VAN MORRISON – Announces details for new album VERSATILE

VAN MORRISON - Announces details for new album VERSATILE

Following the massive success of his 37th studio album Roll With the Punches (which charted at No 4 in the UK this September), Van Morrison prepares the release of his 38th.

Versatile is positive proof that Van Morrison is built differently to other artists. One of very few British recording artists to warrant the description ‘living legend’, Van is currently working at a rate to put musicians a third of his age to shame; an ethic that harks back to his early days as a recording artist who’d easily release multiple brilliant long players within the space of a year.

While Roll With The Punches saw Van revisit many of the definitive rhythm and blues records that have stayed with him all his life, Van’s latest album sees him delve further back into recorded music’s archives to interpret some of the 20th century’s greatest vocal jazz standards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCEYdhDWnf0

Across Versatile’s sixteen tracks, Van Morrison interprets some of the very building blocks of modern music in his own utterly unique style. As well as songs originally made famous by the likes of Chet Baker, Frank Sinatra, the Righteous Brothers, Tony Bennett and Nat King Cole, Versatile features six stunning new Van compositions, including Broken Record – a timeless piece of late-night swing. Van says of Versatile: “Recording songs like these – especially the standards – gave me the chance to stretch out vocally and get back to the music that originally inspired me to sing – jazz!”

A joy from start to finish, Versatile is a completely different record to Roll With the Punches yet it’s incontrovertibly Van and proof, if ever it were needed, that at 72 years of age, he’s not going to slow down any time soon.

Versatile features:

1. ‘Broken Record’ (Van Morrison)
2. ‘A Foggy Day’ (George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin)
3. ‘Let’s Get Lost’ (Frank Loesser and Jimmy McHugh)
4. ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’ (Ray Henderson and Mort Dixon)
5. ‘Skye Boat Song’ (Traditional. Arranged by Van Morrison)
6. ‘Take It Easy Baby’ (Van Morrison)
7. ‘Makin’ Whoopee’ (Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn)
8. I Get a Kick Out of You (Cole Porter)
9. ‘I Forgot That Love Existed’ (Van Morrison)
10. ‘Unchained Melody’ (Alex North and Hy Zaret)
11. ‘Start All Over Again’ (Van Morrison)
12. ‘Only A Dream’ (Van Morrison)
13. ‘Affirmation’ featuring Sir James Galway (Van Morrison)
14. ‘The Party’s Over’ (Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Jule Styne)
15. ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco’ (George Cory and Douglass Cross)
16. ‘They Can’t Take That Away from Me’ (George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin)

Van Morrison plays a series of already announced UK and European shows in November and December. The dates are:

6th Nov Edinburgh Playhouse
7th Nov Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
12th Nov London Eventim Apollo
13th Nov Birmingham Symphony Hall (SOLD OUT)
15th Nov Liverpool Philharmonic Hall (SOLD OUT)
17th Nov Blue Note Festival – Salle Pleyel, Paris, France
20th Nov Cardiff St Davids Hall
21st Nov Bristol Colston Hall (SOLD OUT)
24th Nov Torquay Princess Theatre
25th Nov Plymouth Pavilions
4th Dec Europa Hotel, Belfast
5th Dec Europa Hotel, Belfast
12th Dec Wizink Center, Madrid, Spain

Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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