Into the Music by Van Morrison

Into the Music, Van Morrison's 11th studio album, came out on Mercury in August 1979, and after the pop gloss of Wavelength it sounds like Van the Man remembering what he's really for. This is Morrison reaching once more for the deep stuff, the searching, transcendent reveries that built his reputation, with folk-rock warmth and a Celtic lilt running all the way through.

"Bright Side of the Road" is the sunny front door, a bouncing, big-hearted tune that reached 63 on the UK singles chart and still turns up on rock radio's countdowns decades later. Past it the record deepens and slows into something closer to prayer. The critics heard it too: the reviews were warm, and an annual critics' poll named it among the year's best albums.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.