van morrison / albums

3,839,536 plays
916 SHARES
3,962 FAVS
185 fans

- Poetic Champions Compose
- - 44,303 plays
  - 24 favs
  - 2 shares
Van Morrison
Released 1987

I Forgot That Love Existed
04:17
2,477 plays

Alan Watts Blues
04:24
2,354 plays

Someone Like You
04:06
23,523 plays

- Add to cart
- buy
- share

songs

- 1
- Spanish Steps
- 05:20
- 2,161 plays

- 2
- The Mystery
- 05:16
- 2,261 plays

- 3
- Queen of the Slipstream
- 04:55
- 2,324 plays

- 4
- I Forgot That Love Existed
- 04:17
- 2,477 plays

- 5
- Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
- 04:27
- 1,862 plays

- 6
- Celtic Excavation
- 03:17
- 2,190 plays

- 7
- Someone Like You
- 04:06
- 23,523 plays

- 8
- Alan Watts Blues
- 04:24
- 2,354 plays

- 9
- Give Me My Rapture
- 03:44
- 1,827 plays

- 10
- Did Ye Get Healed?
- 04:06
- 1,846 plays

- 11
- Allow Me
- 03:53
- 1,881 plays

album review

If the title didn't tip you off, the opening five-minute jazz instrumental "Spanish Steps" certainly reveals that Poetic Champions Compose is an art record. Of course, Van Morrison has been making art records since at least Inarticulate Speech of the Heart, perhaps Common One, so that shouldn't come as a surprise. What is a bit of a shock is that Morrison begins to shake off his self-conscious straitjacket here, letting a little more grit into the music, even if the record still is firmly ensconced in mid-tempos and ballads, with only Van's voice (soulful, yet not histrionic) to pull you in. Much of this tends to float by, with only the occasional song ("I Forgot That Love Existed," "Did Ye Get Healed?") distinguishing itself. The overly mellow atmosphere and Van's arch artiness may not make it universally appealing, yet this record is warmer, stronger than many of its predecessors, one of his highlights from the '80s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide