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Editorial Reviews

Van Morrison's U.S. label debut with Polygram (which had issued his Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast album in England earlier) is a strong effort, mixing some of his familiar influences -- R&B, poetry, mysticism -- on such characteristic tracks as "Tore Down a la Rimbaud." It might be fair to say that by now, Morrison's fans had heard what he had to say and the rest was just repetition, but he continued to write and perform at a high level at this mature stage in his career. [2008 saw a very ambitious remastering and reissuing of Van Morrison's catalog by Universal from 1970 (Astral Weeks and Moondance are not included in this collection, which is baffling) through the early part of the 21st century. In addition to the new sound, all of these recordings have been expanded to some degree, and A Sense of Wonder is no exception. The bonus material here includes a shorter, alternate take of the title track -- it's clear why this one wasn't chosen -- and a different version of "Crazy Jane on God" (whose words were written by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats) that originally appeared on the Philosopher's Stone collection. Since many fans bought the earlier import remasters -- and these do not sound appreciably different -- it's tough choice; if you bought the other ones and you're not a completist, these two tracks do little to warrant another purchase of this fine record.] ~ William Ruhlmann and Thom Jurek, All Music Guide All Music Guide

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