The Best of Van Morrison
The Best of Van Morrison is a compilation album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It compiles songs spanning 25 years of his recording career. Released in 1990 by Polydor Records, the album was a critical and commercial success, becoming one of the best-selling records of the 1990s and helping revive Morrison's mainstream popularity. Its success encouraged him to release a second and third greatest hits volume in 1993 and 2007, respectively. The album remains Morrison's best-seller. Release and reception. "The Best of Van Morrison" was Morrison's first greatest  hits album and featured songs that were compiled from 25 years of material. including "Wonderful Remark", a song which first appeared on the soundtrack to the 1983 film "The King of Comedy". The album became one of the best-selling records of the 1990s, spending a year and a half on the UK charts, helping Morrison regain his commercial popularity during the decade. It also debuted at number one in Australia on the ARIA Albums Chart. In the United States, the album never reached the Top 40 of the "Billboard" 200 but remained on the chart for more than four -and-a-half years. In 2002, the album was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), having shipped four million copies in the US. Morrison was reluctant at first to have a greatest hits album released, although its success encouraged him to personally select tracks for the second and third volumes in 1993 and 2007, respectively. "As the story goes, Van Morrison wanted nothing to do with his first greatest hits collection", wrote Andrew Gilstrap from PopMatters. "He probably warmed up to the idea, though, after the sales figures started pouring in—year after year after  year." "The Best of Van Morrison" was acclaimed by critics from "Goldmine" and "Q" magazine, who called it essential. In a contemporary review for "The Village Voice", Robert Christgau said although the songs are not sequenced chronologically, the album flows as a unified and "spiritually enlightened" work that also reflects the compilers "upbeat market savvy". He took note of the seven songs from Morrison's music in the 1980s, particularly "Wonderful Remark", writing that they live up to the standards of his 1970s albums "Moondance" (1970) and "Into the Music" (1979). In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine  viewed the record as an exceptional compilation and a perfect sampler of Morrison's music, which is made to "seem a little more immediate and accessible than it usually is" on his studio albums. "The Best of Van Morrison" remains his best-selling release. Personnel. Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.