VAN MORRISON : SOMEBODY TRIED TO SELL ME A BRIDGE

1. Kidney Stew Blues
2. King for a Day Blues
3. Snatch It Back and Hold It
4. Deep Blue Sea
5. Ain't That a Shame
6. Madame Butterfly Blues
7. Can't Help Myself
8. Betty and Dupree
9. Delia's Gone
10. On a Monday
11. Monte Carlo Blues
12. When It's Love Time
13. Loving Memories
14. Play the Honky Tonks
15. (Go to the) High Place in Your Mind
16. Social Climbing Scene
17. Somebody Tried to Sell Me a Bridge
18. You're the One
19. I'm Ready
20. Rock Me Baby

Label : Orangefield

Release Date : January 23, 2026

Length : 79:48

Review (Blues Magazine) : Op tachtigjarige leeftijd levert Van Morrison een energiek bluesalbum af dat geen moment verveelt. Met klassiekers, obscure songs en eigen werk, sterke gastbijdragen van Taj Mahal, Elvin Bishop en Buddy Guy, spat speelplezier en vakmanschap eraf, van begin tot eind. Blues is de oude liefde voor Van Morrison en net zoals op de legendarische Ier zit er op die liefde nog geen teken van roest. Met “ Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge” is er een soort van opvolger verschenen op het “Roll With The Punches”album uit 2017. Op de meer dan respectabele leeftijd van tachtig jaar die Van inmiddels heeft bereikt klinkt hij echter speels en energiek alsof de tand des tijds nog geen vat lijkt te hebben op hem. Alles wat er te zeggen valt over iemand als Van Morrison is al lang en breed gezegd, een keer of vijftig. Bij iedere release worden alle oude koeien en actuele controverses weer als een opgewarmde magnetron hap op geserveerd, zou de beste man er gevoelig voor zijn dan had hij er ondertussen een klassieke blues aan overgehouden. Niet minder dan twintig nummers krijgen we voorgeschoteld, verdeeld over een kleine tachtig minuten en om maar kort te gaan; vervelen doet het geen minuut. Het album bestaat uit oude klassiekers, obscure nummers, stokoude liedjes en een kleine handvol eigen nummers. Er worden verschillende stijlen blues verkend maar ze worden allemaal overgoten met die kenmerkende Van Morrison stijl. Gastbijdrages van Taj Mahal op een heerlijk versie van Betty and Dupree en een swingende “Deliah’s Gone” of Elvin Bishop’s snarenwerk op “Deep Blue Sea”van John Lee Hooker…ze verhogen de feestvreugde alleen maar en het tweeluik dat het album afsluit met Buddy Guy is om de vingers bij af te likken. De lekker smerige Texas Blues grooves en het pianospel op het eigen “Monte Carlo Blues” smaken naar meer waarnaar het vrolijk door rammelt met opnieuw Elvin Bishop in een hoofdrol op “When It’s Love Time”, blijf daar maar eens stil bij zitten. Marie Adams “ Play The Honky Tonks” krijgt de aandacht die het verdient wordt voorzien van nieuw elan met een uitvoering waarop iedereen in bloedvorm verkeert. Naast de indrukwekkende performance van diverse gasten wordt Van Morrison bijgestaan door een selectie van door de wol geverfde top muzikanten die hem naadloos aan voelen en in de gelegenheid stellen weer ouderwets sterk voor de dag te komen. Het is de sowieso een energie en plezier die kenmerkend is voor het hele album waar eigenlijk geen zwakke broeder op te bespeuren valt, “ I’m Ready” en “Rock Me Baby” sluiten het geheel af met Buddy Guy die samen met Van Morrison zo lekker klinkt dat je alleen nog maar Rock Me Some More kunt uitbrengen.

Review (Americana UK) : And your humble writer gets to review yet another musical icon, in the form of Sir Van Morrison, as he releases the 51st (give or take) solo album of a stellar career spanning more than 60 years across a wide range of musical genres; and, extraordinarily, he has become even more prolific in the last 10 years since turning 70, releasing more than an album a year, culminating in an album of predominantly blues covers sprinkled with a few new songs of his own. Morrison’s musical career began in the late 50s as he learned to play guitar and saxophone as a teenager and featured in a variety of bands before forming Them in 1963, a quasi R’n’B group that released a string of singles, including rock standards such as ‘Gloria’ and ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’. He left to go solo in 1967 after monetary disputes arising from the band’s US tour, amongst other issues. In mid-1967 he released the single that catapulted his career; ‘Brown-Eyed Girl’ was a significant hit and appeared on a number of reviewers’ lists of best pop or rock songs. It appeared on a debut album that was released without Morrison’s approval due to a contract misunderstanding. Then came the two albums that rank amongst the very best in the history of modern popular music – the luminous folk masterpiece “Astral Weeks”, and the eclectic triumph “Moondance” – and which cemented Morrison’s status in the rock world. “Moondance” in particular included many of the musical styles that permeated his music going forward (folk, rock, jazz, r’n’b, pop, Irish and Celtic folk). Truth be told, not every one of his significant catalogue has been so universally praised as the two aforementioned, but every one has tracks that have resonated positively and his distinctive vocals and skilful and adventurous arrangements on his many cover versions have always been things to celebrate. He is often most praised for his enigmatic songwriting and he has introduced many differing styles to his music but it is most likely that his preferred style is the blues, considering how many, particularly of his later albums, have included elements of it. And he has the perfect voice for the blues without being able to replicate the booming depths of the original blues masters. Considering his obvious love for that genre, it is perhaps surprising that in his entire canon of work, only one previous album before this new 2026 release has delved deep into those old masters and reinterpreted them, that being the excellent 2017 release “Roll with the Punches” which had 10 blues covers, and 5 Morrison originals that fit the tone of the album, such as the title track. His innate knack for timing transformed songs like the ‘Stormy Monday/Lonely Avenue’ mash-up into an outstanding modern interpretation and helped to keep alive the old blues traditions in the face of new modern blues stylists. Fast forward to 2026 and Morrison releases “Somebody Tried to Sell Me a Bridge”, and proceeds to perform the same trick, with his voice (at 80) still intact and his ability to attract star names to play with him, and select cracking sidesmen for the project. This time around he has called on the talents of Elvin Bishop, Taj Mahal, and Buddy Guy on an album of 20 tracks, of which just 4 are Morrison originals. As usual with Morrison albums, the runtime is long, in this case running to more than 80 minutes. A listen in one go takes some aural stamina and an artist trying this has to be very sure of his devoted fans’ patience and ensure that there is little or no filler. This is a recurrent theme as his albums regularly exceed 60/70 minutes. including those that have explored specific genres, e.g. country (“Three Chords and the Truth”), skiffle (“Moving on Skiffle”), instrumentals (“Beyond Words”) or rock’n’roll history (“Accentuate the Positive”). ‘Somebody Tried to Sell Me a Bridge’ is a very solid album, with Morrison paying homage to blues songwriters from Chicago to Memphis to Texas. Apart from the star turns, the session men on the album are amongst the longest established in the field of Chicago and jump blues; David Hayes on bass, Larry Vann and Bobby Ruggiero on drums, Anthony Paule on electric blues guitar, Mitch Woods on, particularly, jump blues piano, and the outstanding John Allair on Hammond organ and B3 (‘nobody plays organ like that’, says Morrison). The album kicks off with a couple of Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson songs, led into by Morrison’s excellent sax riffs and you soon get the feel of how good these musicians are. After another couple of blues staples comes the first example of Morrison’s truly interpretative skills as he slows down Fat Domino’s ‘Ain’t That a Shame’ (in a way that he did on the “Punches” album with Sam Cooke’s ‘Bring it on Home to Me’.) Next up he slays Dave Lewis’ ‘Madame Butterfly Blues’, and then lets Taj Mahal share the vocals on Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee’s ‘Can’t Help Myself’; same share of vocals on the traditional ‘Betty and Dupree’. where Allair really shines. Very early bluesman Blind Blake (1896 to 1934) supplies ‘Delia’s Gone‘, an incongruously lightly swinging blues with Taj Mahal on harmonica and some great harmony backing on a famously dark murder ballad from the year 1900. The back up singers are excellent throughout. Morrison’s first contribution as songwriter is on the Chicago blues style ‘Monte Carlo Blues’ with its lovely rolling guitar – it’s a worthy contribution to the album. And just to prove his bona fides, he delivers the excellent slow blues ‘Loving Memories‘. Elvin Bishop shines on this one, as do the backing singers with their call-and-response vocals. Another highlight is ‘Play the Honky Tonks‘, from the pen of R’n’B soul singer Marie Adams, with its great lyric “gonna play the high class joints, gonna play the low class joints, hey baby I’m even gonna play the honky tonks”. Interestingly Morrison’s next contribution is more of a 60s doo-wop ‘Social Climbing Scene‘, while the title track takes its cue from an authentic early 1900s idiom “if you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you” (conman George C Parker tried this on people as a scam) ‘You’re the One‘, by the less well-known Don Robey (otherwise known as Deadric Malone), is another slow gospel blues, enhanced by Bishop again, before the album closes with two standard Chicago blues, Willie Dixon’s ‘I’m Ready’, before the final track, BB King’s loping ‘Rock Me Baby’, highlighting both the blues guitar skills of Buddy Guy and Morrison’s interpretative innovations. There are no frills to this album’s arrangements, aside from Morrison’s occasional vocal stylings, it has reverence for the blues in spades, there is good pacing and variety throughout and overall is a fine exploration of his musical roots. And shows that Morrison is not ready to slow down just yet.

Review (Bourbon And Vinyl) : Venerable rock legend and B&V favorite Van Morrison has returned less than a year after the spectacular Remembering Now – which can only be described as a sensational comeback after a few years “in the wilderness” – with Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge. I was wondering how Van had returned so quickly with a new LP – giving me very 70s vibes when albums were expected from artists every year – but quickly learned that Somebody is an album predominantly of blues covers from such legends as B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Leadbelly. Not having to write 15 new songs makes recording an LP a lot quicker, I suppose. After barricading myself in the B&V labs this weekend to avoid the sub zero temps and heavy snow, I spent the time cranking this new Van album, and my first take is that Van is certainly having a good time. It’s great to hear him return to the music of his youth. He has a number of guests and this starts to feel like an open blues jam at your local honky tonk. I was reminded of his 2017 LP Roll With The Punches which was similar with mostly covers with a few Van originals sprinkled in. Of course Punches boasted the guitar talents of the late Jeff Beck on a number of tracks. Having given up on Van after 2019’s Three Chords And The Truth, after which he went a little extreme over the whole COVID conspiracy theory thing, I had forgotten that Van puts out records like he’s a little short this month and has to raise some rent money. But as I’ve said in these pages, I’m a huge fan of blues/blues rock. Most of the music that I truly love has its roots in the blues – from the Stones to Zeppelin. So if Van wants to sing the blues, I’m absolutely here for it. The more Van, the better. When I heard Van was doing the blues, and when I think of the blues generally, I think of B.B. King telling me that “The Thrill Is Gone,” or Muddy singing, “I’m Ready.” I think of slower tunes with a lot of guitar. The typical blues track goes: vocal lamentations, short guitar solo, more vocal lamentations, a longer guitar solo. There’s plenty of that trad blues here but a lot this record tends more toward “jump blues” with a lot of horns, piano and organ. Jump Blues tends to be more upbeat and we also get a lot of that. Van delivers 20 songs on this record, just under 80 minutes of fabulous blues. I really enjoyed this record, but then, again, I love the blues. It starts off swinging with “Kidney Stew Blues” and then gets bluesier with “King For A Day Blues,” both tunes associated with jump blues/jazz singer Eddie Vinson. Van is in fine voice on these blues tracks. Van gets almost funky on the old Junior Wells tune “Snatch It Back And Hold It,” complete with call and response vocals. At that point blues rock legend Elvin Bishop who was a founding member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and who used to trade hot blues licks with Michael Bloomfield, shows up to provide guitar on “Deep Blue Sea.” Elvin pops up quite a bit on this album both on guitar and the occasional duet. Then Van turns “Ain’t That A Shame,” a Fats Domino tune that’s been done by Cheap Trick and John Lennon (to name but a few), on its head. It’s almost like a country blues thing and it just works. It’s a great and unexpected arrangement. Bishop shows up again for the slow blues burner “Madam Butterfly Blues.” Man, that one is a highlight for you blues heads like me. “Better put on your walkin’ shoes…” Then, just to turn it up another notch, Taj Mahal shows up. I can’t find any credits on who plays what, but I’m pretty sure Taj lays down some great harmonica along with singing duets with Van. What a damn treat it is to hear these vets going after these tracks like “Can’t Help Myself,” or the old classic folk/blues tune “Betty and Dupree.” Van then does the old standard “Delia’s Gone,” made famous by Johnny Cash. Man there are so many highlights. “Monte Carlo Blues,” which I think is a Roosevelt Sykes tune, really cooks. Van and his longtime collaborator on piano, John Allair, do “Go To The High Place In Your Mind,” and I hope the estate of Fats Domino is getting a royalty here, because this track sounds like a lift of “Blueberry Hill.” “Social Climbing Scene,” and the title track have to be Van originals, again I don’t have the liner notes as my copy hasn’t shown up yet, but those weird titles have to come from Van. The good news is they both fit perfectly with all the blues covers. I’m not sure how Van does that – writes current blues tracks that fit seamlessly with old blues standards. It’s impressive. The album ends on what I consider to be the real highlight here, and that’s with two tracks by Muddy Waters and B.B. King respectively – “I’m Ready,” and “Rock Me Baby” – as duets with Buddy Guy. And yes, Buddy wails on the guitar solos. You don’t get more blues than Buddy Guy. Even rock curmudgeon Van Morrison sounds delighted, in a bluesy way. It’s great to hear a veteran rocker like Van sound so committed to this music. He’s returning to the music he adored when he was still the lead singer of Them. The whole band sounds into it. At one point, listening to his record, I closed my eyes and I felt like I was sitting in B.B.’s Lawnside BBQ here in town… late on a Sunday night with a belly full of beer and ribs… letting the open jam roll over me. This is a great way to kick off the year! If you dig Van, or dig the blues put this album on and turn it up loud. It’s too cold to be anywhere outside. Spend a nice evening of blues/blues rock, dancing belly to belly with someone beautiful and a bucket of ice close at hand… Cheers! Take care of each other out there. We’ve got a lot of things to be blue about these days… But don’t let the bastards drag you down. We shall overcome with the steely resolve of an old blues tune…