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Days Like This (Van Morrison album)

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Days Like This is the twenty-third studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1995 (see 1995 in music). It is a diverse group of songs offering a variety of moods and styles. It ranked No. 5 on the UK album charts and was nominated for the Mercury Prize.

Composition

His daughter, singer-songwriter Shana Morrison performed duets with her father on two tracks, "You Don't Know Me" and "I'll Never Be Free". "Ancient Highway" was nine minutes long and contained the words "praying to my higher self/Don't let me down". It is said to be the one song on the album where he comes closest to following his muse.[1] The title track has continued to be a popular song in concert to the present day. Most of the songs are reflective and seem to come during a time of self-examination. "No Religion" came about Morrison explained when he was thinking: "Wouldn't it be great just to be born and nobody told you there was such a thing as religion? Say it didn't exist and you were just told that all you've got is this life and that's it...and there's no heaven, no hell." The song, "Songwriter" spoke of his songwriting techniques as a practical application instead of inspired as in the past.[2] "Melancholia" and "Underlying Depression" continue the theme of soul searching.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[3]
Entertainment WeeklyB[4]

At the time of its release in 1995, Days Like This was Morrison's best selling non-compilation album and was nominated for the Mercury Music Award.[5] David Sinclair in Q describes the album as a "glorious return to form", while the Entertainment Weekly reviewer found that "Days Like This, is too perfunctory to call it a return to form. But, surprisingly, there is real spark."[4] Other reviews were less enthusiastic: Tom Moon's Rolling Stone review states: "There are moments of genius followed by lavish displays of questionable taste, sometimes within the same song."[6] The Music Box rated it with 3 stars and mildly endorsed it: "The latest release from Van Morrison is really only for his true fans. It's enjoyable, but it doesn't seem as inspired as his last few albums."[7] Allmusic summed it up as an album that is a "completely competent yet completely uninspired pop-R&B workout, with Van sounding as if he couldn't care less about the words leaving his mouth." [3]

Cover

The cover of the album showed Morrison and his (then) girlfriend (now wife), Michelle Rocca walking a pair of greyhounds.[8] It was his first album in 24 years to feature a female companion on the cover. The last had been the cover of Tupelo Honey with his then-wife Janet "Planet" Rigsbee.

Track listing

All songs by Morrison unless noted otherwise;

  1. "Perfect Fit" — 4:33
  2. "Russian Roulette" — 3:56
  3. "Raincheck" — 5:53
  4. "You Don't Know Me" (Arnold, Walker) – 4:32
  5. "No Religion" — 5:14
  6. "Underlying Depression" — 4:35
  7. "Songwriter" — 2:50
  8. "Days Like This" — 3:13
  9. "I'll Never Be Free" (Bennie Benjamin, George David Weiss) — 3:37
  10. "Melancholia" — 3:56
  11. "Ancient Highway" — 8:53
  12. "In the Afternoon" — 6:21

Personnel

Musicians

Production

  • Production: Van Morrison and Phil Coulter
  • Recording: Mick Glossop, Walter Samuel and Brian Masterson
  • Assistant engineers: Matthew Lawrence, Greig Sangster, Avril Mackintosh, Jamie Cullum, Alastair McMillan and Meabh Flynn
  • Mixing: Walter Samuel and Mick Glossop
  • Mastering: Ian Cooper and Tim Young
  • Horn arrangements: Pee Wee Ellis and James McMillan

Charts

Album

UK Album Chart

Year Chart Position
1995 UK Album Chart 5

Billboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
1995 The Billboard 200 33

Singles

UK Singles Chart

Year Single Position
1995 "Days Like This" 65
1995 "No Religion" 54

Notes

  1. ^ Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence?, p. 457
  2. ^ Rogan, No Surrender, p. 435
  3. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Days Like This". Allmusic. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  4. ^ a b Scherman, Tony (23 June 1995). "Days Like This (1995)". ew.com. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  5. ^ "1995 Shortlist - Barclay Mercury Prize". mercuryprize.com. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  6. ^ Moon, Tom (2 February 1998). "Days Like This Rolling Stone review". rollingstone.com. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  7. ^ Metzger, John (June 1996). "Van Morrison: Days Like This". musicbox-online.com. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  8. ^ "Singer Van Morrison denies 'unfounded baby' story". bbc.co.uk. 31 December 2009. Retrieved 31 December 2009.

References

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