"An idiosyncratic double-disc retrospective that runs from Them until a selection from 2009's Astral Weeks: Live at the Hollywood Bowl. Career-spanning anthologies are a rarity in Morrison's discography, as are compilations in general; apart from the endless march of Bang material, he's only had 1990's The Best of Van Morrison and its 1993 sequel, The Best of Van Morrison, Vol. 2, plus 2007's Still on Top: The Greatest Hits. The Essential Van Morrison doesn't merely recycle these compilations. It carves its own path, placing his best-known material from the '60s and '70s on the first disc, then covering 1979 and beyond on the second collection"