Van Morrison is an absolutely amazing individual who has performed in a huge array of styles in his decades as a musician and singer. That array of mixed styles is probably the largest flaw in this collection. A much better Van Morrison collection would need to be a boxed set dividing his music into styles: soul, R&B, pop, funk, and rock, though even those styles are perhaps less than inclusive and in some cases it may be difficult to determine where a particular song fits, rather than aiming for a retrospective on a single disk.

Another problem with this CD is the flow of the music. There seems to be no pattern to how the music is laid out, either in terms of era or style. Essentially the CD seems disorganized, as though someone had put the songs they wanted to include on the CD into a hat and started choosing them one at a time. I have read that Van Morrison wanted nothing to do with this CD, and I think the end result explains why.

Possibly the remaining concern is that the music selected is the most popular of Van Morrison's work. I understand the need to have some measure of commercial value in the release of a greatest hits or best of collection, but such a collection tends to pass over some of the better music of many artists. Once again, a boxed set could present some of Van Morrison's artistically excellent music that was less commercially successful. Of course, the fans most interested in that kind of music likely already have it on the albums, but why not represent the true scope of an artist?

Getting past my issues with the organization of the music, this CD is perhaps the best single CD collection of Van Morrison available, explaining the four star rating. Some of the songs I had forgotten, or perhaps never knew, were Van Morrison's.

Included on this CD are soul songs like "Bright Side of the Road" and "Queen of the Slipstream." "Queen of the Slipstream" is also heavily spiritual. In a completely different vein are songs in a style I call crooner, suitable for night clubs, like "Moondance," "And It Stoned Me," and "Have I Told You Lately." "Moondance" immediately calls to mind "Mac the Knife."

There are songs that were once called funk or funky, like "Warm Love" and "Cleaning Windows." There is the funk-tinged spiritual song "Whenever God Shines His Light," sung in a style highly reminiscent of Billy Joel on "River of Dreams."

Then there is the pop and rock Van Morrison, represented by hits "Gloria," with its Stones-like sound, "Brown Eyed Girl," which is perhaps Van Morrison's most recognized song, "Full Force Gale," and "Domino," among others. In another twist of styles is "Wonderful Remark," which has a very Springsteen-styled sound.

Van Morrison is no copycat. He chooses styles to fit the music, and his own very unique sound is represented on songs like the previously mentioned "Brown Eyed Girl," "Jackie Wilson Said," "Domino," "Wild Night," and "Dweller on the Threshold."

Van Morrison's career has entered its fifth decade, experimenting with styles and sounds throughout. Van Morrison's sound has not so much evolved as just been the sound appropriate for his intent at the time. He seems equally at home with singing in whatever style he feels like singing at the moment. Some singers have said they have sung styles that they would not revisit as they age. Van Morrison will continue to sing the style appropriate to his mood, regardless of his age.

With all its flaws, this CD is probably the best available single collection of Van Morrison's work. It is also one of his biggest sellers, if not THE biggest. His musical ability overwhelms all flaws and makes this a highly enjoyable and valuable CD for a discerning musicologist's collection. Choose "The Best of Van Morrison, Vol. 2" to expand your best of Van Morrison collection further.

This release, which provides an overview of Van's career from 1964-1990, was probably compiled with a minimal amount of effort. There are no rare tracks or compelling liner notes included with this selection as there are on many greatest hits CD's. The selection of songs is a bit erratic and misses a couple of obvious choices, among them "Tupelo Honey". There are probably reasons for this. When this disc was released the rights to several of the songs were controlled by different record companies. Becuase of this Van fans could not obtain any sort of comprehensive offering of his songs. So while this CD solved that problem, it created others. First issue, which isn't huge, is that the collection does not flow well. We get 4 key tracks from the 1960's ("Baby Please Don't Go"; "Gloria"; "Here Comes The Night"; and "Brown Eyed Girl") but they are randomly mixed in with his material from the 1970's and 1980's. Also, it would have been a nice touch to include a couple more songs from the early Warner Brothers period (1968-74), including some of the B-sides or out-takes that have yet to make it on CD (some examples of the songs were contained on the "Philospoher's Stone" double-CD, but others continue to be unavailable). Van has had such a productive and multi-faceted career that it is hard to gather the highlights in some kind of logical order, but it can be done with care (as it was on the double-CD anthology "The Story Of Them Featuring Van Morrison"). Some record labels have released several greatest hits packages for one artist, but for Van this is only compilation to be had, and for all of its flaws it will have to do until something better comes along.

This represents a wonderful single CD introduction to Van Morrison's work through the years. As a huge Van fan (I own 8 albums), there are tracks that I had never heard before that are great (ex. "Whenever God Shines His Light"), as well as some old staples for which I didn't really want the original albums("Brown Eyed Girl", "Gloria").

Having said this, I don't know how they could have left off "Into The Mystic", one of his truly finest pieces, nor "Tupelo Honey". (Neither made it onto Vol. 2 either.) Also, the song order seems haphazard, which can detract from the quality of the songs themselves. (ex. "Have I Told You Lately" following "Baby Please Don't Go" just doesn't work.)

Trying to summarize Van's work in a single CD is near impossible, but this CD is a great intro and should have you wanting more.

This is such a good cd, as are most of his. It's quite possible that if you're someone looking for your first "Van Morrison" cd, you're stuck between this, and "Moondance". Here's why you should get "Moondance" instead. It ALSO has "And it stoned me" and "Moondance", but more importantly has "Crazy Love", "Into the Mystic", and "Glad tidings", among others that are essential, which the "best of" does NOT have. Plus, it doesn't have "Brown eyed girl" and "Wild Night" which are over-played anyway. The advantage to the "best of", is twice as many songs. Now, not to say that they're no good, but what are you looking for, quantity.....or quality? It's actually a full moon tonight.

I've been a nut over Van "the man" Morrison since his THEM days. His lyrics have always zeroed in on what makes this man's heart beat. His battles with the Parrot record company are legendary. An Irish rebel. This CD has many of his great ones. It has a few of his sucky ones also. Greatest Hits? I think not. But what really burns me about this CD is the song Brown Eyed Girl. A true classic. A masterpiece. But on this CD, Mona Lisa's smile has been altered. No longer are we making love in the green grass behind the stadium but now we're running and laughing. The record company has decided that makin' love in the green grass is too paganistic for modern society. By modifying the lyrics the song has lost its heart. And in my opinion has tainted the entire CD. If they are allowed to change the lyrics maybe next time they can change the players or the singer. Hell, put Tony Burrows on vocals. That guy sang nearly every song in the late 60's anyways.