No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
CDN$ 15.95
- Got to Go Back
- Oh the Warn Feeling
- Foreign Window
- Town Called Paradise
- In the Garden
- Tir Na Nog
- Here Comes the Knight
- Thanks for the Information
- One Irish Rover
- Ivory Tower
No masterpiece, no energy, no dice - No Guru No Method No Teacher arrived in 1986, eight years after Van Morrison s last significant chart showing with Wavelength. Tellingly, it arrived after Van s slick, commercial A Sense of Wonder failed to renew mainstream interest in the aging Belfast Cowboy. Who knew a song called Tore Down a la Rimbaud wouldn t be a huge chart hit? It became steadily clear that, after a string of intermittently brilliant (Common One, Beautiful Vision) records in the early eighties, Van could only resume paying the bills with some regularity by appealing to his early-70s cult.He did so by revisiting the sound and mood (and sidemen) of two of his most acclaimed records, so often cited in reviews of this album that I won t mention them. Suffice it to say that those two records everybody mentions are masterpieces the likes of which have rarely been seen (or heard) in popular music. And No Guru...well, it s not.In fact, it s a pallid imitation. The similarities are all completely superficial. The familiar features are inviting, in a manner of speaking, at first: there s the haunted, echo-laden pastoral mood, the distant cascades of ethereal soprano sax, a steadily growing sense of mourning and absence. But I suspect that the absence that s being mourned is of melody.The usually sycophantic David Fricke opened his review of this record in Rolling Stone with No tunes, and the blessed Byrds scribe got it right: there are a handful of engaging songs here, but not many, and none of those are great or nearly up to the standard Van himself set for his later period just a few years earlier. The opener, a mostly two-chord waltz called Got to Go Back, will either strike the listener as drearily nostalgic and repetitive or genuinely moving, and I tend to vacillate depending on my own mood. It s still probably the best single song on here, with classic-period pianist Jeff Labes s quietly insinuating counter-melodies and a memorable soprano line. (Another early-seventies sideman, eclectic guitarist John Plantania, plays two or three notes elsewhere on the album, with most of the guitar handled by Chris Michie of Beautiful Vision fame.)But the cracks in the record show on that song. It may engage the emotions, but it s not particularly interesting, for one, and furthermore, Van s voice is in very bad shape here, and drenched in echo to compensate, and a lot of this record drags simply because he has trouble staying in key. He seems aware of these limitations, manifesting themselves for the first time in the career of one of pop s greatest singers: so at times he just yells (e.g., In the Garden) or mumbles (e.g. Oh the Warm Feeling). Van being in weak voice is the biggest disappointment here, but the rest of the songs are pretty weak too. Thanks For the Information attempts at early-Van poetic cleverness but is really just uninspired, and though it has a memorable chorus it s also a familiar chorus and the song completely overstays its welcome at nearly eight minutes. With Michie s guitar work very prominent it s the only contemporary-sounding song on the album, and therefore has dated the worst. Some of the other songs are so nondescript that they almost disappear: Here Comes the Knight is a clever title but also the umpteenth reuse of the She Gives Me Religion verse melody, and the bridge is alarmingly tuneless, and does anybody remember what Foreign Window is about? Van could be a great poet, and he s inarguably a brilliant songwriter, but this is not one of his finest hours. Some of the less-ambitious numbers come off nicely: the strangely-harmonized folk number One Irish Rover is almost mesmerizing, and boasts a devastatingly innocent electric-piano melody for an intro. (Yes, that means a glorified toss-off has four different engaging melodies, including the bridge, whereas several songs here don t even have one!). And the semi-rousing R&B number Ivory Tower ends the album on an unanticipated, unrelated high assuming the listener can hear past Van s unspeakably self-righteous lyrics.No Guru, No Method, No Teacher...no narrative cohesion, no genuinely great tunes, no particularly incisive lyrics, no vigorous libidinous performances, no earth-shaking vocal performances, no sex, no drugs, no rock and roll, no trace of what makes Van Morrison an important talent. Van still had entertaining albums left in him (the lovely Avalon Sunset, Enlightenment, and the new What s Wrong With This Picture) but this isn t the right place to look for one.
No masterpiece: no direction, no excitement, no dice - No Guru No Method No Teacher arrived in 1986, eight years after Van Morrison s last significant chart showing with Wavelength. Tellingly, it arrived after Van s slick, commercial A Sense of Wonder failed to renew mainstream interest in the aging Belfast Cowboy. Who knew a song called Tore Down a la Rimbaud wouldn t be a huge chart hit? It became steadily clear that, after a string of intermittently brilliant (Common One, Beautiful Vision) records in the early eighties, Van could only resume paying the bills by appealing to his early-70s cult.He did so by revisiting the sound and mood (and sidemen) of two of his most acclaimed records, so often cited in reviews of this album that I won t mention them. Suffice it to say that those two records everybody mentions are masterpieces the likes of which have rarely been seen (or heard) in popular music. And No Guru...well, it s not.In fact, it s a pallid imitation. The similarities are all completely superficial. The familiar features are inviting, in a manner of speaking, at first: there s the haunted, echo-laden pastoral mood, the distant cascades of ethereal soprano sax, a steadily growing sense of mourning and absence. But I suspect that the absence that s being mourned is of melody.The usually sycophantic David Fricke opened his review of this record in Rolling Stone with No tunes, and the blessed Byrds scribe got it right: there are a handful of engaging songs here, but not many, and none of those are great or nearly up to the standard Van himself set for his later period just a few years earlier. The opener, a mostly two-chord waltz called Got to Go Back, will either strike the listener as drearily nostalgic and repetitive or genuinely moving, and I tend to vacillate depending on my own mood. It s still probably the best single song on here, with classic-period pianist Jeff Labes s quietly insinuating counter-melodies and a memorable soprano line. (Another early-seventies sideman, eclectic guitarist John Plantania, plays two or three notes elsewhere on the album, with most of the guitar handled by Chris Michie of Beautiful Vision fame.)But the cracks in the record show on that song. It may engage the emotions, but it s not particularly interesting, for one, and furthermore, Van s voice is in very bad shape here, and drenched in echo to compensate, and a lot of this record drags simply because he has trouble staying in key. He seems aware of these limitations, manifesting themselves for the first time in the career of one of pop s greatest singers: so at times he just yells (e.g., In the Garden) or mumbles (e.g. Oh the Warm Feeling). Van being in weak voice is the biggest disappointment here, but the rest of the songs are pretty weak too. Thanks For the Information attempts at early-Van poetic cleverness but is really just uninspired, and though it has a memorable chorus it s also a familiar chorus and the song completely overstays its welcome at nearly eight minutes. With Michie s guitar work very prominent it s the only contemporary-sounding song on the album, and therefore has dated the worst. Some of the other songs are so nondescript that they almost disappear: Here Comes the Knight is a clever title but also the umpteenth reuse of the She Gives Me Religion verse melody, and the bridge is alarmingly tuneless, and does anybody remember what Foreign Window is about? Van could be a great poet, and he s inarguably a brilliant songwriter, but this is not one of his finest hours. Some of the less-ambitious numbers come off nicely: the strangely-harmonized folk number One Irish Rover is almost mesmerizing, and boasts a devastatingly innocent electric-piano melody for an intro. (Yes, that means a glorified toss-off has four different engaging melodies, including the bridge, whereas several songs here don t even have one!). And the semi-rousing R&B number Ivory Tower ends the album on an unanticipated, unrelated high assuming the listener can hear past Van s unspeakably self-righteous lyrics.No Guru, No Method, No Teacher...no narrative cohesion, no genuinely great tunes, no particularly incisive lyrics, no vigorous libidinous performances, no earth-shaking vocal performances, no sex, no drugs, no rock and roll, no trace of what makes Van Morrison an important talent. Van still had entertaining albums left in him (the lovely Avalon Sunset, Enlightenment, and the new What s Wrong With This Picture) but this isn t the right place to look for one.
Introspective Musings - This is one of those Van Morrison CDs I ve had for a long time, but never took the time to really know until recently. When I finally took it off the shelf to give it some time in the CD player, I found that I like it a lot more than when I first heard it.Those who are long time Van Morrison fans are well acquainted with his periodic swings into the mystic realm from his rock and r&b roots. No Guru, No Method, No Teacher was issued in the midst of his longest flirtation with and exploration of things spiritual. Though I think Poetic Champions Compose is the finest recorded expression of his spiritual nature, No Guru is not to be overlooked.Maybe one reason I was not ecstatic when I first listened to it is the rather even though above average quality of the music. There are only a two songs that stand above the others. One is ",In The Garden", which presents a very religious and elevated view of love between a man and a woman. The other is Thanks For the Information, a slow and soulful rocker in Van s best tradition.Hard core Van Morrison fans already own this CD. If you are fairly new to his music and prefer his slow-paced introspective Celtic musings to his more well-known swinging soul and rocking blues tunes, then this is a great album for you. I recommend it!
Better Than Excedrin Migraine - This, along with Poetic Champions Compose, paints a picture of such peaceful, spirtual warmth that it can cure a stress headache faster than anything one can buy over the counter. This is from a singer/songwriter that knows exactly where he is going with this album and takes us along with him for the beautiful, joyous ride. Van s spirtuality shines through on this album like the noonday sun breaking completely free of clouds, but is as gently persuasive as an early evening breeze. Van vividly paints scene after scene with his writing, his voice and tremendous musical arrangements. Listen to this while gazing up at the night sky. One of the 100 Greatest Albums on the Ken Carroll Scale.
SOFT AND SENSITIVE TRANSCENDENCE - No Guru No Method No Teacher is an album of gentle ballads and meandering instrumental passages, revealing an understated mood of contentment. Got To Go Back is a mellow musing on childhood over undulating instrumentation, Oh The Warm Feeling reveals Van s trademark spirituality and Foreign Window with its lovely female backing has a dreamy feel. The tempo picks up for the catchy song A Town Called Paradise with its gripping guitar, sax and trumpet, inspiring lyrics and exquisite arrangement. The album title comes from the lyrics of In The Garden, a song with louder and softer sections and prominent rolling piano, whilst Tir Na Nog is a gorgeous Celtic excursion with lush instrumentation and poetic lyrics. Here Comes The Night is a lilting soulful love song whilst Thanks For The Information has a jazzy edge to it and a semi-spoken vocal. One Irish Rover is closer to traditional folk, but still infused with Van s unique sense of the mystical. On this album you won t find Morrison s most passionate or ecstatic moments, but rather a sense of calm and tranquility in the soothing and delectable melodies.