It begins with a superb rendering of his 2018 song “Ain’t Gonna Moan No More”, on which Van is joined by the mellifluous voice of Kurt Elling, and which was recorded alongside the other duets on the album in 2018 and 2019.
It then winds through a mix of duets recorded in 2014 (alas, no Sir Cliff) and what they're calling "big band" arrangements of catalogue classics like “Avalon of the Heart”, “So Quiet in Here” and “The Master’s Eyes”, a gem from 1985’s A Sense of Wonder. This extremely likeable scoop of slightly random songs is the second of a series of releases from the vaults on Orangefield Records (the first, Beyond Words: Instrumental compiled instrumental cuts from the Seventies to the 2000s).
While there are a handful of deluxe editions from Van Morrison's catalogue – Moondance, Astral Weeks, 1997’s The Healing Game – it transpires there’s a motherlode of archive sitting there waiting to be brought blinking into the light, and it all appears to be personally curated for the singer’s own archive label. And it's a great listen.
The big band arrangements are held tight by Paul Moran and Chris White, who chose the tracks they wanted to work on, and they're not that "big" but they are adapt at hitting the sweet spot of a familiar song to bring out a different shine. The album’s longest cut, “So Quiet in Here” is one of the best. Of the duets, which include Curtis Stigers getting “Close Enough for Jazz” and Joss Stone getting worked up on “Someone Like You”, it’s the two that close the set that take the crown, “What’s Wrong with This Picture’ and “Steal My Heart Away” with Willie Nelson and his son Lukas on guitar. They’re are a pairing made in heaven, and “What’s Wrong” is a hell of a track, and you have to hope more of this manna descends upon us down here on earth.
