Van Morrison: “Call Me Up In Dreamland” (1971)

I have no idea what’s he saying and I agree with every word of it.

Kronomyth 4.3: The continuing adventures of captain marbles.

This was my original impression way back in 2006: “Wake me up when Call Me Up in Dreamland is over. The flip side, Street Choir, doesn’t do a whole for me either. It sounds as though Van Morrison had adopted the boozy Salvation Army sound of The Band and The Kinks (c. Muswell Hillbillies) for His Street Choir. Compounding the problem is that Morrison is flat-out unintelligible (i.e., he’s got some Joe Cocker-size marbles in his mouth). I like Van Morrison and willingly buy into the whole soulful mystic thing, but the vocal inflections strike me as disingenuous, similar to when Elton John tried to sing country music. Had it not been for “Domino,” I doubt that Dreamland would have been roused from its sleepy quarter and pressed into service as a third single. Today, it’s best forgotten as an album track that pales beside his better singles.” I must have been in a cranky mood that morning. Today, almost two decades wiser, I appreciate this song for its fearlessness. Morrison lets the music flow through him like a man possessed; this isn’t just rhythm and blues, it’s spiritual. “Street Choir” is slower in pacing but has a lot of heart in it. The backing vocals and arrangements get in the way sometimes, and Morrison’s vocal phrasings can be distracting, but His Band and the Street Choir remains an interesting phase in the career of a fascinating figure.

Original 7-inch single version

A1. Call Me Up In Dreamland (Van Morrison) (3:07)
B1. Street Choir (Van Morrison) (4:53)

The Plastic

Released on 7-inch in April 1971 in the US (Warner Bros., 7488).