Van Morrison – Hymns to the Silence (Remastered) (1991/2020) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

“Hymns to the Silence” is the twenty-first studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was his first studio double album. Morrison recorded the album in 1990 in Beckington at Wool Hall Studios and in London at Townhouse and Westside Studios.

When Hymns to the Silence was released in 1991, it reached number five on the UK Albums Chart and received positive reviews from critics. Morrison’s use of various musical styles was well received, as were the more worldly-themed songs on an otherwise spiritual album.

Morrison’s best album of the ’90s still casually hangs out in the spiritual world that served as his home for most of his ’80s material, but the mystical touches are at least kept in check for a good deal of the time. Better still is that Morrison sings with a passion that had crawled into laziness during big, and crucial, chunks of his career (most prominently the early to mid-’80s). The songs, or more accurately (as the title makes very clear) hymns, combine the elements that have guided Morrison’s best albums — R&B, folk, pop, Celtic, rock, even gospel — for a satisfying journey through the mystic and the real. Its double-disc length, however, is a bit off-putting; a spirited rewrite of his last album (1990’s Enlightenment) really doesn’t need this much space to make its point. But his rambling musings (like the soulfully suave “Why Must I Always Explain”) retain a compelling power. ~ Michael Gallucci

Tracklist:
1. Professional Jealousy (3:47)
2. I’m Not Feeling It Anymore (6:36)
3. Ordinary Life (3:34)
4. Some Peace of Mind (6:28)
5. So Complicated (3:23)
6. I Can’t Stop Loving You (3:58)
7. Why Must I Always Explain? (3:53)
8. Village Idiot (3:17)
9. See Me Through, Pt. II / Just a Closer Walk with Thee (3:13)
10. Take Me Back (9:12)
11. By His Grace (2:38)
12. All Saints Day (2:32)
13. Hymns to the Silence (9:43)
14. On Hyndford Street (5:22)
15. Be Thou My Vision (3:51)
16. Carrying a Torch (4:29)
17. Green Mansions (3:42)
18. Pagan Streams (3:41)
19. Quality Street (4:00)
20. It Must Be You (4:11)
21. I Need Your Kind of Loving (4:32)