[rating=8.00]
Van Morrison has rarely, if ever, sounded so good-natured as he does on his collaboration with Joey DeFrancesco. From the tongue-in-cheek cover photos to the Belfast Cowboy’s frequent chuckles at the end of tracks to his playful phrasing as he sings, the lighthearted atmosphere here is arguably even brighter than during his ever-so-sunny sojourn in Woodstock, Tupelo Honey.
And this doesn’t even speak to how engaged Van the Man is here. For one thing, You’re Driving Me Crazy, while this third album of the Belfast Cowboy’s in a little over six months is steeped in the same jazz-inflected soul as its counterparts, Versatile and Roll With The Punches, in contrast to those records, the iconoclastic Irishman sounds like he really wanted to make this music for reasons other than contractual fulfillment. And if working with contemporary Hammond B3 expert DeFrancesco plus his compact ensemble is both eye and ear-opening, let’s recall the Irishman engaged a similar alliance with British organ master Georgie Fame and his band back in the mid-Nineties.
Devotees of both the principals here will no doubt find refreshing the eternal appeal of chosen material like “The Things I Used to Do” and “Travellin’ Light.” Even so, Van Morrison fans may question how much longer he’s going to concentrate on his roots and, in turn, wonder about his choice of originals dating back to the epochal Astral Weeks of 1968 (“The Way Young Lovers Do”) then fast-forwarding to Avalon Sunset over twenty years later (“Have I Told You Lately”). Nevertheless, the range of selections, not to mention the due affection these musicians afford each, could pique enough curiosity in listeners to investigate the various sources of the standards as well as the iconic singer’s catalog.
Still, “Magic Time” certainly isn’t out of place on a record that begins with the likes of Cole Porter’s “Miss Otis Regrets,” and there’s no denying the joy in Van’s voice as he sings both of those songs, in part because it’s impossible to miss the way he stretches vowels just for the fun of it. But DeFrancesco’s pleasure is palpable here too: he and Morrison clearly share a fondness for these songs, not to mention a mutual chemistry as musicians and singers. The partnership loosens Morrison the most though and he sounds absolutely playful on “Hold It Right There” and even during the de rigeur (for him) rumination upon celebrity, “Goldfish Bowl,” Van sounds healthily and happily detached from his subject.
A reflection of the crisp recording quality, the two-man symbiosis extends to the bond within this band of Joey’s as well. Guitarist Dan Wilson, tenor saxophonist Troy Roberts and drummer Michael Ode seem to effortlessly find their own level participating in the arrangements and the fluidity of the all-around interactions begs the question of how much prep was required prior to the recording sessions; the five players slip so naturally into the shuffling groove of “All Saints Day,” it’s as if they just came off the road from extensive live tour dates or straight from hunkering down in rigorous rehearsals.
The deeply-felt connection between these musicians permeates all fifteen (!) tracks and sixty-plus minutes of You’re Driving Me Crazy. Which no doubt accounts for the musicians’ unhurried approach to their solos: as with Wilson’s comparatively quick turn on “Close Enough For Jazz, “ no one involved is so concerned about their own playing time, but more so the feel of the music as generated by the ensemble. That generosity of spirit, especially DeFrancesco’s own willingness to take something of a back seat in the proceedings, may, in fact, be what most distinguishes this Legacy LP from the two previous, similarly-conceived records, and ultimately renders it superior.
And it’s hardly surprising the deciding factor is that the man who taught us to Moondance has hardly seemed so delighted with himself in recent years, even (especially?) when he’s playing saxophone during “Celtic Swing.” The instrumental closing to the album seems deliberately sequenced to offer an opportunity for listeners to reflect upon Van Morrison’s state of mind and it’s a safe bet it served the same purpose for all those involved in this record.
