Hard Nose the Highway

Rock · 1973 · 7 tracks

Hard Nose the Highway

Lush orchestral arrangements meet pastoral jazz-soul. A record of seasonal transitions, choral flourishes, and long, improvisational walks through autumn landscapes.

It's Van Morrison's most 'sweater-weather' record, complete with a choir and a song about being green.

A sophisticated, pastoral meditation on nostalgia and the changing of seasons.

Hard Nose the Highway · vs · Van Morrison

Autumn Walk+2.1σ

Autumn Walk saturates this record far more than the artist's norm.

Tracklist · 7 Tracks

01

Snow in San Anselmo

4:34

03

Hard Nose the Highway

5:14

04

Wild Children

4:20

05

The Great Deception

4:51

06

Bein’ Green

4:20

07

Autumn Song

10:37

08

Purple Heather

5:42

Moments Worth Waiting For

The sudden, ethereal entry of the Oakland Symphony Chamber Choir on the opening track, creating a startling contrast with Van's earthy growl.

The way the piano and saxophone intertwine during the sprawling ten-minute mid-section of Autumn Song, mimicking the aimless drift of falling leaves.

The vulnerable, weary delivery of the final lines in Bein' Green, stripping away the song's Muppet origins to find a deep, human melancholy.

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