''No Guru, No Method, No Teacher'' is the sixteenth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...

, released in 1986 on Mercury. Upon release in 1986, it was well received by critics and charted at number twenty-seven in the UK and number seventy on the ''Billboard'' 200.

Recording and composition

The album was recorded at Studio D and

Record Plant Studios The Record Plant was a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and last operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it produced highly influential albums, including the New York ...

Sausalito, California Sausalito ( Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's ...

in 1985 with Jim Stern as engineer. The basic takes were recorded at Studio D with Chris Michie,

Jef Labes Jef Labes is an American keyboardist and musician. He is best known from his work with Van Morrison and Bonnie Raitt. Jef Labes has also arranged for string and woodwind instruments on numerous albums. Career Labes started his recording career ...

, Babatunde Lea (credited as "Baba Trunde"), David Hayes and Morrison. Overdubs, guitar solos, strings and back-up vocals were added at the Record Plant with the masters taken to Townhouse Studios in London. Overdubs with Ritchie Buckley on saxophone, Martin Drover on trumpet and oboe played by Kate St. John were added in the London studio. The album title is evocative of a 1966 quotation by

Jiddu Krishnamurti Jiddu Krishnamurti ( ; 11 May 1895 – 17 February 1986) was an Indian Philosophy, philosopher, speaker, writer, and Spirituality, spiritual figure. Adopted by members of the Theosophy, Theosophical tradition as a child, he was raised to fill ...

: "...there is no teacher, no pupil; there is no leader; there is no guru; there is no Master, no Saviour. You yourself are the teacher and the pupil; you are the Master; you are the guru; you are the leader; you are everything." The song " In the Garden" was a favorite fan concert performance for years. Morrison told Mick Brown in 1986 on the ''Interview Album'': "I take you through a definite meditation process which is a form of transcendental meditation. It's not about TM, forget about that. You should have some degree of tranquillity by the time you get to the end. It only takes about ten minutes to do this process." There are references back to ''

Astral Weeks ''Astral Weeks'' is the second studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was recorded at Century Sound Studios in New York during September and October 1968, and released in November of the same year by Warner Bros. Re ...

'' with gardens wet with rain and a childlike vision. The words are poetic as in the line "you are a creature all in rapture/You had the key to your soul". "Got to Go Back" features Kate St. John's oboe and reminisces of school days back in the singer's childhood in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. "Oh, The Warm Feeling" is also a song of feeling the safety of family and love in childhood. "Foreign Window" is a song concerned with dealing with some sort of self-imposed therapy and having to go on no matter what. Brian Hinton remarks, "There is a grace and majesty here which I have experienced from little else in rock music." "Here Comes the Knight" is a pun on the

Them Them or THEM, a third-person singular or plural accusative personal pronoun, may refer to: Books * ''Them'' (novel), 3rd volume (1969) in American Joyce Carol Oates' ''Wonderland Quartet'' * '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'', 2003 non-fict ...

song "

Here Comes the Night "Here Comes the Night" is a 1964 song, written by Bert Berns. It became a hit for Northern Irish band Them, fronted by Van Morrison, in March 1965, charting at No. 2 in the UK and No. 24 in the US. Them's single is listed at either No. 33 or No ...

" and quotes from the

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

on the gravestone of one of Morrison's favorite poets,

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

. The Yeats Estate had denied Morrison's request to transform a Yeats poem to music, but the gravestone was considered public property: "Here come horsemen through the pass / They say cast a cold eye on life, on death". "Ivory Tower" echoes Yeats once more. The song "Thanks For the Information" is a comment on the cliches of the business world.

Critical reception

''No Guru, No Method, No Teacher'' was well received by contemporary critics and proved to be Morrison's best-reviewed album during the 1980s. Barry McIlheney from ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' hailed it as a "magnificent return to form" that will astound listeners who had become disenchanted with his last few albums. John Wilde in '' Sounds'' remarks, "the crescendos here are never dampened by their subtle nature and never fall short of blinding. The whole album aches with a steady stream of sorrow" and concluded by calling it the best record of that year so far, upon release. In ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'',

David Fricke David Fricke (born ) is an American music journalist who serves as the senior editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, where he writes predominantly about rock music. One of the best known names in rock journalism, his career has spanned over 40 ye ...

described the album as "a fragile, familiar schematic, laid out over haunting, circular melodies airbrushed with acoustic guitars and often abruptly broken up by Morrison's idiosyncratic vocal phrasing." ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' critic Lynn Van Matre said it reminded her of Morrison's 1968 album ''

'', as most of the songs "on this beautiful and deeply soulful album resound with gentle, questing hope." In a more critical review, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' magazine said Morrison "no longer takes the breath away and as a musician has been content to age with dignity." In ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'',

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

's critique came in the form of quip mocking the album's title: "no soap radio" (in reference to the nonsensical punchline to an unstated joke, suggesting Morrison's lyrics are unintelligible or meaningless), "no particular place to go" (a reference to the Chuck Berry song of the same name), "no man is an island" (suggesting Morrison is solipsistic), "no spring chicken" (mocking his cantankerous mood and obsession with mortality), "no-doz" ( the caffeine pill, suggesting the album is a bore), and "no can do" (conclusion upon listening to it). In a retrospective review for ''

The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' (2004),

Rob Sheffield Robert James Sheffield (born February 2, 1966) is an American music journalist and author. He is a long time contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'', writing about music, TV, and pop culture. Previously, he was a contributing editor at '' Blen ...

dismissed ''No Guru, No Method, No Teacher'' as a "cranky self-imitation", with Morrison complaining about "how you don't understand him because you live in an 'Ivory Tower', though he obviously hadn't listened to any music in years except his own." By contrast, biographer

Clinton Heylin Clinton Heylin (born 8 April 1960) is an English author. Heylin has written extensively about popular music, especially on the life and work of Bob Dylan. Education Heylin attended Manchester Grammar School. He read history at Bedford College ...

called it "his most consummate record since ''

Wavelength In physics and mathematics, wavelength or spatial period of a wave or periodic function is the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. In other words, it is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same ''phase (waves ...

'' and his most intriguingly involved since ''Astral Weeks'', this is bursting to saturation point, Morrison at this most mystical, magical best."Heylin, ''Can You Feel the Silence?'', p. 396 ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''s Nick Coleman gave its remastered edition a rave review, urging listeners to buy it "because no one has realised William Blake’s visionary ambitions more cogently in popular song. Because the songs are remarkable". The album is ranked number 977 in '' All-Time Top 1000 Albums'' (3rd. edition, 2000).

Reissue

The 2008 reissued and remastered version of the album contains an alternate take of "Oh the Warm Feeling" and a previously unreleased Morrison composition "Lonely at the Top". "Thanks for the Information" from this album was listed as one of the standout tracks from the six album reissue.

Track listing

All songs written by Van Morrison

Side one

#"Got to Go Back" – 5:00 #"Oh the Warm Feeling" – 3:16 #"Foreign Window" – 5:20 #"A Town Called Paradise" – 6:13 #" In the Garden" – 5:46

Side two

#" Tir Na Nog" – 7:14 #"Here Comes the Knight" – 3:41 #"Thanks for the Information" – 7:16 #"One Irish Rover" – 3:30 #" Ivory Tower" – 3:34

Bonus tracks (2008 CD reissue)

#"Oh the Warm Feeling" (alternate take) #"Lonely at the Top"

Personnel

Musicians

*Van Morrison – guitar, harmonica, vocals *Teressa "Terry" Adams – cello, string section leader on "Tir Na Nog" *June Boyce – backing vocals *Richie Buckley –

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

and

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly small ...

s *Nadine Cox –

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

on "Tir Na Nog" *Martin Drover – trumpet *Joseph Edelberg – violin * David Hayes – bass *Rosie Hunter – backing vocalist *

– piano, synthesizer, string arrangement on "Tir Na Nog" *

Chris Michie Chris Michie (January 12, 1948 – March 27, 2003) was an American guitarist and composer, best known for his work with Van Morrison. Chris Michie was born in Ithaca, New York, in 1948 and moved to Madison, Wisconsin, when he was a teenager. He ...

– guitar * John Platania – guitar *Rebecca Sebring –

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

* Kate St. John –

cor anglais The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn (mainly North America), is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially ...

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

on "Got to Go Back", "Foreign Window" and "Here Come the Knight" *John Tenney – violin * Bianca Thornton – backing vocals * Jeanie Tracy – backing vocals * Babatunde Lea (credited as Baba Trunde) – drums

Production

*Van Morrison – producer * Mick Glossop – engineer *Jim Stern – engineer *Lenette Viegas – assistant engineer