Van Morrison: No Surrender

by Johnny Rogan

Book Overview

Reclusive, difficult and enigmatic, Van Morrison is a gifted singer-songwriter and an endlessly complicated man. In Van Morrison: No Surrender, Johnny Rogan has produced a provocative and revelatory biography of the musician, analysing the sense of place in his work and the tortuous journey that took him from local fame in Belfast to international success.

Set against the cultural and political backdrop of Belfast, before, during...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B007YTJX3K
• ISBN13: 9780099431831
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Vintage UK
• Length: 640 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.2" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Amazingly Ambitious

This is an amazingly ambitious book, arguably more so than any other of Rogan's epic biogs. It not only tackles Morrison's career in fine detail, with lots of insights, but goes much further by placing his life and work in a cultural context. Much of the book deals with Belfast, which is seen as the font of his inspiration, and Rogan explains its pervasive influence on his music, lyrics, religious quest and character. It's never dry though. Many of the memories and revealing interview comments from his contemporaries are priceless and morbidly funny! The author takes us through Van's odyssey from Belfast, through New York, California, London and Dublin - and what a ride it is, full of incident with some incredible tales and characters. Rogan tracks down even the most evasive interviewees, although took years to do it. I like the way the portraits of even minor characters are finely drawn so that they come to life on the page. There's some insightful and provocative commentaries of the artist's best work (especially Astral Weeks, Veedon Fleece, Common One and Magic Time) and the penultimate chapter 'Poetic Champions Decompose' has the best overview I've ever read on Morrison as a songwriter. Even the Endnotes (over 100 pages long in small print) are a tour de force, full of esoteric info about politics and the minutiae of Morrison's early life - well worth a read. Pity the book came out just before the recent Astral Weeks concerts as I'd have loved to read Rogan's comments on that surprise event.

A must for fans

This is by no means a profound biography, and its focus is clearly the man, not the music. I found it very entertaining, though, taken with a grain of salt, and can't imagine that the detail about the pop music business and Ireland in the 60s and 70s wouldn't be of interest to a fan. The book goes into great detail about Van's boorish, antisocial behaviour and his hilarious tendency to think he's the next W.B. Yeats. If you see Van as a hero, this is going to hurt your feelings. If you can take this is stride I don't see why it should spoil your admiration for his music. Lots of interesting detail about a flawed, but fascinating musician.