Van Morrison has announced the release of a new album, Latest Record Project: Volume 1. The two-disc, 28-track double LP will arrive on May 7.
This is Morrison’s 42nd studio record, but as the title track makes clear, he’d like fans to turn their attention to his current work rather than revisit the work he’s done in the past.
“Have you got my latest songs I’m singing?” he sings. “You got my latest songs I’m
singing? / Not something from so long ago / Not something that you might
want to know / But something I can relate to in the present.”
“I’m getting away from the perceived same songs, same albums all the time,” Morrison said in a statement. Unable to tour due to the coronavirus pandemic, Morrison has kept himself busy with songwriting, much of which has ended up on the new album. But not all of his recent writing has landed well. He released three anti-lockdown songs – “Born to Be Free,” “No More Lockdown” and “As I Walked Out” – that left little room for interpretation.
“Don’t need the government cramping my style / Give them an inch, they take a mile / Take you in with a phony smile / Wouldn’t you agree?” he sings on one of his recent songs. Morrison has outwardly dismissed lockdown measures, encouraging other artists to “come forward, stand up, fight the pseudo-science and speak up.”
