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Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother
Review: Don't bother reading this book. It offers no insight into Van Morrison the man, and very little into his music. The author's negative bias is obvious on every page. In every instance, he seems determined to put VM in the worst possible light. He cobbles together quotes from some musicians Morrison has worked with, and since Morrison did not authorize this biography, some obviously very important people's voices are not heard, yet he seems to give the impression that these people offer the last word on Morrison. He couldn't even come up with some interesting photos for the book. Equally annoying is the pompous tone Heylin adopts when discussing the music. In all, the book seems to offer only a timeline of when various albums were recorded,along with some boring business details. If you want to know about Van Morrison, listen to the music, and relegate this book to the remainder bin.
Rating: 
Summary: Can you hear the backbiting?
Review: Essential reading for Vanophiles, if far from the Last Word, despite the book's overlengthy length.Unfortunately, while his research is of yeoman quality, Mr. Heylin's unauthorized "new biography" too often deteriorates into "pathography," anecdote piled upon anecdote limning in undifferentiated, tedious, and excruciating detail Morrison's already all-too-familiar boorish personal behavior, both on-stage and off. What the author fails to do, as has every author to date who has endeavored to write about this most difficult and private of contemporary musical artists, is account for 1) the reasons behind both the intensity and persistence of that difficulty (the Man recently turned 58 and apparently continues temperamental, cantankerous, and eccentric as ever), and 2) the wholly glaring, ever-widening gap--or inconsistency/contradiction--between the often transcendental sublimeness of the Man's music, and the evidently perverse ridiculousness of his personal behavior. Van asks the question in one of his songs, "Why must I always explain?" A book such as this stands as precisely the answer to that question: because there remains so much to be told. The truth, the whole truth, for starters.
Rating:
Summary: Don't bother
Review: First of all, I agree with the kudos and complaints other reviewers have expressed about this book.
Most disturbing to me is Heylin's copping a mantra from "Summertime in England" as a title for his book (and the title really adds nothing to the work Heylin produces) and the subtitle "A New Biography," an obvious dig at Morrison's song "New Biography" in which he rails against others' invasions of his privacy. Heylin quotes Morrison singing "I can't even remember last week" and uses that to "prove" Morrison's take on any issue is worthless. The point of the line in the song is, how can people claim to recall who did/said what from decades ago in such detail when most people have trouble recalling the more recent past? Here, Heylin is either obtuse or disingenuous.
Most of what Heylin has to "expose" about Van Morrison could (and has) been said about Bob Dylan and Neil Young- the eccentric behavior, musical unpredictability, botched/abandoned musical projects, and lack of social skills. Given the creative output of these three, perhaps that's the only way to consistently tap into the muses that lead them on (that and the fact that if you want to succeed on a grand scale, you have to be willing to work without a net and allow yourself to fail on an equally grand scale). As Leonard Nimoy said during a stage show about Vincent van Gogh, "If a poet touches your heart with a line or a poem, isn't that enough? What do we expect of our artists? Must he also meet your social needs?" (paraphrased, but pretty close to the point). Considering van Gogh and Elvis Presley, Van doesn't seem nearly as dysfuntional as Heylin would have us believe.
That having been said, the point can be made that if Morrison finds the life of a singer-songwriter so intolerable, he could stop. Heylin is correct in pointing out that Van seems to crave the very attention he espouses to detest.
The bottom line is: like him or leave him. That goes for journalists, musicians, and fans alike. The same can be said for Heylin's works. Just as with Dylan, Young, and Morrison, I choose to read Heylin's works and appreciate the plusses and learn to bypass the negatives.
Rating:
Summary: Three of a kind
Review: First of all, I agree with the kudos and complaints other reviewers have expressed about this book.
Most disturbing to me is Heylin's copping a mantra from "Summertime in England" as a title for his book (and the title really adds nothing to the work Heylin produces) and the subtitle "A New Biography," an obvious dig at Morrison's song "New Biography" in which he rails against others' invasions of his privacy. Heylin quotes Morrison singing "I can't even remember last week" and uses that to "prove" Morrison's take on any issue is worthless. The point of the line in the song is, how can people claim to recall who did/said what from decades ago in such detail when most people have trouble recalling the more recent past? Here, Heylin is either obtuse or disingenuous.
Most of what Heylin has to "expose" about Van Morrison could (and has) been said about Bob Dylan and Neil Young- the eccentric behavior, musical unpredictability, botched/abandoned musical projects, and lack of social skills. Given the creative output of these three, perhaps that's the only way to consistently tap into the muses that lead them on (that and the fact that if you want to succeed on a grand scale, you have to be willing to work without a net and allow yourself to fail on an equally grand scale). As Leonard Nimoy said during a stage show about Vincent van Gogh, "If a poet touches your heart with a line or a poem, isn't that enough? What do we expect of our artists? Must he also meet your social needs?" (paraphrased, but pretty close to the point). Considering van Gogh and Elvis Presley, Van doesn't seem nearly as dysfuntional as Heylin would have us believe.
That having been said, the point can be made that if Morrison finds the life of a singer-songwriter so intolerable, he could stop. Heylin is correct in pointing out that Van seems to crave the very attention he espouses to detest.
The bottom line is: like him or leave him. That goes for journalists, musicians, and fans alike. The same can be said for Heylin's works. Just as with Dylan, Young, and Morrison, I choose to read Heylin's works and appreciate the plusses and learn to bypass the negatives.
Rating:
Summary: Three of a kind
Review: First of all, I agree with the kudos and complaints other reviewers have expressed about this book.
Most disturbing to me is Heylin's copping a mantra from "Summertime in England" as a title for his book (and the title really adds nothing to the work Heylin produces) and the subtitle "A New Biography," an obvious dig at Morrison's song "New Biography" in which he rails against others' invasions of his privacy. Heylin quotes Morrison singing "I can't even remember last week" and uses that to "prove" Morrison's take on any issue is worthless. The point of the line in the song is, how can people claim to recall who did/said what from decades ago in such detail when most people have trouble recalling the more recent past? Here, Heylin is either obtuse or disingenuous.
Most of what Heylin has to "expose" about Van Morrison could (and has) been said about Bob Dylan and Neil Young- the eccentric behavior, musical unpredictability, botched/abandoned musical projects, and lack of social skills. Given the creative output of these three, perhaps that's the only way to consistently tap into the muses that lead them on (that and the fact that if you want to succeed on a grand scale, you have to be willing to work without a net and allow yourself to fail on an equally grand scale). As Leonard Nimoy said during a stage show about Vincent van Gogh, "If a poet touches your heart with a line or a poem, isn't that enough? What do we expect of our artists? Must he also meet your social needs?" (paraphrased, but pretty close to the point). Considering van Gogh and Elvis Presley, Van doesn't seem nearly as dysfuntional as Heylin would have us believe.
That having been said, the point can be made that if Morrison finds the life of a singer-songwriter so intolerable, he could stop. Heylin is correct in pointing out that Van seems to crave the very attention he espouses to detest.
The bottom line is: like him or leave him. That goes for journalists, musicians, and fans alike. The same can be said for Heylin's works. Just as with Dylan, Young, and Morrison, I choose to read Heylin's works and appreciate the plusses and learn to bypass the negatives.
Rating: 
Summary: Ignore the Snob's Poor Ratings - This Book is Great!
Review: I, for one, enjoyed this new biography of Van Morrison immensly. It's definetly up there with the best. It amazes me how people give books bad reviews and critisize the author just because they don't like what they read about their "heroes," and blame the author for it. Van Morrison is in no way going to give any author total access to him unless he has complete control and the book is guaranteed to be so whitewashed that the information in it would be totally unreliable. And I'm sure there are those close to Van who didn't want to participate in this book because of their concern of his privacy and how it might affect their friendship/relationship with him. I found the information in here to be quite interesting, including his failed business ventures, etc. After all, these things are what shape the man as he is today. Ignore the snobs who didn't like this book. If you love Mr. Morrison, you will enjoy it...unless you're one of those snobs. It really is a great book!
Rating:
Summary: Can you feel the author's ego?
Review: Robert Heylin walks in the footsteps of notorious biographer Albert Goldman but worse this book is more about him and his opinion of Morrison's personality and musical contributions (believe me this guy is no music critic-"Down the Road" is not a lackluster recording) than about an objective view of Morrsion and his impact on music... Check out the title of the book and the introduction. Who really cares about how difficult it was for the author to get his information...that's his job and his failure to do so should not be blamed on the subject...this is also a lazy writer's way out of doing the research for an informative biography--He simply quotes people who are in Morrison's past, not attempting to independently verifying what is really fact...so it paints a picture as if the comments provided by observers are fact..Needless to say those that agreed to provide information on Morrsion were mostly those who had axes to grind rightly or wrongly...So why publish a poorly researched biased book..? Heylin takes himself way too seriously, again just check out his introduction...Within all this there is likely accurate information on the art and artifice of Van Morrison..So if you want to wade thru the dross to find some information that might be accurate go for it...I did and this is the conclusion I came to.
Rating:
Summary: Can you feel the author's ego?
Review: This new biography will provide support for the already notorious reputation of Van Morrison - of little comfort to Van fans. Morrison has a renowned reputation as disinterested in fans, commercialization, the record industry and rock.
But it also provides great detail of the stages of his career, the meaning behind a good deal of his music and his relations with the press, the music industry, his family and friends. I for one, continue to be an ardent fan, having seen Morrison numbers of times over the years and have collected all of his music. I am deeply grateful of his incredible devotion to music and for sharing his talents when he could well afford to become a recluse.
Heylin does a good job of capturing Van Morrison without having the chance to meet him directly.
Rating:
Summary: Van Fans May Object
Review: This new biography will provide support for the already notorious reputation of Van Morrison - of little comfort to Van fans. Morrison has a renowned reputation as disinterested in fans, commercialization, the record industry and rock.
But it also provides great detail of the stages of his career, the meaning behind a good deal of his music and his relations with the press, the music industry, his family and friends. I for one, continue to be an ardent fan, having seen Morrison numbers of times over the years and have collected all of his music. I am deeply grateful of his incredible devotion to music and for sharing his talents when he could well afford to become a recluse.
Heylin does a good job of capturing Van Morrison without having the chance to meet him directly.
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