- The Healing Game
Infobox Album | Name = The Healing Game
Type =Album
Artist =Van Morrison
Released =March 4 ,1997
Recorded = 1996 at Westland Studios and Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin
Genre =Folk rock Rock
Length = 53:38
Label =Polydor
Producer = Van Morrison
Reviews =Allmusic Rating|2.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:je8zefek8gfn link]Rolling Stone (Not Rated) [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/67/albums/album/174303/rid/5940940/ link]
Last album = "" (1996)
This album = "The Healing Game " (1997)
Next album = "The Philosopher's Stone" (1998)
Misc = Singles
Name =The Healing Game
Type =studio
Single 1 =The Healing Game" b/w "Have I Told You Lately "/"Whenever God Shines His Light "/"Gloria
Single 1 date =
Single 2 =The Healing Game" b/w "Full Force Gale 96"/"Look at What the Good People Done"/"Celtic Spring
Single 2 date =
Single 3 =Rough God Goes Riding " b/w "At the End of the Day"/"The Healing Game
Single 3 date =
Single 4 =
Single 4 date ="The Healing Game" is an
album by Northern Irishsinger-songwriter Van Morrison , released in 1997.The
July 01 ,2008 re-issued and re-mastered version of the album contains a take of theRough God Goes Riding B-side "At the End of the Day". [ [http://www.vanmorrison.co.uk/?m=Content&Content(record_id)=9e7f77a8944fa52fb858a13add2752e0 Van Morrison Official Website] ]Recording history
The album was recorded in
Dublin Ireland . The cover features a threatening looking Morrison withHaji Ahkba alongside looking like he is one of hisbodyguards .ongs
The title song "The Healing Game" is about the tradition of
Belfast street singing. Van Morrison in Q magazine said, "People find it incredible when I tell them that people used to sing and play music in the street. I think there's a whole oral tradition that's disappeared." The song, "Rough God Goes Riding" is taken from aW. B. Yeats poem "The Second Coming" with its figure from the Apocalypse "rough beast". Leo Green'ssaxophone follows Morrison's voice like a twin brother. In "Waiting Game" he is "the brother of the snake" which Brian Hinton says refers to both his lost friend,Jim Morrison akaThe Lizard King and theGarden of Eden . "Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" follows the children's book,The Wind in the Willows closely andPaddy Moloney playsuillean pipes withPhil Coulter onpiano . On "Burning Ground" the singer relives a common scene from his childhood whenjute was shipped toBelfast fromIndia . [Hinton, Celtic Crossroads, p.333-336]Reviews
Famed music critic
Greil Marcus was favourably impressed with the album and wrote a review which stated: "Morrison dominates each song on The Healing Game - but the word song seems much too small here. Like the rough god he sings about, Morrison is astride each incident in the music..."Track listing
All songs by
Van Morrison #"
Rough God Goes Riding " – 6:19
#"Fire in the Belly" – 6:34
#"This Weight" – 4:37
#"Waiting Game" – 5:56
#"Piper at the Gates of Dawn" – 3:53
#"Burning Ground" – 5:38
#"It Once Was My Life" – 5:10
#"Sometimes We Cry " – 5:14
#"If You Love Me" – 5:01
#"The Healing Game" – 5:16Bonus track (2008 CD reissue)
#"At the End of the Day" - 4:32
Personnel
*Van Morrison -
vocal , acoustic guitar,harmonica
*Haji Ahkba -flugelhorn
*Robin Aspland -piano
*Phil Coulter -piano
*Alec Dankworth -double bass
*Geoff Dunn - drums,percussion
*Pee Wee Ellis - soprano andbaritone saxophone s, background vocals
*Georgie Fame -hammond organ , background vocals
*Leo Green -tenor saxophone , background vocals
*Matt Holland -trumpet , background vocals
*Ronnie Johnson -electric guitar
*Brian Kennedy - background vocals
*Katie Kissoon - background vocals
*Paddy Moloney -uilleann pipes ,whistle
*Peter O'Hanlon -dobro
*Ralph Salmins -percussion
*Nicky Scott -bass guitar Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)
Notes
References
*Hinton, Brian (1997). Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison, Sanctuary, ISBN 1-86074169X
External links
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_n6_v27/ai_19661466 Greil Marcus Review: The Healing Game]
* [http://www.vanmorrison.co.uk/?m=Content&Content(record_id)=b2950180e54389f3cf9d93ad908ac00e# Lyrics and Audio Samples] 1990s, The Healing Game
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