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Born To Sing: No Plan B

Van Morrison

Born To Sing: No Plan B

The 34th studio album from the veteran blues / jazz singer recorded in his home town Belfast

ADM rating[?]

6.6

Label
EMI
UK Release date
01/10/2012
US Release date
02/10/2012
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  1. 8.0 |   Q

    The music is fabulous. Print edition only

  2. 8.0 |   Mojo

    A return to 'classic' form. Print edition only

  3. 8.0 |   The Independent

    Van Morrison's best album in some while is a set of songs that, despite the relaxed tone of their jazz-blues settings, foam with indignation about the venality of capitalist adventurism
    Read Review

  4. 8.0 |   musicOMH

    Yet another example of his sometimes erratic genius
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  5. 8.0 |   The Observer

    Morrison's voice remains peerless. A keeper, a goodie
    Read Review

  6. 8.0 |   All Music

    Employing his trademark Celtic soul, the album also showcases incursions into jazz and blues
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  7. 8.0 |   Rolling Stone

    On his 35th studio album, Morrison feels like an endangered species, surrounded by jive and crooks, with nothing to fall back on but his sinuous growl
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  8. 8.0 |   Blurt

    In the last ten or fifteen years, only 2005's Magic Time has delivered more consistently enjoyable songs than this thoroughly captivating collection of rants, loves, and dreams
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  9. 7.0 |   Uncut

    It is not the truly transcendent album some may have read in the runes, but it contains several hints that such greatness may, finally, be within his grasp once more
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  10. 6.8 |   Paste Magazine

    A decent Van Morrison record, but a slightly creepy and almost missable piano soul record
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  11. 6.0 |   The Irish Times

    The same-old same-old somehow sounds fresher. Life in the old dog yet
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  12. 6.0 |   The Arts Desk

    There are a couple of songs which suggest Morrison still keeps an eye on events
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  13. 5.8 |   A.V. Club

    Solid, serviceable, latter-day Morrison material
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  14. 4.0 |   Consequence Of Sound

    While there are a few gems on Born to Sing, he’s riding his name through the album instead of having something to say
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  15. 4.0 |   Daily Telegraph

    It takes a while to realise that the songs on Born to Sing: No Plan B go nowhere
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  16. 3.0 |   Slant Magazine

    A recession album that's four years too late
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  17. Back to main chart

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Van Morrison: Born To Sing: No Plan B

  • Download full album for just £7.99
  • 1. Open the Door (To Your Heart) £0.99
  • 2. Goin' Down to Monte Carlo £0.99
  • 3. Born to Sing £0.99
  • 4. End of the Rainbow £0.99
  • 5. Close Enough For Jazz £0.99
  • 6. Mystic of the East £0.99
  • 7. Retreat and View £0.99
  • 8. If in Money We Trust £0.99
  • 9. Pagan Heart £0.99
  • 10. Educating Archie £0.99
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The sounds are slightly different here than on previous albums and his tentative sojourn into singing is a success because his voice connects as easily as his rapping does Albumism

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Lorde trades in her secrecy and mystique for a tremendously healing, desperately relatable record that cements her mark as her generation’s defining artist Northern Transmissions

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On the uncomfortable paths of the 28-year-old’s fourth album, slam-dunk bangers are substituted with reinvention and restraint surrendered through hushed, reflective, and carnal synth-pop vestiges Paste Magazine

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