Van Morrison - Common One
#315
August 1980
Van Morrison
Common One
Genre: Soooooooooooft, meandering borefest
2 out of 5
In the mid 1700s, presented with a dilemma, the ruling class in America realized that they had to keep a wedge driven between black slaves who were always on the brink of rebellion and the poor who, too, were ready to burst. At the time 1% of the population had 44% of the wealth. How best to do this? By fomenting racism as much as possible. As long as blacks and whites hated each other, they wouldn’t join forces.
To perpetuate this a new class was created: the middle class. These were aspirational whites who had probably had more in common with the poor than they did the wealthy elite, but were encouraged to sell to the elites and given names like “farmers” and “planters” so as to keep them as a buffer between the two ends.
They would become a useful tool when the rich wanted to stoke a revolution and break free of England’s rule, expanding their own power.
I know this because I am reading Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States.
I don’t often read when I am reviewing a record because I need to make notes for the review.
There is no reason to listen to this record with any intensity because it’s as boring and dull as can be mustered. It meanders and begs you to do something else. But not something productive. Just sit back and read a fucking book while you wait for it to fucking end.
The trouble is, the 15 minus opus, “Summertime in England” is almost good. If it wasn’t FIFTEEN minutes long. It all feels like a pointless excuse to jam to some smooth jazz.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/common-one-bonus-track-version/1031189776
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