Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart (1983)
The bizarre, but still thrilling Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart does its level best to defy categorization. Awash in a placid stream of atmospherics, it barely touches on the rock and soul idiom that has so long been Morrison’s template. Like a distinctly Irish take on late period Roxy Music, the release seems eager to challenge the album form altogether. Gorgeous instrumental digressions morph into romantic pop, balladry and then digress formless again. Melodies occur seemingly haphazard and improvised and then reoccur as though conjured. Some believed Van had gone crazy by this point. Another interpretation is that he had finally figured out yet more things the rest of us don’t know.