Classic Albums: Astral Weeks

Now, obviously I'm not the first person to sing the praises of this record. Pick up just about any 'Top Albums of All Time' list and you'll be certain to see this one riding pretty high. However, such it the absolute breathtaking beauty of this album, I shall anoint it nonetheless.

Van Morrison, an enigma at the best of times, was at the beginning of his musical career. He had just penned the Essex-wedding staple, "Brown Eyed Girl", and should, by rights, have been a star. However, as the music industry sometimes has a habit of doing, he was instead handcuffed to a Draconian contract and absolutely flat broke. Threatened with deportation back to his native Belfast, he ended up marrying his girlfriend at the time and scratching a living playing grubby little dive bars around New York and Boston. Until, one day, he came in contact with a producer from Warner Bros. Records (at the time known for being artist friendly, as opposed to money-at-all-costs friendly) who was moved to tears upon hearing the title track and declared "I didn't know what it was, I just knew I wanted to be a part of that sound". Thus they agreed to make an album.

Holed up in a New York recording studio, they rounded up a handful of accomplished musicians and recorded the whole album in two days. Yep, two days. An achievement in itself, but what makes this even more interesting is that Van didn't tell the musicians a thing about what they were doing. Their only instruction being "just do what you feel". So Van played the guitar and sang, the others kept up. The end result is astonishing.

What follows is one of the most evocative, passionate, soulful 45 minutes you'll ever hear. There is not a chorus in sight, there is often the ear-piercing Irish wail that he has been unable to match since, there are tales of heartbreak, death, happiness, love and all else in between. The entire thing just pours out of this 23-year old kid (when I was 23 I barely knew how to tie my shoelaces!) and you can't help but get dragged along for the ride. From the opening title track to the mournful "Slim Slow Slider" this album  gets you on a level that's not really even musical after a while. You just have to forget the world you know exists for a bit and feel the man sing. For that reason alone, this ranks as easily one of my favorite records of all time. So, if you so desire, give it a listen. I guarantee that everything you listen too after will seem shiny, plastic and marginally shite in comparison.


Van Morrison - Sweet Thing


Peace and Love,

JB.