Hard Nose The Highway - VAN MORRISON***

Snow In San Anselmo/Warm Love/Hard Nose The Highway/Wild Children/The Great Deception/Bein' Green/ Autumn Song/Purple Heather

Hard Nose The Highway follows the trend of Van Morrison’s early 1970s albums in that the chart placing is lower than its predecessor. This confirms the views of some critics that his songwriting is beginning to decline. (US:27 UK:22)

“Opener is really weird, operatic country-soul-jazz. Apart from this it's more of the same stuff he does so well, maybe a bit more jazzy and jamming at times and less magic, but the ten minute jazz piece Autumn Song makes me lower the rating. A great album to play in the background, but it's hard to find any highlights here.”

“Had Morrison continued the direction that he showed on the opening track it would've been a very interesting record indeed, but immediately Warm Love makes things sound trite. The title track is good, but it is too long with repetitive choruses. Great Deception starts off sounding like the great lost Van song, but winds up sounding like a confused rant. On the other side, Bein' Green is fun and sounds fine with its brass and bold arrangements. Overall, this is a minor effort.”

“One of his more understated early 70s releases. It features the absolutely amazing Snow In San Anselmo, which I am at a loss to describe, only to say that it contains a jarring mix of rock, jazz and a classical choir that floors me every time I hear it.”

“I love Van Morrison when he's mellow, but he's relaxed to the point of comatose on this roadblock to an otherwise great run of music.”

“Could easily be re-titled “Snow in San Anselmo and other stories”, such is the shadow cast by the opening song over the rest. The breakneck jazz refrain, the soaring choral backing and the lyric rising from slumber to clamour conspire to produce an incredible five minute symphony. What follows is standard sweet-but-unremarkable fare.”

“Although I am a fan of all of Van's many periods, moods and styles, I find myself coming back to this album again and again. There's just a certain depth and spirituality to the music, a passion in the playing that makes this one stand out as a deeply personal and expressive piece of music-making. For me, this album begins Van's long spiritual quest, in which shorter song structures were abandoned for more open, personal tone poems.”