Music: Van Morrison has help revisiting the past

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Van Morrison

Duets: Re-working the Catalogue by Van Morrison

If Van Morrison releases a new collection of songs, it’s a good thing. That this iconic Irish singer is launching an album spanning the breadth of his work as duets with some other great musicians, all it’s cause for celebration. Duets: Re-working the Catalogue is a partial retrospective of Morrison’s work done as duets with everyone from Mavis Staples to Joss Stone. For Morrison purists, it’s sad he skipped over some obvious choices in favor of some lesser-known songs. Missing are Moondance, Brown-Eyed Girl and Tupelo Honey. But, included are These Are the Days with Natalie Cole, Get on With The Show with George Fame, Irish Heartbeat with Mark Knopfler and Real, Real Gone with Michael Buble. One of the true joys on this album is his duet with daughter Shana on Rough God Goes Riding. The balladeer from the streets of Belfast has never been one to bow to convention, and this, his 35th studio album, proves that in such a delightful way. $10.99 for MP3 download; $11.88 on CD.

BBC hour-long concert with Van Morrison