I mean, what late-70's singer-songwriter album didn’t feature electric piano, cheesy synthesizers, liquidy guitar lines (read: tame), and at least three ultra-slick radio-ready singles?
For the first time, Van, the producer/artist, sounds like a producer/artist other than himself, which, in spite of Van’s protestations to the contrary, betrays a concerted, possibly even self-conscious, desire to follow whichever way the prevailing commercial winds would blow him. Listen to the song "Running on Empty" and you’ll see what I mean. What irks me about "Wavelength" and "Kingdom Hall," however, is that they don’t sound like they were produced by Van Morrison. When the music attempts to wed Van’s R&B style with a late-1970's AM radio-friendly production, it works very well indeed, with the bordering-on-whiny title track, the breezy "Natalia" and the (slightly overlong) powerhouse "Kingdom Hall" faring the best. The cover for Wavelength shows Van looking like a full-fledged movie star (I mean, who among us thought that even possible?): He looks handsome, confident, trim, masculine-the exact opposite of how he looked on the appalling A Period of Transition cover. Seeff took the shots for some of the most iconic covers of the 1970's, from Carly Simon’s Playing Possum to Joni Mitchell’s Hejira and Art Garfunkel’s Breakaway. * Garth Hudson: Organ, synthesizer, accordion, keyboardįrom its airbrushed, Norman Seeff-photographed cover to its Jackson Browne sound, 1978's Wavelength has all the hallmarks of an all-out attempt at commercializing Van’s overall approach. * Linda Dillard: Vocal, vocal (background) * Laura Creamer: Vocal, vocal (background) * Ginger Blake: Vocal, vocal (background) * Peter Bardens: Synthesizer, horn, keyboard * Van Morrison: Guitar, keyboard, piano (electric), saxophone, vocal "Santa Fe / Beautiful Obsession" (De Shannon/Morrison)– 7:04
Today we'll be starting off with 1978's Wavelength:Ģ. Part 1, covering the period of 1968-1977, can be found here: On behalf of my colleague in all things Morrisonic, DJWilbur, I bid you welcome to Part 2.
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