Common One
| Van Morrison
Common One
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 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".-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Rolling Stone
1980. On Common One, there’s almost none of the knotty darkness and cryptically private imagery that have made him so difficult to many in the past. Instead, as befits the next step in his recent groping for serenity that began with the deck-clearing of Wavelength (1978) and continued on last year’s Into the Music, the current mood seems calm and soothing.
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All Music
Van Morrison was working through one of his greatest -- yet least appreciated -- creative periods when he made this album, one that burrows deeply into an introspective jazz-rooted spiritual groove. . . . No wonder the rock critics of the time didn't get it; this is music outside the pop mainstream, and even Morrison's own earlier musical territory. But it retains its trancelike power to this day.
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Head Heritage
2008. Though Common One is for me a watermark Morrison record, it was unappreciated on its release. Recorded in a French monastery, it steered away from the tightly structured songs Van had been composing, marking a radical return toward the spacious, spiritual searching of the Astral Weeks period. Even today it's one of my favorite Morrison albums, and features several Van classics
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The Sound Of Summer
2014. Common One you see is deeply introspective, contemplative and with its open ended jazzy structures it sits so far outside the rock and pop genres that many people just didn’t know what to make of it.
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Reddit Lets Talk Music
2016. . . . I’d have to say that most music critics at the time simply missed the mark. From what I’ve gathered, more modern reviews of Van Morrison’s work have been more receptive to the gorgeous album, and I hope it eventually gets the acclaim it truly deserves.
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Adrian's Album Reviews
'Common One' arrived in the middle of Van experiencing a renewed sense of religion, but this isn't a finger-pointing, preaching album aka Dylan's religious LPs. In the true sense of the believer, Van tries to impart wisdom through energy and being a role-model. . . .It's great stuff and although 'Common One' is a very intense album that requires concentration, it's also a pretty damn fine album that showcases passion, love and intelligence in equal measure.
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Alphoristic Album Reviews
Common One plunges directly into mystic spiritual territory, and with two songs passing the 15 minute mark there’s little in the way of pop hooks. . . . Common One is more open sounding and jazz oriented, with more room for improvisation from Van Morrison’s vocals, and the saxophone and trumpet.
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Caught by the River
2010. The Common One is Van Morrison’s twelfth album and I would venture an absolute classic. Certainly, nature has never gripped a songwriter – or indeed Van – so vividly or so tightly. Nearly every song is set in the countryside, relates to the countryside, and is about the countryside.
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Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews
Morrison now gave up on his mainstream AOR audience and dove right back into his sleepy mid-70s jazz-pop formula. This time, however, it's almost pure mood music. His material is more oblique than ever, and trumpeteer Mark Isham is spotlighted with lengthy, ethereal Miles Davis-style solos. . . . Artistically sincere, it's completely inaccessible to anyone who isn't already entranced with Morrison's mystical impressionism.(JA)
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Jive Time Records' Turntable
2010. The album only feels more organic and beautiful put into the context of the time. It was a celebration of spirit and freedom, when a time people couldn't even get out of bed to listen to their voice mail.
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Robert Christgau
Sententious, torpid, abandoned by God, this six-song, fifty-five minute meander is Morrison's worst since Hard Nose the Highway--Astral Weeks fans even think so. He does have a direct line to certain souls, though, and they still hear him talkin'.
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Rolling Stone
2011. You're sitting there with this crazy album. Out of time, yes, out of existence. This music may not be the salvation of life, but a nice consolation.
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Pennyblackmusic
2017. Comprising of six tracks 'Common One' is filled with mystical references to everything from England , The Holy Grail, T.S.Eliot, Blake, Glastonbury and love. Simply an album to defy a category 'Common One' is, for me, mind expanding.
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Rock NYC
2015. Give him all fifteen minutes of “Summertime In England” and ignore the rest – Grade: B
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Hot Press
2001. It was difficult to critically appraise Van Morrison up to 'The Common One' except to say that like a good seannos singer he was unique – like Sinatra too. His style made him impossible to imitate or parody. On this album, quoting Elliot and Joyce and repeating 'streams of consciousness' he leaves him open to endless parody yet you feel that he wouldn't care – that he has matured and that more importantly has cleared a space for further growth.
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