''Back on Top'' is the twenty-seventh studio album by

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

singer/songwriter

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...

, released in 1999 by

Point Blank Point-blank range is any distance over which a certain firearm or gun can hit a target without the need to elevate the barrel to compensate for bullet drop, i.e. the gun can be pointed horizontally at the target. For targets beyond-blank range ...

. It reached the Top Twenty in seven countries, building on the success of 1997's ''

The Healing Game ''The Healing Game'' is the twenty-sixth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1997 by Polydor Records, Polydor. It reached the Top Ten in four countries, and the Top Twenty in three more. Following two overtl ...

''.

Recording

Recorded at the Wool Hall Studios, south of

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, except strings, which were recorded at

Windmill Lane Studios Windmill Lane Recording Studios (earlier Windmill Lane Studios) is a recording studio in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It was originally opened in 1978 by Brian Masterson and James Morris on Windmill Lane, and it subsequently relocated in ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The musicians on the album are understated with Ian Jennings playing

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

Geraint Watkins Geraint Meurig Vaughan Watkins (born 5 February 1951) is a Welsh singer, songwriter, rock and roll pianist and accordionist. He has backed many notable artists, including Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Van Morrison, Mark Knopfler, Paul McCartney, Ro ...

playing

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

and

Pee Wee Ellis Alfred James Rogers (April 21, 1941 – September 23, 2021), known as Pee Wee Ellis due to his diminutive stature, was an American saxophonist, composer, and arranger. With a background in jazz, he was a member of James Brown's band in the 19 ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

Composition

The opening track, " Goin' Down Geneva", has a very bluesy feel. Morrison's harmonica is prominent on "Philosopher's Stone", which features "one of the most limber vocal performances he's put on record in years, even tentatively jumping into the high squawk he seemed to have lost." Harmonica also features on "High Summer", which includes references to "Lucifer" and "God", and also alludes to Morrison's 1960s songs by way of "red sport cars" and "mansions on the hill". "In the Midnight" is "bedroom music, pure and simple", while " Back on Top" is an optimistic statement of the singer's outlook. The ballad, "When the Leaves Come Falling Down", features a

string section The string section of an orchestra is composed of bowed instruments belonging to the violin family. It normally consists of first and second violins, violas, cellos, and double basses. It is the most numerous group in the standard orchestra. In ...

, while "Golden Autumn Day" is about being mugged. "Reminds Me of You" dates back to a 1996 break-up of his

engagement An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''f ...

Michelle Rocca Michelle Mary Teresa Rocca (born 1961) is an Irish-Italian TV host, former model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Ireland 1980. The following year, she married footballer John Devine. Two years after their divorce in 1990 she met a ...

; they had reunited by the time of the song's release. "New Biography" was prompted by

Brian Hinton Brian Hinton, MBE (born 21 September 1950) is an English poet and musicologist. In June 2006 he was honoured in H. M. the Queen's Birthday Honours List with an MBE for services to the Arts. Education Born in Southampton, Hinton studied Eng ...

's ''Celtic Crossroads'', written in 1996. Morrison complains about celebrity and "'so-called friends' who chose to spill inside information and memories to biographers." Morrison has often performed " Precious Time" live, which includes the lyrics, "It doesn’t matter to which God you pray/Precious time is slipping away."

Release

The video for the title track received significant airplay on the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

music station, "MuchMoreMusic". Performances of "Back on Top" and "When the Leaves Come Falling Down", along with "

Gloria Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkins ...

", featured on '' Later... with Jools Holland'' on 16 April 1999. The photograph of Morrison on the inside of the album cover was originally used for the front cover of

Peter Handke Peter Handke (; born 6 December 1942) is an Austrians, Austrian novelist, playwright, translator, poet, film director, and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has ...

's book, ''My Year in the No-Man's-Bay'' (1994). The album was remastered and reissued on 29 January 2008 with two bonus tracks; an alternative take of "Philosopher's Stone", and a new arrangement of

Fats Domino Antoine Caliste Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American singer-songwriter and pianist. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New Orl ...

's song, "

Valley of Tears The Valley of Tears (, ''Emek HaBakha'') is the name given to an area in the Golan Heights after it became the site of a major battle in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War, known as the Valley (or Vale) of Tears Battle, which was fought from 6 Oc ...

". "Golden Autumn Day" was also used as the credits song for the

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

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Reception

The album received mixed reviews from critics, but performed well commercially and was his highest charting album in the US since ''

Wavelength In physics and mathematics, wavelength or spatial period of a wave or periodic function is the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. In other words, it is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same ''phase (waves ...

''. It went gold in both the US and UK. ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'' welcomed Morrison's "return to the music that suits him so well... blues and R&B", and found that the album finds him "celebrating life and its pleasures to the limit." ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' summed it up as being "solid, brilliant, silly in sad ways. But it's still one Monet and nine Norman Rockwells." The ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

'' was critical, suggesting that " omewherein the mid-Eighties the poet/philosopher accolades seem to have seeped into his skull, and he began churning out same-sounding albums on an almost annual basis."Rogan, No Surrender, p.453. Critic George Graham lauded it as "one of his best, most tasteful albums in recent years, and Van Morrison has had some very good albums in this period."

Track listing

All songs by

, unless otherwise noted. #" Goin' Down Geneva" – 4:24 #"Philosopher's Stone" – 6:05 #"In the Midnight" – 5:07 #" Back on Top" – 4:23 #"When the Leaves Come Falling Down" – 5:39 #"High Summer" – 5:12 #"Reminds Me of You" – 5:39 #"New Biography" – 5:23 #" Precious Time" – 3:45 #"Golden Autumn Day" – 6:31 ;Bonus tracks (2008 CD reissue) #

"Philosopher's Stone" – 4:52 (alternate take) #"

" – 5:02 (

, arranged Morrison)

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

, producer *

Mick Green Michael Robert Green (22 February 1944 – 11 January 2010) was an English rock and roll guitarist who played with Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, The Pirates (with and without Johnny Kidd (singer), Johnny Kidd), Billy J. Kramer The Dakotas (band), ...

– acoustic and

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

s *

–

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

and

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

*Matt Holland –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

–

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

Fiachra Trench Fiachra Terence Wilbrah Trench (born 7 September 1941, in Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish musician and composer from Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland. Trench first studied Chemistry at Trinity College, Dublin, before moving on to the ...

– piano *Ian Jennings –

*Liam Bradley –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, background vocals *

Bobby Irwin Bobby Irwin (23 March 1953 – 8 May 2015) was an English drummer, record producer and songwriter. He is known for working in close collaboration with Nick Lowe as co-songwriter and drummer and as a member of Lowe's band the Cowboy Outfit, as w ...

– drums * Brian Kennedy – background vocals *Irish Film Orchestra –

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

* Leo Green – tenor saxophone (2008 reissue) *

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Marc Almond, Jayne County, To ...

– piano (2008 reissue) *

Mike Sanchez Jesus Miguel "Mike" Sanchez (born 17 February 1964) is a British rhythm and blues singer, pianist and songwriter. He is known for his work with the Big Town Playboys and Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, and for his solo career. Sanchez, of Spanish- ...

– piano, guitar (2008 reissue) ;Production *Walter Samuel –

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

, mixing *Brian Masterson – recording *Sean Doherty – assistant engineer *Sam Miller – assistant engineer *Ciaran Cahill – assistant engineer *Ian Cooper – mastering *Brad Wilson –

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

*Paul Cox – photography *John Mintoft – photography *Matt Curtis – photography, art direction, design

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles

UK Singles Chart

Certifications

References

*Hage, Erik (2009). ''The Words and Music of Van Morrison'', Praeger Publishers, * Handke, Peter (1994). ''My Year in the No-Man's-Bay'', Farrar Straus and Giroux * Heylin, Clinton (2003). ''Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography'', Chicago Review Press
Van Morrison ''Back on Top'' by George Graham

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Back On Top Van Morrison albums 1999 albums Albums produced by Van Morrison