Beautiful Vision

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Beautiful Vision
Beautiful Vision cover
Studio album by Van Morrison
Released January 1982
Recorded The Record Plant,
Sausalito, Cal.
Summer 1981
Genre Celtic, Jazz
Length 45:31
Label Elektra Records
Producer Van Morrison
Professional reviews
Van Morrison chronology
Common One
(1980)		 Beautiful Vision
(1981/82)		 Inarticulate Speech of the Heart
(1983)
Singles from Beautiful Vision
  1. "Cleaning Windows" b/w "It's All in the Game"
  2. "Dweller on the Threshold" b/w "Northern Muse (Solid Ground)"

Beautiful Vision is an album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter/musician Van Morrison, released in January 1982 through Elektra/Asylum Records. As with many of Morrison's recordings, spirituality is a major theme. The sound of the album is particularly ethereal.

Contents

[edit] Songs

The songs on the album are heavily influenced by Morrison's memories of Belfast and according to the liner notes, some of the lyrics derive from the book Glamour: A World Problem by esoteric writer Alice Bailey.[1][2] It is also said to have been strongly influenced by his new girlfriend from Vanlose in Copenhagen Denmark. The opening song "Celtic Ray" is concerned with the singer's connection to the ancient Celtic culture and his ability to get messages through a "wavelength" from Mother Ireland. "Northern Muse (Solid Ground)" adds a young woman in County Down to a similar theme. "Dweller On the Threshold" is credited to the religious teachings of Bailey. "Beautiful Vision" can be interpreted as either a vision of heaven or of his girlfriend, who also influences "She Gives Me Religion" and "Vanlose Stairway" (which refers to the stairway in the apartment where she lived.) "Cleaning Windows" is about Morrison's first full time job and the last carefree days of his adolescence. The melody is very upbeat and embellished with a playful guitar. Brian Hinton comments that "Across the Bridge Where Angels Dwell" is literally about the bridge that separated Morrison's Mill Valley California home from the San Mateo house where his daughter, Shana lived with her mother. "Scandinavia" ends the album and is an instrumental with Morrison on piano backed up by Mark Isham's synthesizer and a drum that sounds like a heartbeat.[3]

[edit] Track listing

All songs by Van Morrison except as indicated.

[edit] Side one

  1. "Celtic Ray" - 4:11
  2. "Northern Muse (Solid Ground)" - 4:05
  3. "Dweller on the Threshold" (music: Morrison; lyrics: Morrison, Hugh Murphy) - 4:49
  4. "Beautiful Vision" - 4:08
  5. "She Gives Me Religion" - 4:33

[edit] Side two

  1. "Cleaning Windows" - 4:43
  2. "Vanlose Stairway" - 4:10
  3. "Aryan Mist" (music: Morrison; lyrics: Morrison, Murphy) - 4:00
  4. "Across the Bridge Where Angels Dwell" (music: Morrison; lyrics: Morrison, Murphy) - 4:31
  5. "Scandinavia" - 6:41

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Charts

Album - Billboard

Year Chart Position
1982 Pop Albums 44

Album - UK Album Chart

Year Chart Position
1982 UK Album Chart 31

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Drury, Nevill (1985). Music for Inner Space. Prism Press, 60. ISBN 0958975906. 
  2. ^ JOHN MILWARD (Mar 4, 1982). "Van Morrision Beautiful Vision, 1988" RS 364. Rolling Stone Magazine. 
  3. ^ Hinton, Celtic Crossroads, p. 233-236

[edit] References

  • Hinton, Brian (1997). Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison, Sanctuary, ISBN 1-86074169X

[edit] External links

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