Van Morrison Albums Ranked

Sir George Ivan “Van” Morrison OBE (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and record producer. His professional career began as a teenager in the late 1950s, playing a variety of instruments including guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone for various Irish showbands, covering the popular hits of that time. Van Morrison rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as the lead singer of the Northern Irish R&B band, Them, with whom he recorded the garage band classic “Gloria”. His solo career began in 1967, under the pop-hit orientated guidance of Bert Berns with the release of the hit single “Brown Eyed Girl”. After Berns’s death, Warner Bros. Records bought out his contract and allowed him three sessions to record Astral Weeks (1968).  Though this album gradually garnered high praise, it was initially a poor seller. Much of Morrison’s music is structured around the conventions of soul music and R&B, such as the popular singles “Brown Eyed Girl”, “Jackie Wilson Said (I’m in Heaven When You Smile)”, “Domino” and “Wild Night”. An equal part of his catalog consists of lengthy, loosely connected, spiritually inspired musical journeys that show the influence of Celtic tradition, jazz, and stream-of-consciousness narratives, such as the album Astral Weeks and the lesser-known Veedon Fleece and Common One. The two strains together are sometimes referred to as “Celtic soul”. He has received two Grammy Awards, the 1994 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, the 2017 Americana Music Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting and has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2016, he was knighted for services to the music industry and to tourism in Northern Ireland. He is known by the nickname Van the Man to his fans. Here are all Van Morrison Albums ranked.

Don’t miss out the music of Van Morrison. Click below and experience one of the greatest musician of all time.

10. Hymns to the Silence (1991)

“It’s the kind of album I consistently finding myself going back to over and over again. It’s so powerfully upbeat, I love it. There are so many great tracks throughout the double album and it’s a definite stand out in his discography.”

9. His Band and the Street Choir (1970)

“This album is very good. Really good. Everyone knows how good Moondance, Astral Weeks and St. Dominic’s Preview are. They are all awesome in their own way. So is This album, and yet, it is always considered a tier below the aforementioned LPs. I disagree. Sure, al lot of it is derivative and even playful fun that managed to hit a commercial vein. But is is really good, nonetheless. And a ton of fun.”

8. Poetic Champions Compose (1987)

“This is a most serious work and presents Van Morrison at his introspective best. Album after album, with few exceptions, Van shows that he is one of the most intelligent and deep-thinking singer/songwriters in the business. Poetic Champions Compose is THE cd to pop in when you are in a reflective mood. There is not a weak song on the album. This is not lounge jazz or “soft” jazz. This is blues and jazz for thinking people. My favorites are The Mystery, I Forgot That Love Existed, Give Me My Rapture, and Did Ye Get Healed? The instrumentals are dreamy, the saxophones pouring forth an ethereal splendour. Van Morrison has made so many great albums its impossible to pick a favorite but this mid-period masterpiece surely ranks near the top.”

7. No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986)

“This is a gorgeous album. Beautiful lyrics — ‘within your violet you treasure your summery words’. The woodwinds and strings with rippling currents carry that marvel of his voice along like a boat on a river. ‘Foreign Window’ rises to real grandeur. There’s an indignant rant at the way we reduce the miracles and mysteries of life to a collection of cliches — ‘Thanks for the Information’. The title song is a masterpiece of High Romantic poetry, the piano like a wind chime. Morrison can wail, grumble, scat, chant, he can write and sing a love ballad like no other. And, as John Lee Hooker said, he can sing the deep, deep blues. But No Guru is different, special — it has a Wild Swans at Coole feel to it: ethereal, radiant, like stars reflected in a lake, like a walk to Tir na Nog, i guess. Wrapped in glory — it really is. A Classic.”

6. Tupelo Honey (1971)

“Here you can hear him singing praise to love, marriage and the happy country life with his lovely wife Janet Planet (yes, these were the early seventies), after having fled the turmoil and jet-set lifestyle brought by Moondance’s overwhelming succes.”

See more: The White Stripes Albums Ranked

5. Into the Music (1979)

“Everything Van Morrison has done before leads up to this masterpiece!
If you could own only one Van Morrison album, this should be it.
His newfound spiritualism that was hinted at on the previous album Wavelenght, really blossoms here.
“Into the Music” is the extroverted version of his new self; on the next album “Common One” we get his dreamy introverted stream-of-consiousness version. Two very different albums, yet linked together, and both superb!”

4. Saint Dominic’s Preview (1972)

“From start to finish, Each song just makes you wanna get out of your seat. It’s such an incredibly upbeat album and among one of the best that I’ve listened to from Morrison.”

3. Veedon Fleece (1974)

“One of my favorite Van Morrison albums. It’s not for everyone. It’s not for everyday listening. But when the mood is right, it is pure magic. If you open yourself to it, this album carries a raw emotional punch of beautiful sadness and soulful desire that can easily choke you up and cause watery eyes.”

2. Moondance (1970)

“I love this album. It is, in my opinion, probably one of the best albums ever made. I don’t know how I have lived this long with out it. I was apprehensive about getting it on vinyl because some of the other reviews mentioned flaws or it not sounding like it should. Luckily, this was not the case for me. This records sounds fantastic, it has so much more nuance then the other formats of this album that I have listened to. I have had this record for about a month now and I listen to it at least once a day. I cannot say enough things about how wonderful this album is. I am now a life long Morrison fan.”

1. Astral Weeks (1968)

“This is a great experimental album. It has a mature feel that feels unfiltered. There are love songs on here but it feels as if there is no restriction in relation to the pop format so as to drum up a more emotional thing,hence the longer rambling song style.”