I don't think anyone truly knows Van Morrison not even Morrison himself. Morrison's music always portrayed him on a search for that holy grail that all musicians worth their salt try and find--those transcend moments in music that almost seem mystical. Indeed, Morrison titled one of his songs "Into the Mystic" because his music always searched for that mystical series of chords that could provide the transcend moments found in American Rhythm and Blues, Gospel and other genres that took a glance around the corner into the empty rooms that are our life; who are we, why are we here, how do we touch God and, at the end of the day, why are we here. Covering Morrison's career from the seminal years of 1964 to 1974 when he disbanded one of his finest bands the Caledonia Soul Band'

Morrison began his career playing with a variety of bands but it was The Monarchs that gave him his first chance to taste the power of music. He later went on to form Them which played R&B covers. Signed by Dick Rowe (the man best remembered as the A&R man who passed on The Beatles telling Brian Epstein that guitar groups were part of a fad that had already passed), Rowe came up with the inspired idea to pair Them with American producer Bert Berns who had written and produced a number of R&B inspired hits including co-writing The Isley Brothers "Twist and Shout" a seminal number that had become a part of The Beatles stage shows. ***

Berns understandably made Morrison the focus of Them with his charismatic stage presence and soulful vocals he was a natural. Morrison was inspired to write material and came up with "Gloria". Them made a big splash in both the UK and America but quickly splintered after two albums breaking up. Morrison adrift without a band went to America to record with Berns which resulted in "Blowin' Your Mind" with its psychedelic cover you'd be mistaken for believing it was another journey down the same road that The Beatles did with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", the first Vanilla Fudge album or The Rolling Stones traveled with "Their Satanic Majesties Request" (which was inspired by "Pepper"). It had much more in common with albums like "Forever Changes" by Love than it did with those psychedelic landmark albums. Heck, it wasn't even intended as an album. Morrison took more than a dozen songs he'd been working on into the studio. Berns lined up Morrison to work with a group of New York session musicians that had little feel for Morrison's material (beyond "Brown Eyed Girl" which quickly became a big hit single and "The Smile You Smile"). Berns released the material as an album without Morrison's participation or approval and while it sold well, Morrison was very unhappy with the album itself. He resolved to produce music on his own terms from then on out with full control over the material, production and themes that would dominate the albums. Followed by the seminal Morrison album "Astral Weeks" which showed that Morrison had begun to find his own voice as a solo artist, Morrison also found an audience that has never deserted him. ***

"Moondance" would become his big breakthrough as a solo artist with its jazzy arrangements that dipped into jazz, R&B and soul. Written and recorded on his own terms, "And It Stoned Me", "Moon Dance", "Crazy Love". More importantly, it veered away from the style of rock music that most of his contemporaries were digging into as part of their attempt to create their own unique identities. Morrison did a quick follow up "His Band and Street Choir" which sold well but was critically drubbed because it lacked the fresh vitality that had set apart "Moondance" but carefully examined 37 years later, it's clear that it was an important stepping stone as Morrison continued to hone his sound. It may have been less consistent or inspired but it showed that "Moondance" wasn't an accident. After the failure of "His Band and Street Choir" to match the critical success of "Moondance", Morrison formed a brief alliance with former Vanity Fair vocalist turned producer Ted Templeman who worked with The Doobie Brothers (and later work with Little Feat and Van Halen) among others a gifted producer whose ability to suggest changes and work collaboratively would be important to Morrison's development as a producer himself. ***

Morrison moved forward producing a stunning series of masterpieces during this highly fertile period from "Saint Dominic's Preview" to the underrated "Veedon Fleece" which reflected Morrison's return to Ireland after living in Marin County in Northern California for a number of years. He had never forgotten his roots but the changes in Ireland from the Bloody Sunday riots to his memories of growing up in Ireland, Morrison suddenly found a way to get back in touch with his emotional attachment to his home. Taking the American the country elements that distinguished "Tupelo Honey" or the epic ballads that dominated "Saint Dominic's Preview", combing it with elements of Irish music, Morrison created a memorable great album about Ireland. As always, "Veedon Fleece" demonstrated a restless artist always willing to take a left turn down an unfamiliar street as part of the sense of discovery of self. ***

"Under Review" does a good job at summarizing Morrison's experiences and the artistic/personal changes that both challenged and enhanced his life during this time. Featuring interviews with a variety of music critics including Gavin Martin, Johnny Rogan, Steve Turner, Jon Wilde, Nigel Williamson, a friend and journalist Sam Symth and Jim Rothermel a musician that Morrison worked with during these seminal years, "Under Review" lacks only one thing--fresh interviews with Morrison. While there are excerpts from an older interview discussing this period that appear in "Under Review" and these comments are often insightful, the video lacks a one-on-one interview with him filled with the type of follow up questions that would give us more insight into Morrison the artist. Indeed, when he hear from Morrison during his older tape recorded interview, we don't even see pictures of him but video of the tape recorder which is an odd choice at best. "Under Review" also lacks a broader range of musicians that have WORKED with Morrison over the years and his contemporaries which would provide us the viewer with a better context of his influence. ---

Image & Sound:

As with all of these "Under Review" titles, they aren't shot on high definition video but standard definition which works pretty well for this DVD. There are also a variety of film clips pulled from the BBC and other archived material shot on videotape and film. Image quality on these vary from poor to acceptable based on the age and source for the material. It's a pity that there isn't more footage of Morrison performing live (we get excerpts) because Morrison's prowess as a live performer is justifiably high on an exceptional night. ***

Audio is quite good with the archived footage of Them and Morrison performing live synched with remastered tracks from his various albums. Since some of these appearances were lip synched (a standard practice back then for BBC appearances), it isn't a huge loss that we don't have the original mono tracks. For those that are live, though, it would be nice to have more of them. ---

We get a terrific featurette where musician Jim Rothermel relates "Stories On The Road" discussing his memories of performing with Morrison such as "Muscle Memory" about Morrison's inability to perform "Moondance" and other tracks because his voice wasn't in the best of shape. The band took it down a step. When they performed it one night the band started it and realized that Morrison was singing it a step UP from what they were performing it in. He relates that the band was surprised and caught off guard. It took them 16 bars to catch on. ***

He also discusses Morrison's prowess as a musician--he always manages to get something interesting and expressive out of an instrument even if his playing ability wasn't tops. It's part of that soulfulness that is at the heart of Morrison the performer. Rothermel's insights as a man who has played with Morrison provide us the viewer with the type of insight that we should get more of in this video. Sure, it's nice to hear from a journalist or music critic to give us their take on where an artist fits in the musical landscape but it's far more important to hear from those that have actually collaborated with an artist because they can give you insight into the thought/creative process that happens. ***

We also get "The Van Morrison Interactive Challenge" which is a pretty good trivia game you might play once or twice. Finally we get "Contributor Biographies" giving us much needed background on those talking heads that dominate this brief musical documentary on one of this iconic artist and "Beyond DVD" an advertisement for "Van Morrison's Jukebox" which I can only assume features selections from artists that influenced Morrison (much like Uncut Magazine will include CDs with selections by that month's cover artist giving their favorite performers or like the Starbucks' CDs where artists pick their favorite performers). ---

Final Words:

"Under Review: Van Morrison 1964-1974 covers Morrison's most important formative years as an artist. While he would make a number of masterpieces after "Veedon Fleece", his career wavered a bit with a variety of stunning AND uneven albums during the late 70's, 80's, 90's through today. Morrison's latest album "Keep It Simple" is an example of the mixed quality we can often expect from Morrison as he pursues his muse--some of the songs are truly stunning while others aspire to nothing more than a pleasant listening experience. Given everything that Morrison has accomplished in his varied musical career, it's to be expected that sometimes his work will be uninspired and other times that it will reach for the transcendent heights of "Moondance", "Saint Dominic's Preview", "It's Too Late To Stop Now" (his stunning double live album). Sometimes its just about Morrison having fun other times it's about that spiritual quest and restless creativity that has fueled Morrison's career making him one of the most important artists of the late 20th century. ***

Suggested Recordings by Van Morrison:

"The Story of Them" (1997 two disc compilation of recordings from 1965-6) "The Best of Van Morrison"(1998 features "Domino", "Brown Eyed Girl" and other important singles) "Astral Weeks" (1968) "Moondance" (1970) "Tupelo Honey" (1971) "Saint Dominic's Preview" (1972) "It's Too Late To Stop Now" (1974) "Veedon Fleece" (1974) "WaveLength" (1978) "Into The Music" (1979) Inarticulate Speech of the Heart" (1983) "Poetic Champions Compose" (1987) "Hymns to the Silence"(1991) "Back on Top"(1999) "The Skiffle Sessions" (2000) "Pay the Devil" (2006)