<I>Back on Top</I> kicks off on an unpromising note with a generic blues shuffle+ "Goin" Down Geneva+" that belies the album"s cocky title. Van Morrison quickly redeems himself+ however+ with a set otherwise closer in its balance of rave-up and reverie to his beloved early-"70s classics than much of his "90s output. "Philosophers Stone" is yet another position paper on the Belfast bard"s art ("My job is turning lead into gold")+ but it"s welcome for its relative absence of complaint. Elsewhere+ he revisits familiar themes of survival ("Back on Top")+ celebrity"s price ("New Biography")+ and mortality ("Precious Time") in midtempo anthems laudable for deceptively buoyant tempos and crisp ensemble work. Vocally+ his signature mix of rasp and croon proves as ripe as ever. <I>--Sam Sutherland</I>