Van Morrison: Too Late to Stop Now

Published by Bloomsbury, 1993, hardcover, A4 format, colour 7 b/w photographic illustration, index, 191 pages, some wear to dj otherwise condition: as new.

The Irish singer/songwriter from East Belfast has been on the contemporary music scene since his debut with the group Them in 1964. He has remained an enigma, refusing to make himself a target for the press or fans. This book is not really a biography as much as a pictorial review of his career; The author, Steve Turner ( U2: Rattle & Hum ) is more adulatory than probing. But for a figure of Morrison's complexity--his music is grounded in R&B, black spirituals and, lately, a kind of Motown fusion, while his faith has swung from Protestantism to Dianetics to a form of pagan mysticism--a photographic portrait is perhaps as revealing a look as fans can hope for. And the photos here are enchanting: entire contact sheets of an album cover shoot with his then-wife Janet Planet and their daughter when they lived in Woodstock; views of Morrison's childhood Belfast haunts that figure with continuing prominence in his new work. And perhaps most telling are the archival publicity photos of the young, slender Morrison that convey a smoldering ambition behind a sullen exterior. A complete discography makes this book a necessity for fans of the Irish Rover.