Ride on, Belfast Cowboy
Fellow Van fans think me perverse for liking Period of Transition. Snobs! I know it's not Van's best. This is "cheeseburger" to his "filet mignon" . "Eternal Kansas City" is downright embarassing. But Dr. John is a fine "soul-mate" for Van. Short, punchy little numbers spiced with funk, R&B, and gospel. Plus, Van sounds like he's into it, not phoning it in as in recent years. Hmm, wonder what would have happened had Van hooked up with the Meters? Life's too short for only Astral Weeks. Lighten up and give this a try.
ALBUM FOR DEDICATED FANS
Not considered one of Van's classics, Period Of Transition does have its charms. You Gotta Make It Through The World is a mid-tempo ballad with prominent sax and It Fills You Up also has nice sax and piano flourishes with R&B style backing vocals. A heavenly soprano choir opens The Eternal Kansas City before Van takes up the line "excuse me do you know the way to Kansas City" for a mellow, laid back groove. The pace picks up for Joyous Sound, a bouncy gospel number, while the rhythmic Flamingos Fly romps on nicely and is my favorite here for its catchy hook. Transition is far from being Morrison's best album and is quite average by his high standards of song-craft, but it is nevertheless enjoyable overall with some outstanding moments. I recommend it to Morrison completists rather than the novice intent on investigating the work of this poetic genius.
Lives Up to Its Title
Situated between the classic albums Irish rocker Van Morrison produced in the late 60s/early 70s (like "Moondance," "Astral Weeks" and St. Dominic's Preview") and the more spiritual stuff he would begin recording in the late 70's (starting with the masterpiece "Into the Music"), "A Period of Transistion" is exactly what its title implies. Fairly brief at only 7 songs, the album actually starts out well with the burning openers "You Gotta Make it Through This World" and "It Fills You Up," followed by the soulful "Kansas City."After that, however, the album runs out of steam with the remainder mostly sounding like filler material. Van Morrison is simply too large a talent to record a true dud, and there is still enough here for ardent fans to give it a qualified recommendation.
Pretty good
This is definitely a cd that should not be overlooked if you're a Van Morrison fan or a fan of some bluesy, funky, soul filled songs. This definitely was a transition period for Van, but the cd is still a very enjoyable listen. All the songs catch a great groove and Van's singing is great. Perhaps it should not be your first Van Morrison purchase, but it is definitely worth owning.
Average collaboration with well known brass section...
1977,a year when Elvis died,all rockin' world was in deep sorrow although it was expectible,in Manchester was born the first baby (Louise Brown) "in vitro" technique,S.P Jobs and Wozniak made the first personal computer my parents planed another child(me)...but Van recorded a Period of transition,cd which is not bad but not special by anything. I mean that was the time when Van was in real transition from Polydor to Excile divison,this cd is nothing more but a cool collaboration Van with Dr. John, what is maybe the only reason why you should hear this thing,if you can listen to it at your friend's player- that would be great, if you cannot than buy it on sale.
