It’s a huge autumn in store for Van Morrison fans with Lit Up Inside, the lyrics, to be published imminently by Faber over here, and City Lights in the States. The phrase used in the title, lit up inside, is from one of the Man’s greatest latterday spoken word meditations, a song included on the 1991 double album Hymns to the Silence from the song ‘On Hyndford Street’ a powerfully intimate evocation of the street where the singer lived as a child in Belfast. Think of it as going even deeper than ‘In the Days Before Rock 'n' Roll’ on which Van was joined by the great poet Paul Durcan released the year before.

Van opened the Limerick jazz festival, which runs until Sunday, the line-up of which also features David Sanborn, Nigel Mooney, Julian ‘Wiggy’ Siegel, and the Dublin City Jazz Orchestra.

No one knows when the next Morrison record is coming out (the singer turns 70 next year) or on which label it’s to be on, although hopefully it won’t be long and that it’s on Blue Note again after the success of Born to Sing: No Plan B released two autumns ago, which looked and sounded the part. A number of great musicians new to Van, and old muckers, too, have been in the studio with Morrison to lay down their parts, including Gregory Porter, who joins Van on the bill at the upcoming BluesFest in London, and Liane Carroll. Let’s hope there’s a good bit of space for the soulful Liane when final decisions are made.