Keep It Simple


Keep It Simple is the thirty-third solo studio album recorded by Northern Irish singer/songwriter Van Morrison. It was released on 17 March 2008 by Exile Productions Ltd./Polydor in the UK and on the Lost Highway Records label on 1 April 2008, in the US. His previous studio album Pay the Devil was also released on the Lost Highway label, in March 2006. The album debuted at No. 10 on the US, UK and Canada charts and No. 7 on European Top 100 Albums. This album achieved Morrison's highest ranking in US charts at that point. Eight years later, in 2016, Keep Me Singing rose to No. 9 in the US charts.
This is the first studio album of all new original material since his 1999 album Back on Top. Other albums released since then have contained some cover songs. The May 2005 album, Magic Time, was composed of ten originals and three cover songs.
The album features most of the various genres that Morrison has been influenced by such as jazz, folk, blues, celtic, country, soul and gospel.

Composition

In an interview on BBC Radio 4 on 10 March 2008, Morrison spoke of his inspiration for the songs on the album:
"It's got elements of blues, folk, gospel - all my influences... Curtis Mayfield. It's got a lot of inspiration from various things I was inspired by out there, but it comes out like a new album."
Morrison wrote all eleven songs featured on the album and has been quoted as saying: "I felt I had something to say with these songs."
In one of the songs, "That's Entrainment", Morrison says he has explained his approach to the music on the album. In his words:
"That's Entrainment" was played for the first time, at the beginning of the second hour, on Chris Evans BBC Radio 2 Drivetime show on Wednesday, 30 January 2008, with Evans commenting: "The new Van Morrison album came with a shoot-to-kill warning if played before a certain date, but that's now been lifted so we can play it."

Promotion

Morrison announced a short United States tour to promote the album with appearances in Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee ; Boston, Massachusetts; and in New York City, starting on 11 March 2008. During this tour, he also performed at La Zona Rosa in Austin, Texas, at the South by Southwest music conference and festival on 12 March 2008.
In the U.K. on 15 March, a concert performance of Morrison performing all of the songs from the album was broadcast on BBC Radio 2.
Morrison gave an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today show in the morning on 10 March 2008 and an hour long interview on the Paul Jones show at BBC Two Radio the same evening.

Reception

On its first week of release the album reached number ten on the U.S. charts, which was Morrison's highest placement in the US at that point. His sixth solo album, Saint Dominic's Preview, charted at #15 in 1972. In 2016, Keep Me Singing rose to #9.
Most of the reviews were favourable with four star ratings by The Star, The Sun, The Times and Uncut.
"There's a certain grace to Van's stripped-back band and as always he evokes images of sorrow and anguish but with such beauty and warmth that you can't help but smile when you hear them." Mat Strowbridge/inthenews.co.uk
"Typically the band settles into a groove while Morrison lifts off into the trancelike realm he calls 'entrainment'." Anthony Decurtis, Rolling Stone

Track listing

All songs by Van Morrison
  1. "How Can a Poor Boy?" - 5:43
  2. "School of Hard Knocks" - 3:44
  3. "That's Entrainment" - 4:32
  4. "Don't Go to Nightclubs Anymore" - 4:31
  5. "Lover Come Back" - 5:15
  6. "Keep It Simple" - 3:34
  7. "End of the Land" - 3:16
  8. "Song of Home" - 4:13
  9. "No Thing" - 4:31
  10. "Soul" - 3:37
  11. "Behind the Ritual" - 6:59

    iTunes Bonus Track

  12. "Little Village" - 6:11

    Vinyl Bonus Tracks

  13. "Blue & Green" - 5:52
  14. "Little Village" - 6:11
  15. "And The Healing Has Begun" - 7:11
Recorded live in concert at the Blackpool Opera House 26 January 2008

Personnel

Chart Peak
position
UK Albums Chart10
U.S. Billboard 20010
U.S. Billboard Top Internet Albums2
Canada Top 10010
European Top 100 Albums8
Norway Albums Top 407
Swedish Albums Top 6011
Irish Albums Chart12
German Albums Top 5012
Dutch Albums Top 10012
New Zealand Top 40 Albums15
Italy Top Album Chart32