"It's a classic," I said to my friend last night at the local bar. I go there to see my friends and my friend who is the bar tender a few times a week. Last night there was the best musical conversation I have had in a while. We were talking about Van Morrison. A few of us went to the show at local amusement park in the summer of 1990. If that concert in anyway reflected my introduction to Van Morrison I more then likely would have not been his fan. It lasted a little more then 80 minutes and there was no encore. I walked out disappointed and was surprised a man of such great talent played that long and not enjoy himself or the fans wanting more.
A few years pass and I see him again, hoping that the 80 minute set was just a fluke. It was, this time he played for two and one half hours and played the hidden gems and the classics. My mind was more at ease. I remember picking up Moondance when I was 17 years old. I heard all the hits from it on the radio, but I wanted to enjoy it to myself. My best friend growing up told me that it is the perfect make out/sex album (along with Barry White's Greatest Hits) for that special someone in your life. I laughed and kept that tape in my car just in case I was with some lady that I had feelings for.
It was Astral Weeks that the album the changed my view of Van Morrison and I knew I was not alone. Around the time Jeff Buckley was touring and when I saw him he stated in a radio interview that Astral Weeks is one his favorite albums. There is no denying that it's a classic. The eight songs that total a little over forty-seven minutes. The wide range of types of music that includes folk, blues, jazz, and classical music make it for Van Morrison.
I listened to the album again after I got back from the bar and really focused on the album it's self. It was Van's first offering for Warner Bros. I also noticed listening to it's totally unconventional for the year it came out. The year was 1968 and Electric Ladyland and Wheels of Fire and John Wesley Harding came out, among others. I mention the latter because that was as close as Astral Weeks had to compete with. Astral Weeks was not even that country rock that was the rave or not even a folk album. It mixed the genres and stood on it's own.
What I like about the album is that even though it's a classic, when you ask people about when you think of Van Morrison, Astral Weeks is not even mentioned. Most people say Brown Eyed Girl or Moondance or even Wild Night or even Crazy Love. Very few people mention this classic in the same breath.
Enjoy a great album that with listens you too will say that Astral Weeks is your favorite album. You might not even listen to Moondance or the other songs I mentioned ever again. I hope you get pleasure out of hearing this as much as I did. Just remember that Van Morrison was on the map with Brown Eyed Girl, this album is no Brown Eyed Girl, but it is a album to be loved with special care.
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I know Rick/akajazzman will comment on this one... [smile]
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yesterday, i was at newbury's picking up the newest Black Keys release, solid, and i finally got this album. the only Van Morrison i knew, up until this morning, were the usual suspects on the radio: wild nights, moondance, brown eyed girl, gloria, and a handful of others. on the way to work i listened to this whole album and i was amazed. the radio singles really don't do a justice to what Van Morrison was capable of. i'm ashamed that i never heard this record before now, and i've read up plenty about it to know that it was a classic. i think i was held back by the stigma of his other more popular material and i didn't want to give him much credit. that has changed and i appreciate him more as an artist than i did before.
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