WHEN THAT ROUGH GOD GOES RIDING. Listening to Van Morrison
first edition hardcover
2010 · New York
by Marcus, Greil
New York: Public Affairs, 2010. First edition. hardcover. A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. The wild turbulence of his music mirroring the swings in his popular acclaim, makes Van Morrison one of the most perplexing and mysterious figures in modern music. He willfully resists simple categorization: he is as much a bluesman as a Celtic soul singer, a rock-and-roller as a folk singer, a diva as a balladeer. His greatest songs are at one moment his own, at another his versions of those by others. The author takes us through the extraordinary and unclassifiable moments in Morrison's career, beginning in 1965 and continuing in full force to this day. It provides a journey between the transcendent and the wretched years of Morrison's work as utterly forgettable. The book travels between the high points and sublime dislocations in which the singer reaches an extreme musical threshold, and it leaps the chasms as it tracks perhaps the most enigmatic and revelatory performer of our time. (Inventory #: 15064)