Pay the Devil, an album-long foray into country music, shouldn't come as a surprise to Van Morrison fans.
It's a logical extension of his love affair with American music.
Certainly blues, R&B, soul, and jazz have been at the forefront, but one can go all the way back to the Bang years and find "Joe Harper Saturday Morning," or songs on Tupelo Honey that touch country.
More recently, You Win Again, with Linda Gail Lewis, offered two Hank Williams tunes and "Crazy Arms." The Skiffle Sessions with Lonnie Donegan offered traditional Southern tunes including Jimmie Rodgers' "Mule Skinner Blues." Morrison's lyrics have also referenced country music blatantly.
Pay the Devil comes from direct sources of inspiration: his father's skiffle band and Ray Charles' historic forays into country on the two volumes of Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music in 1962.
The evidence lies in three cuts on this disc, all of which Charles recorded: Curley Williams' "Half as Much," Art Harris and Fred Jay's "What Am I Livin' For," and Hank Williams' "Your Cheatin' Heart." Morrison's a cagey one: his own mercurial versions of these nuggets are more traditional than those of Charles, yet are steeped in similar production styles that offer a clear nod to the late artist.
While there are no horns on Pay the Devil, the layers of strings on top of "fiddles" and honky tonk pianos -- as well as earlier pedal steel styles -- are giveaways.
And then there is the voice.
Like Charles, Morrison is a soul singer no matter what he sings and he digs into these tomes with fire and the uncommon sweetness of tone and limited timbre that Charles did.
But Morrison re-creates these tunes in his own image too.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | There Stands the GlassRuss Hull | Van Morrison | Play | 02:16 | 5 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | Half as Much | Van Morrison | Play | 02:35 | 5 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | Things Have Gone to PiecesLeon Payne | Van Morrison | Play | 03:10 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | Big Blue Diamonds | Van Morrison | Play | 02:56 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | PlayhouseVan Morrison | Van Morrison | Play | 04:10 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | Your Cheatin' Heart | Van Morrison | Play | 02:32 | 5 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | My Bucket's Got a Hole in ItClarence Williams | Van Morrison | Play | 02:22 | 5 MB | 0 MB |
| 8 | Back Street Affair | Van Morrison | Play | 02:48 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 9 | Pay the DevilVan Morrison | Van Morrison | Play | 03:02 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 10 | What Am I Living For?Art Harris, Fred Jay | Van Morrison | Play | 03:56 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 11 | This Has Got to StopVan Morrison | Van Morrison | Play | 04:44 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 12 | Once a DayBill Anderson | Van Morrison | Play | 02:51 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 13 | More and MoreMerle Kilgore, Webb Pierce | Van Morrison | Play | 02:46 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 14 | Till I Gain Control AgainRodney Crowell | Van Morrison | Play | 05:57 | 13 MB | 0 MB |
| 46 mins | 106 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bill Anderson | Composer |
| 2 | Crawford Bell | Vocals (Background) |
| 3 | Olwin Bell | Vocals (Background) |
| 4 | Rodney Crowell | Composer |
| 5 | Declan Gaffney | Mixing Assistant |
| 6 | Paul Godden | Dobro, Guitar, Guitar (Steel), Main Personnel, Weissenborn |
| 7 | Mick Green | Guitar, Main Personnel |
| 8 | Karen Hamill | Vocals (Background) |
| 9 | Art Harris | Composer |
| 10 | Ken Harris | Composer |
| 11 | Russ Hull | Composer |
| 12 | Bobby Irwin | Drums, Main Personnel |
| 13 | Fred Jay | Composer |
| 14 | Ian Jennings | Bass (Acoustic), Double Bass, Main Personnel |
| 15 | Merle Kilgore | Composer |
| 16 | Jerome King | Assistant Engineer |
| 17 | Bob Loveday | Main Personnel, Violin |
| 18 | Leon McCrum | Vocals (Background) |
| 19 | Alastair McMillan | Mixing |
| 20 | John Minihan | Photography |
| 21 | Van Morrison | Audio Production, Composer, Guitar (Acoustic), Primary Artist, Producer, Vocals |
| 22 | Leon Payne | Composer |
| 23 | Webb Pierce | Composer |
| 24 | Paul Riley | Bass (Electric), Main Personnel |
| 25 | Walter Samuel | Engineer, Mixing |
| 26 | Johnny Scott | Guitar, Main Personnel |
| 27 | Johnny Scott | Guitar, Vocals (Background) |
| 28 | Nicky Scott | Bass (Electric) |
| 29 | Stylorouge | Design |
| 30 | Fiachra Trench | Main Personnel, String Arrangements, Strings, Vocals (Background) |
| 31 | Geraint Watkins | Main Personnel, Piano |
| 32 | Aine Whelan | Vocals (Background) |
| 33 | Clarence Williams | Composer |
| 34 | Cavin Wright | Main Personnel, Strings |
| 35 | Gavyn Wright | String Section Leader |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |