This is a groundbreaking study of every aspect of Van Morrison's artistic career - his influences, lyrical themes, vocal performances, his relationship with America, and more. In 1991 Van Morrison said, 'Music is spiritual, the music business isn't'. Peter Mills' groundbreaking book investigates the oppositions and harmonies within the work of Van Morrison, proceeding from this identified starting point. "Hymns to the Silence" is a detailed investigative study of Van Morrison's remarkable career. The book takes several intriguing angles. It looks at Morrison as a writer: specifically as an Irish writer, who has recorded musical settings of Yeats poems, collaborated with Seamus Heaney, Paul Durcan and Gerald Dawe, and who regularly drops quotes from James Joyce and Samuel Beckett into his live performances. It looks at him as a singer, at how he uses his voice as an interpretive instrument. And there are in-depth chapters on his use of mythology, on his stage performances, and on his continuing fascination with America and its musical forms. "Hymns to the Silence" is a passionate, eloquent study of the complex and influential art of one of the giants of popular music.

Author Biography

Peter Mills is Senior Lecturer in Media & Popular Culture at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK. He was singer and lyricist for the band Innocents Abroad who made two albums, Quaker City and Eleven. He has taught music, literature and philosophy at universities in the UK, Hungary, Romania and Croatia, and has published work on, amongst others, Samuel Beckett, Olaf Stapledon, Hungarian folk music, Pink Floyd, national anthems and The KLF.