Latest Record Project, Volume 1
Latest Record Project, Volume 1 is the 42nd studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. The album was released on 7 May 2021 by Exile Productions and BMG. The 28-track album includes songs such as "Why Are You on Facebook?", "They Own the Media" and "Western Man". It was released as a 2-CD set and on triple vinyl. The album marked a return to the UK Top Ten for Morrison, making the 2020s as the fourth consecutive decade in which he has reached those heights. Critical reception. The album received a  mixed or average critical reaction, scoring 52 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic. Reviewing the album for "Rolling Stone", Jonathan Bernstein wrote that "Morrison's new record bears a strange resemblance to the unhinged, rambling feel of the pandemic-era internet: more often than not, its 28 tracks come across as a collection of shitposts, subtweets, and Reddit rants set to knockoff John Lee Hooker grooves." Alexis Petridis of "The Guardian" gave the album just one star in his review, praising the musical arrangements and performances while criticising its lyrical content as "boring and paranoid", describing the total product  as "a genuinely depressing listen". Elizabeth Nelson of "Pitchfork" expressed a similar sentiment in her review, stating that "as with all things Van, his genius consistently shines through irrespective of the asinine context", while simultaneously describing Morrison's lyricism as egotistical and "transparently insane". Both Petridis and Nelson additionally commented on the presence of alt-right themes within the album. Ireland's "Business Post" said the album was "a late-career highlight" for Morrison who "displays an innate understanding of what swings with unusually direct lyrics". For "Classic Rock", Morrison is "surprisingly enjoyable on (an) album of grumpy but bouncy  R&B", while "Artsfuse" concluded that the "[prickly] and polemical tunes are surrounded by some of the most enjoyable music Van Morrison has made in years", and found it "at various points, inspired, insipid, and infuriating". Armond White of "National Review" welcomed the album as "true, rich protest", finding that Morrison's "emotional-political drive dares (to) oppose genuine political conformity". Jackie Hayden wrote in "Hot Press" that while "Van Morrison is an angry man ageing disgracefully... [such] is the sense of confrontational immediacy, there's hardly a track that doesn't justify the price of admission". "The Scotsman" praised the  band who "remain mellow, intuitive and freewheeling throughout".