Van Morrison - Beautiful Vision (Remastered) (1982/2020) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Morrison's 13th studio album was released in 1982. The album continued his departure from R&B favoring Celtic folk and jazz influences instead. Many songs on the album are based on the teachings of theosophical writer Alice Bailey, while others show Morrison's Celtic heritage.

When Morrison returned with his next album, there was still a jazzy element to the tunes, but this time he was embracing a Celtic sound as often as not (and we're not just saying that because the first song on the album was entitled “Celtic Ray”). It may not be the most commercial album in his catalog, which caused some consternation among those on the business side of Morrison's career, but as its title implies, it's a beautiful one, and “Cleaning Windows” is arguably one of the best singles he released in the '80s.

"Beautiful Vision shares much sonically with its predecessor, Common One, being heavy on long, winding song-poems, moderate tempos, dense lyricism, and dated production. Still, this winds up being a stronger articulation of what Morrison was attempting to do on Common One – much like how Wavelength got A Period of Transition right. That doesn't mean that this is a particularly easy album to warm to, since Morrison seems to be consciously creating an insular world here, only of interest to those willing to delve deeply into his own world, letting his elliptical melodies charm instead of frustrate, to let the leisurely pace seduce rather than lull. Once you do that, the record reveals such charming moments as "She Gives Me Religion," "Beautiful Vision," and "Cleaning Windows," a skipping light R&B tune that became one of his latter-day standards. Too much of Beautiful Vision is the product of a willfully idiosyncratic yet oddly measured vision to make it essential for anyone other than diehards, but moments such as that make it worth a listen." (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG)

Tracklist:
1. Celtic Ray (4:12)
2. Northern Muse (Solid Ground) (4:05)
3. Dweller On the Threshold (4:49)
4. Beautiful Vision (4:10)
5. She Gives Me Religion (4:35)
6. Cleaning Windows (4:47)
7. Vanlose Stairway (4:13)
8. Aryan Mist (4:00)
9. Across the Bridge Where Angels Dwell (4:31)
10. Scandinavia (6:41)

Digitally remastered