Van Morrison - Blowin’ Your Mind

He might be a miserable looking git nowadays, hiding behind a pair of shades like nosy old women hides behind curtains, but Van Morrison has always been an innovator and an individual. It’s an increasingly rare stance in today’s music business, filled as it is with the desperate and the disastrous. This, Morrison’s 1967 debut as a solo artist, didn’t quite hit the ground running, though he certainly began jogging at a brisk pace. There’s the much, much overplayed classic (and George W Bush favourite) Brown Eyed Girl, along with Midnight Special, which tipped a hat to Morrison’s previous post as lead singer of Belfast R&B growlers Them. With TB Sheets and Who Drove My Sports Car, however, Morrison gave glimpses of the Astral Weeks to come.