Artist:     Van Morrison

Album:     The Healing Game (DeLuxe Edition)

Label:     Legacy Recordings

Release Date:     3.22.2019

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Here we go with another huge remastered Van-the-man special from Sony/Legacy recordings. Anything by Morrison is attractive, widely anticipated and pounced on by the man’s fans around the globe. And this Healing Game multi-track offering will again hit the spot for many of his friends and fans, for sure.

Tracks come from many of his earlier releases, with an expanded version of the original album, some live unreleased material from Montreaux, and a batch of unreleased tracks where he is joined by legendary rocker, Carl Perkins, and some John Lee Hooker material. In truth the new triple disc set includes some of his all-time greats, from “Tupelo Honey,” “The Weight,” “St Dominic’s Preview” and more, with the inevitable duplicates of recent releases, a minor gripe. In recent years there’s been an unexpected but welcome flurry of remastered back-catalogue, multi-disc offerings from Morrison, a guy who has traditionally slipped out his material with barely a nod to label needs, wishes or public opinion and fan demands.

But in truth we’re all now benefiting from this rush of releases that often touch on Morrison at his blistering best. The Healing Game—an old title from the late 1990s which pushed the Irish singer-writer back into the limelight and found him again a figure of enormous international interest and musical importance—again hints at the sheer quality and significance of the music covered in this remarkable and pretty essential collection.

Anyone, and that must include most of us, who loves this guy at his best need look no further than to this truly wonderful compilation of Morrison doing what he does, at his very best through the years and decades. This is truly vintage, veteran Van ripping it up, feverishly sensational, soulful and always commanding. The Healing Game comes in a deluxe package that is well worth snatching and savoring. This is great music that lives and breathes, defying the years.

—Iain Patience