No Guru, No Method, No Teacher [Original recording remastered]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Longtime Van Morrison fans may prefer the Belfast bard's tougher, emphatically R&B-driven work, yet it's his lusher, mid-'80s output that helped him consolidate the scrappy gains made in the prior decades. The once-heightened polarity between the earthy and the ethereal seemed muted on albums that traded in a softer-focus, romantic mysticism mirrored by the expanded scale of Morrison's band and arrangements, and left room for him to dabble in instrumental compositions or his renewed love of sax and piano. No Method, No Guru, No Teacher proves among the more durable, convincing chapters in this era, carrying a now-familiar array of symbolic touchstones (the Celtic legacy of "Tir Na Nog" or an extended instrumental allusion to a hymn set to William Blake's musings on England) and offering two of Morrison's better meditations on redemption, "In the Garden" and "A Town Called Paradise," which echoes the fevered waltz-time trance of "Astral Weeks" itself. --Sam Sutherland

Tracks:

Got To Go Back
Oh The Warm Feeling
Foreign Window
A Town Called Paradise
In The Garden
Tir Na Nog
Here Comes The Knight
Thanks For The Information
One Irish Rover
Ivory Tower

Amazon.com

Longtime Van Morrison fans may prefer the Belfast bard's tougher, emphatically R&B-driven work, yet it's his lusher, mid-'80s output that helped him consolidate the scrappy gains made in the prior decades. The once-heightened polarity between the earthy and the ethereal seemed muted on albums that traded in a softer-focus, romantic mysticism mirrored by the expanded scale of Morrison's band and arrangements, and left room for him to dabble in instrumental compositions or his renewed love of sax and piano. No Method, No Guru, No Teacher proves among the more durable, convincing chapters in this era, carrying a now-familiar array of symbolic touchstones (the Celtic legacy of "Tir Na Nog" or an extended instrumental allusion to a hymn set to William Blake's musings on England) and offering two of Morrison's better meditations on redemption, "In the Garden" and "A Town Called Paradise," which echoes the fevered waltz-time trance of "Astral Weeks" itself. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews:

One of Van's Classics.......2007-06-29

It's a shame that this phase of Van's career is over. This is just a brilliant recording of the bard from Belfast.

outstanding mid-period van morrison release........2007-02-20

mid-period morrison (1986) here, and an oustanding release at that. despite ending with the the fantastic rollicking up-tempo number "ivory tower," the rest of this beautiful set is comprised of mid-tempo to slow-tempo numbers. plenty of back up vocals from a group of four fine ladies add a lushness to the record that serves it well, and saxophones and trumpets and the oboe add tasteful touches along the way. van's vocals are wonderful, as usual, with perhaps a cleaner, clearer ennunciation than on some of his more recent releases. a fantastic album from beginning to end. highly recommended.

One of Van's understated albums.......2006-03-19

A very understated album from Van Morrison prior to release of his critically acclaimed "Poetic Champions Compose". Van engages in some deep introspection on "Got to Go Back" and "In the Garden", the latter which addresses the album title.

Van draws on Irish folk music to pen the beautiful "One Irish Rover" and pays homage to the Gaelic language in "Tir Na Nog" - land of the young.

A very laid back album full of hauntiing and romantic songs in the genre that preceded Van's "blues period" about 10 years later.

Six songs for the ages.......2006-02-01

The first six songs on this disc stack up against any music I've heard in my 35 years as a collector, and the last four are pretty darn good, too. This record and the one that followed, Poetic Champions Compose, show an artist continuing to make great music long after exiting the pop music spotlight. Van Morrison has had an extraordinary career--remarkably, largely under the radar--and these songs are a beacon to his fertile middle period. Essential.

The Best.......2006-01-08

This is Van Morrison's best studio album, and I have heard them all.
In fact this is one of the ten best albums made by anyone, anywhere, in any era or genre.

Average customer rating:

One of Van's Classics
outstanding mid-period van morrison release.
One of Van's understated albums
Six songs for the ages
The Best

No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
Van Morrison
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000001FK6
Release Date: 1994-06-14