Van Morrison – Astral Weeks (1968)

Ivan (Van the Man) Morrison is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter; in the late 50s and early 60s he was in several bands in Belfast before scoring a huge hit with Them and the song ‘Gloria’. Like many of the Artists to emerge in the Sixties he grew up listening to black singers, especially the blues of Muddy Waters and Leadbelly – but on hearing Lonnie Donegan singing ‘Rock Island Line’ he became a convert to Rock and Roll.  In 1964 he joined four other Belfast musicians and formed a new group calling themselves ‘Them’.  They had 3 hit singles, biggest of which was ‘Here Comes The Night – ‘Gloria’ was a ‘B’ side and a live favourite.  The band broke up in ’66 and his then manager persuaded Van to go solo.  He recorded a few songs – one of which ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ has gone on to be one of the most played songs on radio.  But contractual difficulties meant he had difficulty getting a contract until Warner Brothers bought him out and he was given the space to write and release this great album.  ‘Astral Weeks’ was a slow-burner and gradually achieved acclaim and is reckoned as among his best ever albums.  The record is mostly acoustic and quite jazz infused.  It is apparently a song-cycle, the lyrics are free-form poetry and at times listening you suddenly realise this is actually a different song though you were almost hypnotised by the flow of the voice and the music.  For me the two really stand-out tracks are ‘Cypress Avenue’ and ‘Madame George’.  I have never really understood what Van was singing about – but it doesn’t matter.  The latter is nearly 10 minutes long but achieves a state of timelessness whenever I hear it.  A remarkable album indeed, and miles ahead of it’s time.