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This 1982 sleeper captures Van Morrison banking the fires of his more urgent, R&B-flavored '70s classics to sculpt a quieter, contemplative synthesis laced with Celtic flourishes, minimalist synthesizers, and the skeletal horn charts of saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis and trumpeter-synthesist Mark Isham. Neither as expansive as the pastoral jazz meditations of the underrated Common One nor as limpid as the glossier, sometimes gloomier confessional pop that dominates his later-'80s albums, Beautiful Vision hews to ballads and loping, midtempo songs that allow Morrison gentle foils for his unmistakable vocal melismas. On its best tracks, "Dweller on the Threshold," "Cleaning Windows," "Vanlose Stairway," and "She Gives Me Religion," he alchemizes soul, gospel, and his own Irish roots in a balance he would often pursue from this point forward. --Sam Sutherland

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Personnel: Van Morrison (vocals, piano); Herbie Armstrong (acoustic guitar); Chris Hayes, Chris Michie (guitar); Sean Fulsom (pipes); John Allair (organ); David Hayes (bass); Tom Dollinger, Gary Malabar, Peter Van Hooke (drums); Michele Segan (percussion); Bianca Thornton, Pauline Lozano, Annie Stocking (background vocals). Recorded at The Record Plant, Sausalito, California. Personnel: Van Morrison (vocals, guitar, saxophone, piano, keyboards); Herbie Armstrong (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar); Pauline Lozana, Bianca Thornton (vocals, background vocals); Chris Hayes , Chris Michie, Mark Knopfler (guitar); Pee Wee Ellis (flute, saxophone); Sean Fulsom (pipe); Mark Isham (trumpet, synthesizer); John Allair (organ, keyboards); Gary Mallaber, Tom Donlinger (drums, percussion); Peter Van Hooke (drums); Annie Stocking (background vocals). Recording information: Record Plant, Sausalito, CA. Director: Van Morrison. Photographer: Rudolph Legname. Morrison kicked off the '80s with a new musical direction, and BEAUTIFUL VISION marks that turning point. Though Van was a lifelong devotee of American roots music, he put his R&B influences on the backburner for a while, instead pursuing the more spiritual side of his muse, which had always been present, but never given this much room to roam since his very first release, ASTRAL WEEKS. An important element here is the synthesizer and trumpet work of Mark Isham, which provide spacious, ambient musical textures, upon which Van's spiritual insights float. Detractors claim that this period in Morrison's artistic development (a process that continued unabated throughout his entire career), was too mellow, too new-agey. What they fail to grasp is the fact that Morrison was probably the only artist capable of utilizing the very elements they bemoan and not turning it into a goopy, pseudo-mystical mess. The man has a genuine gift for articulating the spiritual. A notable exception to this direction is the funky "Cleaning Windows," a ligh, ISBN13: B000002KNG ISBN10: B000002KNG Material Type: audioCD