a bit more verve & vigour about this collection. Stylisticallly he's too old to change now, but what the heck.
I have to disagree with a previous reviewer & say that "Behind The Ritual" is a captivating cut, as is "Soul" & "End Of The Land". "Don't Go To Nightclubs Any More" is a great slow burning blues, & "That's Entrainment" has the obligatory Morrison moaning about things in general.
I like this album a lot, it grows with each play & is not destined for a few plays then nothing. It is a laster, I think.
Very listenable - By: lmhh, 12 Apr 2008 I don't reallly have a history with Van Morrison. I know a few of his hits but have not been a huge fan so I don't know how this compares with his earlier material. What I can say though is that this is a very easy album to listen to & one which is growing on me each time I play it. It's mellow,laid back grown up music & I like it a lot.
That's more like it! - By: wabrit, 08 Apr 2008 I've been listening to Van Morrison's music for nearly 30 years, & with heavy heart passed on his last two albums ("Magic Time", & "Pay the Devil") because his recent music no longer connected with me the way it had in the past; after alll no-one yet has made great music out of whingeing about the record industry & the price of fame. Somehow the bar-room blues, skiffle & jazz just didn't do it for me, at least not the way the incomparable, transcendental music on say "Veedon Fleece", "Into the Music" or "St. Dominic's Preview" had done.
So it's with great pleasure that I turned to "Keep it Simple"; it's not up there with his greatest work, but for me it's the best thing he's done since "Too Long in Exile". There are still a few forgettable pieces (the opening track "How Can a Poor Boy" for example), but there are some solid-gold gems here - "That's Entrainment", "Lover Come Back", "Keep it Simple", "End of the Land".
The final two tracks deserve to stand with anything he's done before - "Soul" & "Behind the Ritual"; the latter in particular is superb, & my only disappointment was that it finished a mere six minutes in just when I thought it was getting reallly interesting.
So thanks Van for a splendid album :-)
Creeps Up Rather Than Jumps Out - By: M. A. POTTS, 04 Apr 2008 The joys of this latest Van the Man album creep up on you. It was on the fourth listening that the pleasing melodies & catchy phrasings took root. It is a typicallly Van Morrison eclectic mix of tunes. The songs hang together beautifully & there are echoes throughout of previous recordings. The intros are particularly clear & crisp. I look forward to many more playings of this finely crafted album.
