When Van Morrison visits a recording studio, you can bet your worn-out vinyl copy of Hard Nose the Highway he will not leave until he has recorded some seriously astral Irish blues poetry ("Celtic New Year"), tributes to his pop-culture heroes ("Just Like Greta") and a lot of mellow, easy-rolling folk-jazz numbers about the evils of the modern world and the struggle of the poet. On Magic Time, Morrison vows to "Keep Mediocrity at Bay," even though "They Sold Me Out," because they couldn't kill the "Gypsy in My Soul." "The Lion This Time" is a lilting lullaby, hearkening back to the 1970s Morrison classic "Listen to the Lion," with gentle violins and vocals, and "Lonely and Blue" is a gorgeous R&B torch ballad worthy of Little Willie John.

“All Along the Watchtower”

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."