Really, Van Morrison may age, but he just doesn't get old! Classic Van style on these tunes and his voice is strong. He's still got it! I love music, just about any type, but my husband is a "classic rock" kind of guy. I bought this CD for him (mostly), and I have to wrench it from his hand so I can listen once in a while! If you are a Van fan, you must have this.

I looked forward to buying this CD as soon as I heard about the release date, but then I began reading some of the reviews on CDNow when the recording first became available.

Van's music has been an inspiration since the 60's, and I am glad I finally ignored the negative reviews and bought this one. I guess I don't know why some feel this is somehow less than acceptable. Fans have done this with Bob Dylan since he picked up an electric guitar. There is always something that they object to when an artist chooses to be creative.

Van's artistry and muse are intact, and if you really are a fan of his music, you will love this CD, because that was my reaction. It is like every record, tape and CD I ever purchased and played that he created. His sound will always be unique, and I hope he continues to inspire real fans for a long time.

Yes! YES! The best album Van's put out since A Sense of Wonder, and it might even be better than that, which would mean this is his best album since Veedon Fleece, which at this point is thirty-four years old. That's not to say he's been in suck-ville for the past three decades (unlike someone we know - hi, Santana!), because he's made good records in between those two. A Sense of Wonder! Poetic Champions Compose! Enlightenment! Back on Top! Magic Time! Irish Heartbeat's probably good, too! And all of them are better than Avalon Sunset! Ha! But anyway, this isn't any more than Van going over territory he's been down several times before. The difference between this and the similar Down the Road (if you haven't heard it, don't bother - it isn't bad or anything, but that's about all I can say for it) is that Van's actually putting loads of effort into this one. In fact, the first three songs are all pretty much classic Van. "How Can a Poor Boy?" has a great chorus hook and fun horns. "School of Hard Knocks" has a great guitar hook and, most importantly, Van sounding youthful and invigorated on the vox again. "That's Entrainment" has a bit of jazz, a bit of country and a bit of soul. It sounds really good, too! I just wish it had been a bit longer, so Van could do his signature romantic ad-libbing. The next song, "Don't Go to Nightclubs Anymore," sound a bit too nightclubbish for my tastes, but hey! It's not bad at all! In fact, there's only one bad song on this album, which I'll get to in a moment. Anyway, the downbeat "Lover Come Back" is quite enjoyable. So is the acoustic-blues title track. And the guitar solo on "End of the Land." Then you get that aforementioned weak track, "Song of Home." It's country, and I don't like country. Another thing I don't like about this album are the lyrics. Van's mostly whining about how bad the industry has treated him, something he's been doing for quite a while now ("Soul," which still has another great guitar solo, this one electric and rock-oriented, title track, "School of Hard Knocks"), though he's also sometimes spewing clichés ("End of the Land," "Lover Come Back"), or trying and failing to make a reasonable hook out of "Blah, blah, blah" on the otherwise enjoyable "Behind the Ritual." I've never been a huge fan of Van's non-Astral Weeks related lyrics in the first place, but here they're just banal and stupid. Still, lyrics aren't everything, and I like the music here so much that it's a moot point.

I am such a die hard vanfan. Van Morrison is a musician and a poet. That voice of his just does something to me. The way he sings about sunsets, foghorns, spirit and lost love is just incomparable. Once you start getting lost in his music, you cannot stop.
Van Morrison is the only one whose new releases I will buy unheard.
His only album which does nothing for me is "A period of transition".

Other than "Moondance" which came out when I was in high school and includes the song "Moondance" as well as a copy of Van Morrison's greatest hits, that was all I owned by him. Thanks to Amazon.com's feature of being able to listen to "snippets" of songs from each CD, I liked what I heard and ordered this CD. Van Morrison still has a good voice and each cut is good and it's not like you want to skip a couple. It's a little more bluesy that I remember his older music to be. I recommended this CD to several of my friends and relatives.

Ivan...I LOVE'ya man, but you gotta ROCK again!! I mean, flat out, shake the walls ROCK & ROLL! You are VERY capable of it, and YOU KNOW IT! We're waiting.....

Typical, incredible Morrison. As always, the more I listen the deeper the meaning . . . 'stretching time stretching time . . .'

Once again Van Morrison proves why his longevity in the music biz is well deserved. With his distinctive voice and lush musicianship, this new effort ranks right up there with his classics ("Moondance", "Poetic Champions Compose", etc.). Highly recommended.

I first saw Van live in 1967. I have been a fan for more than 40 years. In my opinion, this is his most banal and aimless recording ever. The last recording that moved me was "Back on Top". My son (a musician) and I were lamenting Van's missing muse. My advice is for Van to record again when (if) he finds her.

What's with this guy? His recent output is all interchangable, tedious riffs that could have been written by anyone. There's nothing distinctive (other than the ageless voice) and nothing you haven't heard before on this album. Save your dough or, if you simply must buy a Van Morrison album, get a copy of "Veedon Fleece" and revel in what this artist used to produce. Now he's simply tedious.

While this is a solid presentation of straight-ahead blues and R&B, it lacks the creative and emotional flair of Van's greatest work, which has been mostly lacking since the mid 90's.

I only have a few of his albums and love them all including this one. I listen to it often in the car. It is quintessential Van Morrison.

I have to say, I have come to realize this is one of my favorite albums of the year tied with Houston Marchman's - Naked The Best of Houston Marchman. Both are soooo good and I can listen to their voices over and over again and never get tired. Houston Marchman is special in that his music is filled with soul, passion, and solid lyrics. He truley has THE best singing vioce I have ever heard in my entire life. You should check out the cd if you enjoy this one.

Van Morrison's What's Wrong With This Picture? put three songs in my personal top ten including my #1 "Evening In June" plus "Once in a Blue Moon" & "Whinin' Boy Moan." When Van is hot, the singer reaches blast furnace temperatures and is emotionally incendiary. He enjoys the unique position of being able to follow his muse and allow his audience to follow. In so doing, his artistry remains high in his best moments.

"Keep It Simple" has some excellent moments. "That's Entrainment" is a delightful track with the classic Morrison sway, part soul, part jazz, "You with your ballerina dance, well you put me back in a trance." I had to look up "entrain" which means "enter or put into railway train." I'm not sure I totally get the connection, but I love the sound. "Lover Come Back" is such a classically good song that I had to check to see that Van wasn't covering some standard that had escaped my attention. His voice bubbles over with emotion, "Since you went away, I'm a lonely, lonely one; Come on back to stay; you are the only one." "End of the Land" is exquisite with its sense of rejuvenation that comes from the oceanside. "Keep It Simple" has some classic Morrison tracks and is a delightful disc by which to unwind. Enjoy!

With his latest work, "Keep it Simple", Van is once again the man! I purchased his "Down the Road" CD several years ago and found it to be good, but somewhat uninspired, and all the songs start to sound the same. After resigning myself to the fact that his music would probably only be mediocre at this stage of his life I was VERY pleasantly surprised to find Van going back to his soulful roots with this new album. It has a retro yet fresh feeling to it with the incorporation of the female backing vocals and the organ. The songs are really moving like his early works were in the 70's. I also enjoy the lyrics in these songs as he sees life from the perspective of a man his age. I give him a lot of credit to put out a piece of work like this at this point in his career.... when the creative juices are usually dried up! "Keep It Simple" is a work of art kept simple. I would totally recommend buying this if you're a Van fan!

On first listen I was disappointed at the opening numbers--seemingly throw-away songs that reminded me of Van as his most uninspiring moments. Some of your are already getting ready to click and comment on this reviewer's cluelessness, but let me finish. Van's best work is among the most soul-felt work an artist has ever produced, and he's left a very high bar for what the lover of his work wishes for. Somewhere into the cd, Van delivers: "Keep it Simple" is a fine cut, but "End of the Land" is just about as fine and blue-eyed-Belfast soul as anything else VM has ever offered to his listeners. "Behind the Ritual" is another gem that gives us Van in the zone that makes us forgive some of his less successful efforts. I started listening to the c.d. with those three cuts programmed first, and all of a sudden the lesser tracks started opening up. I'm not too picky--all I want is brilliance before I accept the more humble songs. If you're willing to make up your own track list, I think you'll start to see that this is one of the cd's worthy of the artist who gave the world some of the best music in the last 45 years. Thank you Van. Thank you.

I am a major Van Morrison fan. I have many CD's by this great man. Moondance, Astral Weeks, Common One, Tupelo Honey, Too Long in Exile, and Hymns to the Silence for starters. I would love to collect all the albums he's ever done. I decided to buy this one because my intuition said "get it now". So I bought it a week or so after it came out. It's one of my top five Van Morrison CD's.

I knew I would like this album, but I just don't like it, I REALLY love this album. I think it's one of Van's best albums ever. It's immensely soulful, gentle, moving, spiritual, and quite uplifting. It's also spare (for a Van album). In other words, Van is keeping it simple (though not simplistic). There are a few songs when Van complains about the machinations of the music business (School of Hard Knocks, for example), but the lyrics of this song and others don't detract from the overall beauty of the album. This album contains two of my favorite Van songs ever in That's Entrainment and Behind the Ritual. They're both so simple in their instrumentation, yet work so beautiful in their own unique ways. As for Van's "blah blah blah" chorus on Ritual (which some reviewers have complained about), it doesn't bother me. Van repeats phrases like that for effect his whole career, and it works wonderfully here.

The instrumentation is wonderful. Van plays a beautiful saxophone here. On many past albums, his playing was off in the background with other sax players. On this album, he's the only saxophone player. The organ playing is superlative as usual (by John Allair). And Van's voice sounds as deep and as majestic as it did on Astral Weeks a mere 40 years ago. This album shoots through you like a gentle, forgiving breeze. This is one of Van's most beautiful albums ever.

I eagerly awaited delivery of the new Van Morrison CD, "Keep it Simple," only to be disappointed from the first listen. The second and third listens were no different. From the reviews I had read in popular magazines, I was sure this CD would be as good as his last "off the beaten track" group of songs. However, it seemed to me that he did this one for the almighty dollar. Too bad.

If you are a Van Morrisom fan you will enjoy this new CD. VM's ability to master a universe of musical genres is one of the things that makes his music both fresh and enduring.

I've been a Van fan for many years and was excited that he was coming out with a new CD of new material. The material is new, but the themes are (unfortunately) recycled, warmed over, re-runs. The material may be new but it is far from fresh. I would have guessed/hoped that The Man would have been far beyond the (School of Hard Knocks) self-pity and "crucification" of years gone by, but he is evidently stuck there forevermore I suppose. Get over it Van.

His voice is still as good as ever and the tunes are easy listening, but best suited as background music. Listening to the lyrics is painful. He takes the "Keep it Simple" theme to an extreme. Lyrics like "You take my breath away...even on a cloudy day" and "alcohol was too big a price, that's why I said 'no dice'."

There are few bright spots on this CD. I don't recommend it if you are a Van fan.

True to the title, Van has kept the sound and production simple and come up with an absolute cracker of an album. It's uncomplicated, melodic sound perfectly highlights one of the great voices of our time and the man just doesn't know how to write a bad song.

A must for any serious Van fan!

Van Morrison just keeps getting better with age.
His style, lyrics, and great instrumentation keep him on top of my favorites list.

Van Morrison is at his best here. This is a nice bluesy cd. It's quickly becoming my favorite.

I'm bias on this review because I love Van Morrison music to death, I know this cd it's been been getting bad reviews, but I think those critics need to listen to this cd a little more more, I think is great (remember, I'm bias regarding Van's music) but if you like Blues / music with soul and a little inspiration from above, you will like this cd.

I had high hopes when Van signed with roots rock label Lost Highway. But after several lackluster records - including the dreadful "What's wrong with this picture" and the dull country record "Pay the devil" - Van has delivered the record I've been imagining. The material and his singing are strong, as are the arrangements and production, and the whole cd has a wonderful organic feel to it. There are a few vague references to "the myth" and "propaganda" (on "What's Wrong...", his paranoid musings made him sound mentally ill), but overall, these are Van's strongest batch of songs in a long while, maybe since "Into the Music." Makes a great companion piece with Dylan's "Modern Times."

The Man is in great voice here. Terrific understated arrangements and some really good energy throughout. This is the record I have been hoping Van would make for 20 years. Great stuff.

I've been a huge fan since Van was with Them. I saw him on his Pay The Devil tour. This is classic Van Morrison, no excuses...some of his best work. The cover portrait is lean and mean; an apt description of this CD.

On Saturday, April 26, 2008, I attended Van Morrison's concert tour for the KEEP IT SIMPLE album in Goteborg, Sweden. Prompt, as always, the show began at 7:30pm with a cast of 11 musicians + a couple of female backing vocals. His performance was all business and was being recorded "Live", as evidenced by three separate stations manned by sound engineers. His mastery of the instruments chosen for the show, being his Tenor Sax and Pocket Harp, Guitar and Ukelele was performed with jazzman's precision, but more evident was his voice that has never abandoned him and has only improved with age.

The show was a bit slow at the start and he played a little more country than I would have preferred, but eventually he got things rollin' and got the Swedish crowd a-clappin' and their feet a-tappin'. He had brought together some great musicians for the album and tour band. Especially, a young woman who I believe her name was Sarah Jory? Am not certain of her name, as Van never noted anyone's name (not like him - unusual) and there was no program available. Anyway, she played Steel Guitar and Slide, on what appeared to be a "Resonator 0 Style" Guitar (you may remember the guitar featured on the cover of Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms album?). This young lady musician was everywhere, playing leads, singing vocals, and proved her varied talents by giving one heck-of-a demonstration of her rhythmic musical ability by performing "hand-clapping" on "That's Entrainment", which is barely heard on the album, but greatly enjoyed by myself and everyone in the live performance. [According to Webster, the word "ENTRAINMENT" (not, Entertainment) a verb, meaning: "To go, or put aboard a train." Beats me, what he's relating to here, but maybe somebody will post on [...] in the future].

A highlight of the show and the turning point in mood (at least for me) was when Van reintroduced an old favorite "Saint James Infirmary", which I haven't heard him play for years. It was an excellent arrangement and the band excelled in this old New Orelans standard. It got the blues a-flowin' from him and for the next 45-minutes it was all uphill.

Also, enjoyable was the inclusion into the band of an electric violin played by fiddler Tony Fitzgibbon; and, the Hammond B3 Organ of John Allair. That reminds me every time I hear a musician playing the B3; it brings back memories of the musician, known as "The B3 Beast" - Lee Michaels, who Van certainly remembers from his early San Francisco days. Nobody has yet to match, or even duplicate Lee on the B3, but I keep hoping somebody will appear, whereas, after 6-albums in 4-years, Lee disappeared in 1971, never to be heard from again.

Van the Man, took one bow returning to the stage to perform "Brown-Eyed Girl' and finished with "G-L-O-R-I-A", to an aroused standing hand-clapping and foot-stomping full house. Business like, the show ended at 9:00pm, and everything he had to say was said in that eventful and enjoyable performance.

All-in-all, this album is certainly worth the price. Regardless, of what the critics say, as they only sharpen their pencils to deliver venom at their favorite target, whereas, Van (at least these days) has chosen the high road and applies his five decades of proven talent, as songsmith the creation of lyrics and tune that will far outlast whatever his critics may write. Rave on John Donne! RAVE ON!

If you get the opportunity, be sure YOU don't miss Van's "Live Performance" of the KEEP IT SIMPLE tour.

MAY 15, 2008 - ADDED TO MY ORIGINAL REVIEW (ABOVE) OF APRIL 28, 2008

Earlier last month I wrote a review after attending Van's LIVE concert in Goteborg, Sweden for his "Keep It Simple" album. At that time I rated his new album with 4-Stars, but have up'd my rating after listening numerous times to a more deserved 5-Stars album! In fact, this is the best writing the 'master songsmith' has done since "Astral Weeks," and he may well be on the verge of delivering his best works ever!

Now for those that have complained about his "Blah, Blah, Blah" on the last track - "Behind The Ritual" - get a grip, as he's making jest of himself, as well as anyone who gets loose behind drinking from the "Nectar of the Gods", and enjoying conversation with good friends. If, you've been there then you'll understand the "Blah, Blah, Blah"? To prove my point, next time you're enjoying the company of good friends, pour yourself a glass of wine put "Behind the Ritual" on REPEAT. Believe me, when the evening is over and your friends have departed the song will be playing over n' over in your head for days to come. Maybe then you'll get it! Enjoy!

And as for those who hear Van the Man complaining in his songs about show biz record promoters and syndicators, then you probably not a real fan of the blues, or you'd be aware that John Lee Hooker often sang about these same "Predators and Leeches" of the recording industry, as does Morrison.

Rave on John Donne... RAVE ON!

Ok for background listening, but certainly not up to his material of the past 15 years, let alone most of the past 40.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for a record that cuts through BS. If you've been moved to tears by Springsteen's wish to "hear some rhythm" that could obliterate Radio Nowhere, this is the record for you. The moment I heard Van's voice I realized how starving I was for real music, a real man's voice, and a singer whose technique was technique-less. This is RADIO SOMEWHERE.

Van Morrison against the Jonas Bros. is like men riding dragons throwing wolves at maggots.

I am predisposed to like anything that Van Morrison releases, and the reason is simple. He has released an incredible number of song collections, and I've liked virtually every one of them, so why wouldn't I expect his latest to be just as satisfying? "Keep It Simple" is as predictable as it is enjoyable. After forty-plus years in the music business, Morrison is not interested in reinventing the wheel. He knows what works, and he holds to it. "Keep It Simple" sticks fairly close to its title's implication, with the majority of songs based on blues changes and country styles. His themes are also consistent. "How Can a Poor Boy?" and "School of Hard Knocks" both address dissatisfaction, and his bitterness is usually aimed squarely at the music industry. Over a steady groove, he sings "Tell me who's gonna patronize me now? They've brainwashed the suckers again and perpetrated the myth, Propaganda far and wide." Morrison has been doing this too long to suffer fools, and he speaks plainly with an honesty that is refreshing for an industry that builds its reputation on false promises and lies.
As far as I can tell, Van Morrison and Bob Dylan are the only two artists who can cover this ground with any artistic success. As elder statesmen, they can express thoughts that would sound ridiculous coming from a less seasoned artist. Morrison's music may not be as exciting as Bob's latest work, but it is just as vital, because his perspective is so refined. Who else but Van Morrison could write a song of praise to a loved one and entitle it "That's Entrainment"? He is still obsessed with truth and enlightenment, even as all evidence derived from a lifetime of `hard knocks' points him in the opposite direction. It is this dichotomy that makes Morrison's music so intriguing and consistent. He gives us the impression that he likes to "Keep It Simple," but like most all of his recordings, there is still something deceptively complex and intriguing about his perspective. In "Don't Go To Nightclubs Anymore," he sings "I'm not a legend in my own mind," but luckily for the rest of us, he is a legend everywhere else. Later in the disk, he tells us that "Soul is where everything begins," and that certainly holds true for a seasoned artist who still strives to "Keep It Simple." B+ Tom Ryan

It has been a long time coming, but we fans got an earful. i always enjoy this man and his music. this is a wonderful treat, or ear candy as some might say.

van is back (again) with not only many of his most heartfelt songs
in years but with a deeper edge.
(or is that age?)
although some of his lyrics are recycled,
some are extraordinarily original
and the magic soulful voice has aged wonderfully.
the more i listen, the more i like.
keep chopping wood
and carrying water, man. inspirational
bluesy belfast zen. pared down
for the long haul.
it feels right for van. most likely, it'll look
good on you too. make the effortless effort
to spin this timeless
classic disc as you drift
into a deeper mystic.

I have to confess that I own all of Van's CDs. I look forward to each new release. This one did not disappoint. I always appreciate new songs from Van, and enjoy listening to them on a regular basis, as a variety from past CDs. This new CD has more than satisfied my 'jones' for his music (at least until his next release)!!