I have been composing a review of the Deluxe Version of The Healing Game in my head ever since Van Morrison released it in 2019. I had always counted several cuts on The Healing Game, which originally came out in 1997, among my favorites of Van’s songs, but I did not realize how much I truly loved what Van was doing on that album until he released the triple album set of the Deluxe Version. Why? Here’s why.

The song “The Healing Game” may say more about what goes on in Van’s mind and soul than any other song he has written. There are six different versions of “The Healing Game” on the deluxe album and none are superfluous.  The organ on “The Healing Game” in the original album tells you it’s a hymn. Maybe he is testifying (and proselytizing?} by releasing the single version to try and reach a wider audience. When I close my eyes and listen to the “jazz” version the jazz comes only at the end – I first hear contemplation and supplication. The duet version with John Lee Hooker is a lament and a confession not just blues. The live version at Montreux is celebration and joyful thanksgiving. The “alternate version” seems the most personal one to me with Van opening up his soul to God and the listener.  All of these versions of the song show that “The Healing Game” is a prayer. Van is confessing he needs healing, asking for healing, celebrating that he is getting healing and telling all of us that we need healing too. He had previously released “Did Ye Get Healed?”, “And the Healing Has Begun” and “Till We Get the Healing Done” so “healing” was not a new thought that Van announced with this album. And when I listen to all these songs I suspect that Van still hasn’t got the Healing done yet. I know I have not.

Every other song on the Healing Game album fits as part of prayer and healing. “The Healing Game” reveals the prayer embedded in every other song on the album including the added songs on the deluxe version of this album. Well maybe not “Muleskinner Blues”.

The deluxe version of The Healing Game album is filled with other revelations. “Look What the Good People Done” and “At the End of the Day” prove that whenever Van writes a song we need to hear it, even if the songs don’t rise to the level of the other songs Van is ready to release.  Van aincludes covers of three songs that apparently were recorded during the Healing Game sessions including his innovative adaption of the traditional “Didn’t He Ramble.” When Van sings other people’s songs he always makes them his own.

In addition to the many versions of “Healing Game”, the alternate versions of other songs on the original album are full of revelations.  My wife does not like “Fire In The Belly” and although I do like the song, I understand why the “Got to get through January, Got to get through February” chant gets under her skin. The alternate version of that song on this Deluxe version keeps the lyrics without making it a sing-songy chant, and this version seems more personal to me now somehow, so I much prefer it (and my wife tolerates it better). I never want “Sometime We Cry” to end, so the longer version on the Deluxe version is also welcome.  Comparing the changes Van makes in recording different versions of the same song is always interesting.

The songs Van includes on the Deluxe album from other recording sessions add much to what was already a great collection of songs from The Healing Game sessions. The BBC version of “St. Dominic’s Preview” is utter perfection. I was mesmerized when I stumbled across the video of this recording on the internet and ecstatic when Van decided to release it with this album. You must listen to this song. There are duets with John Lee Hooker, a terrific duet with Lonnie Donegan on “Muleskinner Blues” and five excellent songs with the late great Carl Perkins including a wonderful “Sittin’ on Top of the World.”  

The third CD on the Deluxe album is a fabulous live set from Montreux in 1997 when he was touring behind the newly released Healing Game. Having been to many of Van’s concerts, I can picture him on stage using his voice and managing the instruments played by his band to modify, mold, and meld each of his songs to make each a new masterpiece for his fans in the audience then, and now for all listeners, including me.

The Deluxe version of The Healing Game is a masterpiece, and I recommend it to everyone.