Agreed. Van Morrison's sense of time and phrasing is phenomenal. He can swing, or lay down a down home blues, with the very best of them.
I still say his voice is not "objectively" as finely honed an instrument as that of many a "pure" professional singer. But I prefer listening to Van Morrison (and other great singer-song writers) over a thousand, say, Andy Williams types. They have a stronger connection to the song.
Take just about any Van Morrison song. I've heard many excellent and compelling interpretations thereof by other singers. But they're all compelling because they take the song somewhere else. No one can offer a more essential, natural and fundamental interpretation than Van The Man himself. "When that fog horn blows you know" he "will be coming home," like you know it with no one else. And while someone else might sing about being on that "hard road," "searching for the philosopher's stone;" only Van can make you believe that he's really been there (Daddy-O).
BTW, cool version of John Lee Hooker performing "Gloria" with Van Morrison:
I think we’d all agree that Van Morrison channels the muse, while others just tend to sing.
The older I get, the more I believe that he’s never uttered an insincere lyric in song. Among them:
“As the beams from the cars on the overpass shine, just like diamonds in the night”
“A morning in May like this, we see the heather on the hill. There’s a place up on the mountainside, where the world is standing still”
“On a golden autumn day, you came my way, in Orangefield”
“She’s as sweet as Tupelo Honey, she’s an angel in the first degree; she’s as sweet as Tupelo Honey, just like honey baby, from the bee”
“Will the blush still remain on your cheeks my love, and the light always seen in your head; Gold and sliver they placed at your feet my dear, But I know you chose me instead”
Masterclass.