Common One
| Common One | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Van Morrison | ||||
| Released | August 1980 June 2008 (reissue) |
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| Recorded | 11–19 February 1980 at Super Bear Studios | |||
| Genre |
Jazz R&B |
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| Length | 55:01 | |||
| Label |
Mercury (UK) Warner Bros. (USA) |
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| Producer | Van Morrison | |||
| Van Morrison chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B– |
| Q | |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
Common One is the twelfth studio album by Northern Irish singer/songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1980. The album was recorded over a nine-day period at Super Bear Studios, near Nice, on the French Riviera. Its title comes from the 3/4 section of the song "Summertime in England", where Morrison sings the lyrics "Oh, my common one with the coat so old and the light in her head".
Common One was not well received by critics. Its 2008 re-issued and re-mastered version of the album contains an alternative take of "Haunts of Ancient Peace" and "When Heart is Open".
Morrison has cited Common One as his favorite of his own albums.
According to Mick Cox the early stages of the album were rehearsed during November and December 1979. The songs "Summertime in England" and "Haunts of Ancient Peace" were rehearsed by Morrison and the band during small gigs in January 1980. Cox thought that "some of these performances at the rehearsals were far better than the final recordings." Speaking of the recording sessions at Super Bear, Cox said: "We were all ensconced in a very, very intense, highly charged situation for those eleven days, but it did bring out that album."Jef Labes recalled about his arrangements on the album: "...but what I always tried to do with string arrangements for him was to just try to mimic what he was singing, 'cause he was such a song instrument."
In contrast to many of his previous albums, Common One ventures more into the realms of free jazz than the usual Van Morrison R&B, with the sax playing of Pee Wee Ellis coming to the fore. The songs are also somewhat longer than on his previous albums. Morrison said that the original concept was even more esoteric and was heavily influenced by his reading of nature poets.
The opening track, "Haunts of Ancient Peace" was named from a (1902) book by Alfred Austin (Poet Laureate 1896–1912), and features the twin brothers of Morrison's voice against the answering saxophone of Pee Wee Ellis, with the trumpet of Mark Isham.
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Wikipedia