Behind The Ritual - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

This song is often the favourite of reviewers and critics of all the songs from Keep it Simple.

Reviewer Jeffrey Lee Puckett calls it "one of his trademark long and winding odes" and comments, "He's never messed with us more than he does on 'Behind the Ritual'. At the point when Morrison would normally start improvising a key word or phrase, we get this: blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah repeated around 60 times."

In a review in the Buffalo News, Jeff Miers writes: "'Behind the Ritual' stands out as one of Morrison's finest. Over a poised, shuffle groove the singer slurs, intones, dances around the edges of the meaning, his activity serving to shine a light on what is unstated much in the manner that the timeless 'Madame George' said so much with so little."

Another reviewer in The Mirror remarked: "'Behind the Ritual' is the killer. Drinking wine and dancing like a dervish Van finds 'the spiritual behind the ritual.'"

Scott Foundas of LA Weekly writes that "it is not the least of Keep it Simple's accomplishments that it adds one trancelike classic in the making to the Morrison repertoire....it's fittingly the album closer...the song is called "Behind the Ritual" and like many of Morrison's best songs, this one points toward a destination.

Greil Marcus calls the song, "a strong statement of the power of simplicity, and moreover an assertion of Morrison's mastery."

On a poll conducted on the fansite Van Morrison News, to determine Van Morrison's fans' favourite song from the album Keep It Simple, the song "Behind the Ritual" received 465 votes, placing first ahead of "Keep It Simple" which had 324 votes.