"It's just a song about how everything's gotten now so complex and how things have become so complicated and nothing's easy to do anymore," Morrison says of the title track, a statement of purpose that helps define the disc. "So the song's a kind of prayer - or what have you - let's hope we can get back to something simple, otherwise, we're screwed."

Keep It Simple is practically bursting with declarations that listeners don't need to submit to that sort of treatment -- and, for those willing to delve beneath the surface, it's also peppered with bits of counsel about breaking free from it. He serves notice of his intentions from the get-go, opening Keep It Simple with the low-slung, harmonica-laced "How Can a Poor Boy" -- on which Morrison preaches the blues to the great unwashed, fully aware that he's taking on non-believers, but willing to believe that his message will hit home with at least a few of them.

That attitude pervades Keep It Simple, a disc rife with eureka moments and instantly relatable emotion. On "School of Hard Knocks," Morrison offers a challenge to anyone who hasn't been educated in that hardscrabble fashion, waxing slyly pugnacious but tempering the gruffness with a gently swinging melody nudged forward by his languid delivery. On "Don't Go to Nightclubs Anymore," an organ-drenched slow-burner that offers a no-regrets look back at days (and late nights) of yore, he adopts a bloodied-but-unbowed tone that anyone with closing-time battle scars will certainly understand.

That depth of feeling has characterized Morrison's records from day one. Whether sojourning into improvised music's outer limits on the classic 1968 song cycle Astral Weeks (which scored the number-two spot on Mojo magazine's 100 Best Albums of All Time) or wrapping listeners in the reflected warmth of 1970's Moondance, he's never shied away from pouring blood, sweat and tears into every note.

Passion may well be the only given when it comes to Van Morrison's work, though. He's explored his Celtic roots extensively -- most notably on 1974's Veedon Fleece -- and ventured deeply into the realm of spirituality. That spirituality permeated much of his work in the late '70s and '80s, albums like Poetic Champions Compose and Common One, the latter of which the legendary critic Lester Bangs classified as "holy music."

That phrase could easily be attached to just about everything Morrison has created since. While he ventured away from the overtly spiritual on discs like Too Long In Exile (on which he teamed with kindred spirit John Lee Hooker) and the jazzy How Long Has This Been Going On (a collection that teamed him with longtime foil Georgie Fame), he's remained dogged in expressing his spirit -- whatever the means of delivery.

"It's not going to be the same every time - you have to go through the ups and downs," is how Morrison details his own modus operandi. "It's ups and downs, death and rebirth. It's not going to be easy -- unless you want to be doing the same thing at the same level all the time. I'm not relying on what I did years ago. I'm not a greatest hits act. That's the difference between me and most of what's going on in pop music."

That's certainly evident throughout Keep It Simple, a self-produced collection that points up Morrison's awareness that the details are every bit as important as the big picture. The elegiac underpinnings of "Song of Home" are underscored by both the gospel-tinged backing vocals and spare instrumentation redolent of a misty heath -- elements that, tweaked ever so slightly, imbue the hazy "No Thing" with a good-naturedly bone-weary vibe. On the other hand, he and his core band open things up to great effect on the spiraling "That's Entrainment," a song that Morrison illuminates with precision.

"'Entrainment' is when you connect -- when you connect with the music," says Morrison, whose connective aptitude has earned him such honors as enshrinement in the Songwriter's Hall of Fame and the Irish Music Hall of Fame, in which he was the first inductee. "'Entrainment' is really what I'm getting at in the music - where I'm able to do what I used to call my thing. Entrainment is based on accessing a sort of hypnotic kind of thing - not stage hypnosis, but more like tying in with the music. Its kind of when you're in the present moment - you're here - with no past or future."

As anyone who's paid attention over the years can attest, Van Morrison has plenty of both. A quiver stocked with classic songs covering everything from Celtic soul to jazz to country standards attests to the former. And the latter? Well, one spin of Keep It Simple proves that Van Morrison is sailing ever forward, but unlike The Flying Dutchman, he leaves no doom in his wake, only soul and healing. The man himself, of course, would put it more simply.

"People don't remember what you did, or what happened, or how you got here," he says. "I didn't get here the easy way. It's people who don't know me. They don't actually look at what this guy's actually been through. They see the big versions of what's supposed to be me - but they don't know my biography really. That's what this whole record's about."

After the acclaimed Days Like This (1995) came How Long Has This Been Going On (1995), an album of mostly jazz standards featuring his old sparring partner Georgie Fame.

Following the release of 1997's The Healing Game came The Philosopher's Stone (1998), an album containing 30 previously unreleased tracks recorded between 1971 and 1988, a mixture of new songs and interpretations of Morrison classics like Wonderful Remark and Bright Side Of The Road. In the same year (1998) Van won a Grammy for his collaboration with John Lee Hooker on Don't Look Back, which he also produced.

Back On Top was released in March 1999 and was widely heralded as one of Morrison's most accomplished and successful albums in years, spawning his first solo Top 40 hit with the single Precious Time.

After a career spanning some four decades, it seemed appropriate that the year 2000 saw Van returning to his roots, a musical full-circle, with The Skiffle Sessions - Live In Belfast. Re-uniting with the musical heroes of his youth, Van joined skiffle maestro Lonnie Donegan and Chris Barber on stage at Belfast's Whitla Hall for a magical performance, and the energy and enthusiasm of both the performers and the crowd was captured in full on this album, which met with huge critical acclaim.

In 2002, Van Morrison returned to Polydor Records and released his new album Down The Road. The album featured 13 brand new songs alongside a unique version of Georgia On My Mind and Evening Shadows, an Acker Bilk instrumental to which Van added his own lyrical magic.

In recognition of his unique position as one of the most important songwriters of the past century, Van Morrison was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at an awards ceremony in New York City in June 2003.

Later in the same year (2003) he signed a worldwide deal with the legendary Blue Note Records, a natural home for one of music's most creative figures. Morrison's debut release at the prestigious jazz label was What's Wrong With This Picture? This album draws upon the jazz & blues influences that he has explored consistently throughout his career. What's Wrong with this Picture? received a Grammy Awards nomination for Van Morrison in the 'Best Contemporary Blues Album' category.

Magic Time, released on Van's own Exile Music Recordings label in 2005, showcased some of his most powerful songs to date like Stranded, Magic Time, Celtic New Year and Gypsy In My Soul. It was followed by Pay The Devil, a seamless combination of three originals (including the title track) and 12 covers of classic country songs written by such masters as Hank Williams, Webb Pierce, Merle Kilgore, Rodney Crowell, Curly Williams and Leon Payne.

Two originals, Playhouse and This Has Got To Stop, were among five songs reprised on a limited edition DVD filmed at the legendary Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, and packaged with Pay The Devil. This was the only Morrison footage available commercially at the time of its 2006 release, but was soon followed by Live At Montreux, a two-disc showcase of his performances at the Jazz Festival in 1974 and 1980. This was acclaimed by one reviewer as 'The chance to see a legend in his prime' and another as 'a truly rewarding experience from one of music's most distinguished figures.'

Van Morrison was honoured at the US-Ireland Alliance Awards in early 2007 for his contribution to the film world. Presented by Al Pacino, the award highlighted the depth and breadth of Van's compositions as used by directors Scorsese, Hackford, Landis, Stone and more.

The likes of Brown Eyed Girl through Days Like This and Have I Told You Lately were gathered for release as At The Movies - Soundtrack Hits, one of three separate collections of Van's hits to be released in 2007, a schedule possibly unprecedented for any living artist. June saw the release of Best of Van Morrison Volume 3, a collection of Van's later material featuring his duets with Tom Jones, John Lee Hooker, BB King and Ray Charles among others. It became yet another UK chart album, while at the end of the year Still On Top - the definitive collection of Van's original recordings - entered the UK charts at number two and sold platinum, proving the ongoing appetite for his unrivalled work.