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Van Morrison: Under Review 1964-1974 is a two-hour documentary that covers Van Morrison's career from his early years through 1974. The Under Review DVDs are not authorized by the subjects, their management, or record company, but, as with most of the series, I view this as a positive, as it allows the people reviewing the artist to reflect and comment freely.

Van Morrison, born George Ivan Morrison, is a Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter, author, poet, and multi-instrumentalist who has played professionally since 1959. Morrison is generally considered one of the most unusual and influential vocalists in the modern rock and roll era. His music has inspired, and to this day influences, musicians world wide.

Morrison's music has followed a path all of its own. Much of it has been structured around American soul and R&B, intertwined with threads of jazz, traditional Irish Celtic, and even stream-of-consciousness narrative. Growing up in Northern Ireland, Morrison was exposed to music all his life; in the neighborhood where he grew up, all of those types of music could be heard in the streets. His father, a shipyard worker who had spent time in Detroit, Michigan, collected American jazz, blues, and country and western albums which made lasting impressions on Morrison.

The DVD begins with a brief history of Morrison's early youth and the influence that music had on him. It then moves to the larger world around him: the skiffle movement, Lonnie Donegan, and the London scene, and then the formation of the band "Them," whose name was taken from a 1950's horror movie. Them began as a blues band not unlike the early Rolling Stones, but is was Morrison's early songwriting that allowed him to take over and make a real name for the band.

Next, the disc takes us through the albums of his solo career: Astral Weeks, Moondance, St. Dominic's Preview, Tupelo Honey, Veedon Fleece, and It's Too Late to Stop Now.

Van Morrison: Under Review 1964-1974 contains rare and classic performances which are assessed by a panel of experts including journalists, biographers, and musicians who have played with Morrison. During each phase of his career, the direction that Morrison took is assessed from the vantage point of 40 years later.

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