Culture

When That Rough God Goes Riding Listening to Van Morrison by Greil Marcus

When That Rough God Goes Riding: Listening to Van Morrison BY Greil Marcus. PublicAffairs. Hardcover, 208 pages. $22.
The cover of When That Rough God Goes Riding: Listening to Van Morrison

If you are looking to discover what singer Van Morrison was like growing up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, or what gossip former bandmates have about him, don't look for it in When That Rough God Goes Riding. Cultural critic Greil Marcus of Berkeley doesn't write biographies as much as ruminations. His book's subtitle, "Listening to Van Morrison," provides a key to his purpose here: listening to, and pondering, Morrison's music.