Moving on Skiffle Double Vinyl

It should come as no surprise that Van Morrison has made an album inspired by skiffle. Van Morrisonrsquos love of skiffle dates back to his childhood. He would hang out at the famed Belfast record store Atlantic Records, where hersquod hear early 20th century folk, blues and jazz from the likes of Lead Belly and Jelly Roll Morton. So when he heard Lonnie Doneganrsquos take on lsquoRock Island Linersquo he intuitively understood the music he was creating. Before long, Van Morrison was playing with a skiffle band in school.Moving On Skifflenbspfinds him taking a homemade style that exploded across Britain in the mid1950s and infusing it with a level of sophistication and soulfulness that it didnrsquot always possess the first time around. The 23track album goes to the heart of the music Van Morrison has inhabited ever since he was six years old, hanging out in the smoky confines of Belfastrsquos Atlantic Records. It also contains songs that underline, in their messages on the importance of freedom and living on your own terms, his lifetime philosophy. nbspFor the most part, Van Morrison plays these timeless songs straight. Several of them feature his own arrangements, while select others feature his own characteristic lyrical twists. The everrebellious Morrison has changed the title of lsquoMama Donrsquot Allowrsquo, recorded by both the Memphis Jug Band and the Chicago blues man Tampa Red in the late 1920s, to lsquoGov Donrsquot Allowrsquo, a nod to his fight against the rise of government interference in our daily lives. And the gospel standard lsquoThis Little Light of Minersquo, a key anthem of the Civil Rights movement in lsquo60s America, is transformed into the rollicking, upbeat lsquoThis Loving Light of Minersquo.Opening track lsquoFreight Trainrsquo is an immediate highlight, a song which was originally written by Elizabeth Cotten and then recorded by both Peggy Seeger and Chas McDevitt. Van Morrison has given it as a sophisticated jazz arrangement complete with rollicking organ, close harmony vocals and some new words. Elsewhere, lsquoWish I Was An Apple On A Truersquo is given wonderful warmth, completed by jaunty washboard and treaclerich vocal harmonies. lsquoGypsy Daveyrsquo remains timeless, while Van Morrisonrsquos powerful vocal and impassioned sax complement the bluesy guitar on lsquoGreenback Dollarrsquo. The album closes with lsquoGreen Rocky Roadrsquo, a plaintive folk gem and an ode to the troubadour life that was made famous by Fred Neil and Dave Van Ronk, and featured in the film lsquoInside Llewyn Davisrsquo.Key contributors on the album include Dave Keary guitars, Pete Hurley bass, Colin Griffin drums and Sticky Wicket washboard. Current Brit folk favourite Seth Lakeman also contributes fiddle to five songs.