You Win Again

by Van Morrison

Product Description:

Personnel: Van Morrison (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, harmonica); Linda Gail Lewis (vocals, piano); Ned Edwards (electric guitar, mandolin, background vocals); Paul Godden (steel guitar); Lee Goodall (saxophone); Pete Hurley (bass); Colin Griffin (drums).

Recorded at The Wool Hall, Bath, England. Includes liner notes by Jools Holland.

Fresh from his similarly rootsy THE SKIFFLE SESSIONS with Lonnie Donnegan, Van Morrison returns with another tribute to his musical influences. This time he's dueting with Jerry Lee Lewis's younger sister. Lewis is a killer boogie-woogie piano player, very much in the style of her brother, and she's got a laser-focused country voice that makes for a perfect match with Morrison.

The only original tune here--Morrison's "No Way Pedro"--is idiomatic enough to fit right in with a well-chosen collection of early blues, country, and R&B songs. There are also some great lesser known songs--Otis Blackwell's rockabilly "Let's Talk About Us," Bo Diddley's "Cadillac"--nestled up against Hank Williams' title song and John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillen" (the latter with Morrison on electric guitar). Great fun, and the cover of "Old Black Joe" gets points for, shall we say, nerve.