Inarticulate Speech of the Heart
| Van Morrison
Inarticulate Speech of the Heart
Inarticulate Speech of the Heart is the fourteenth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1983. Morrison said he arrived at the title from a Shavian saying: "that idea of communicating with as little articulation as possible, at the same time being emotionally articulate". As his last album for Warner Bros. Records, he decided to do an album of mostly instrumentals. As he explained in 1984, "Sometimes when I'm playing something, I'm just sort of humming along with it, and that's got a different vibration than an actual song. So the instrumentals just come from trying to get that form of expression, which is not the same as writing a song." Although not expanded upon, of note is that a special thanks is given to L. Ron Hubbard in the liner notes. The reissued and remastered version of the album contains alternative takes of "Cry for Home" and "Inarticulate Speech of the Heart No. 2"-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Rolling Stone
1983. More than just an album title, “inarticulate speech of the heart” is an evocative, breathtaking description of the humble act of prayer. It captures in a simple phrase that desperate expression of pain and need, as well as the floundering over words inadequate to communicate one’s joy over a new love or a gorgeous country sunrise
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All Music
Almost a forgotten album, Inarticulate Speech of the Heart takes listeners to the deepest, most inward areas of Van Morrison's renegade Irish soul, the culmination of his spiritual jazz period and also -- perhaps not coincidentally -- the last record he made for Warner Bros.
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Real Gone
2010. Somehow though, especially considering it’s extremely flawed, ‘Inarticulate Speech’ manages to stay more memorable than most of Morrison’s other works throughout the 1980s.
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People
1983. Here he trades his penchant for rhythm-and-blues for rhythm-and-green; there’s a distinct Celtic flavor to nearly all the 11 songs in this collection. It’s a disappointment not to find the urgent, lusty rockers that have been Morrison’s trademark since the ’60s, but there’s plenty to enjoy.
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Stereogum
The bizarre, but still thrilling Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart does its level best to defy categorization. Awash in a placid stream of atmospherics, it barely touches on the rock and soul idiom that has so long been Morrison's template
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Alphoristic Album Reviews
Inarticulate Speech of the Heart has a weird, off-kilter adult contemporary, new age sound, a musical landscape dominated by synthesizers and saxophones, but it’s also creative and atmospheric.
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Robert Christgau
In this troubled time, rock-and-rollers have every right to place their faith in the Jehovah's Witnesses or even Scientology when they discover that Jackie Wilson didn't say it all. But to follow one with the other appears weakminded, . . . .A hypothesis which the static romanticism of these reels-for-Hollywood-orchestra and other slow songs bears out.
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Hot Press
2001. On the surface, it could be described as a religious album but it is much more than that barren phrase implies. It is in many ways a culmination of Van Morrison’s search for the simplest and purest form of truth – of his belief, above all, in doing it.
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The Ringer
2018. That Celtic Roxy Music L. Ron Hubbard record, 1983’s Inarticulate Speech of the Heart, is strange and singular and kind of wonderful. What Morrison’s ’80s albums lack in even the faintest edge they make up for in beauty, craft, conviction, and the benefit of his utterly fascinating split personality, in which his unending quest for holy transcendence exists side-by-side with his equally intransigent pettiness over an infinite number of grievances, both real and imagined.
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Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews
Same band as usual, with Isham; there are a few instrumentals, which isn't typical of most Van Morrison records, but they don't have unusually long running times. (JA)
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