I’ve only listened to a couple of tracks on youtube (I’m away from home) so take this for what it’s worth.
Van has been criticized by some for making the same album over and over for the last few years. They're all pleasant enough, but they all seem to be 10% inspiration and 90% going through the motions. This last one may be his least inspired yet.
I think he made it to keep himself busy during the lockdown and that might explain why it’s a double cd, or he may have just done that to piss off the record company.
Listen to Van’s sax solo in about the last minute of Only A Song. I can’t believe that anyone outside the realm of free jazz would put that on an album. It sounds like a new sax student’s fist attempt at playing the thing.
I don’t mean to offend people who like the album, the tunes are pleasant enough, Van is still in good voice, and I’m sure there’s plenty of good musicianship on it. The fact that it’s politically incorrect is a plus for me, it just sounds like a really uninspired Van to me.
