Common One

According to Mick Cox the early stages of the album were rehearsed during November and December 1979. The songs "Summertime in England" and "Haunts of Ancient Peace" were rehearsed by Morrison and the band during small gigs in January 1980. Cox thought that "some of these performances at the rehearsals were far better than the final recordings." Speaking of the recording sessions at Super Bear, Cox said: "We were all ensconced in a very, very intense, highly charged situation for those eleven days, but it did bring out that album."[2] Jef Labes recalled about his arrangements on the album: "...but what I always tried to do with string arrangements for him was to just try to mimic what he was singing, 'cause he was such a song instrument."[3]

In contrast to many of his previous albums, Common One ventures more into the realms of free jazz than the usual Van Morrison R&B, with the sax playing of Pee Wee Ellis coming to the fore. The songs are also somewhat longer than on his previous albums. Morrison said that the original concept was even more esoteric and was heavily influenced by his reading of nature poets.[4]

The opening track, "Haunts of Ancient Peace" was named from a (1902) book by Alfred Austin (Poet Laureate 1896–1912), and features the twin brothers of Morrison's voice against the answering saxophone of Pee Wee Ellis, with the trumpet of Mark Isham.[5]

"Summertime in England" was the longest track and proved to be a successful live performance for some time to come. Morrison said it "was actually a part of a poem I was writing and the poem and the song sort of merged." The lyrics include images of Wordsworth and Coleridge "smokin' up in Kendal" (Brian Hinton says they are "smokin' with poetry not spliffs").[6] It ends with the music being brought down to nothing and the words, "Can you feel the silence?"

"Spirit" played with sudden tempo changes and the ending fifteen-minute track, "When Heart is Open" was experimental in form with no discernible melody or tempo (presaging the era of New-age music).[4]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Billboard	(favourable)[8]
Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s	B–[9]
Q	[10]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[11]
Chicago Sun Times	[12]

The album was generally not well-received upon release and some of the reviews were scathing and merciless. Graham Locke reviewed it in NME calling it "colossally smug and cosmically dull; an interminable, vacuous and drearily egotistical stab at spirituality". Dave McCullough wrote in Sounds: "For the fan, as I am myself, it's not even possible to romanticize and say that Morrison has lost his way temporarily, so stern and so acute is his departure."[3] Rolling Stone critic Tom Carson named "Satisfied" as the record's only "masterpiece", in which "the simplicity that Morrison is striving for arrive as something natural and effortless, as a gift of grace".[13] Clinton Heylin contends that Morrison was bruised by the reaction and "would not attempt anything quite so ambitious again."[14] In 1982, Lester Bangs argued for a reassessment, saying, "Van was making holy music even though he thought he was, and us rock critics had made our usual mistake of paying too much attention to the lyrics."[3]

American critics voted it the 27th best album of 1980 in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop poll.[15] In an accompanying essay, poll supervisor Robert Christgau wrote, "As somebody who considers Moondance an apotheosis and has never gotten Astral Weeks, I think this is his worst since Hard Nose the Highway – sententious, torpid, abandoned by God. I know lots of Astral Weeks fans who agree. But Morrison has a direct line to certain souls, and they still hear him talkin'."[16] In retrospect, he deemed "Satisfied" and "Summertime in England" to be the record's highlights.[9] AllMusic later wrote, "No wonder the rock critics of the time didn't get it; this is music outside the pop mainstream, and even Morrison's own earlier musical territory. But it retains its trancelike power to this day."[7] In 2009, Erik Hage said "the dominant critical reaction represented it as prohibitive, sententious, and inaccessible, when in fact it is filled with much melody and beauty."[17]

All songs written by Van Morrison.

Musicians

• Van Morrison – vocals, guitar, harmonica
• Mick Cox – lead guitar
• David Hayes – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Mark Isham – trumpet, flugelhorn
• John Allair – Hammond organ, piano, Fender Rhodes, backing vocals
• Herbie Armstrong – guitar, backing vocals
• Pee Wee Ellis – tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, flute
• Pete Brewis – backing vocals on "Satisfied" with the band
• Peter Van Hooke – drums

2008 Reissue

• Toni Marcus – sitar, violin
• Mark Jordan – keyboards

Production

• Producer: Van Morrison with Henry Lewy for Caledonia Productions
• Musical Director: Pee Wee Ellis
• Horn Arrangement: Pee Wee Ellis
• String and Choir Arrangement: Jef Labes on "Summertime", "Wild Honey" and choir on "Haunts"
• Engineers: Henry Lewy, Dave Burgess, Alex Kash, and Chris Martyn
• Photography: Rudy Legname
• Mastered by Bernie Grundman at A&M Studios

• Hage, Erik (2009). The Words and Music of Van Morrison, Praeger Publishers, ISBN 978-0-313-35862-3
• Heylin, Clinton (2003). Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography, Chicago Review Press ISBN 1-55652-542-7
• Hinton, Brian (2000). Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison, Sanctuary, ISBN 1-86074-169-X
• Rogan, Johnny (2006). Van Morrison: No Surrender, London: Vintage Books ISBN 978-0-09-943183-1