Details
Track Listing
1. Astral Weeks
2. Beside You
3. Sweet Thing
4. Cyprus Avenue
5. Way Young Lovers Do, The
6. Madame George
7. Ballerina
8. Slim Slow Slider
Album Notes
Personnel includes: Van Morrison (vocals, acoustic guitar); Larry Fallon (arranger); Jay Berliner (guitar); John Payne (flute, soprano saxophone); Warren Smith, Jr. (vibraphone, percussion); Richard Davis (bass); Connie Kay (drums).
Recorded in New York.
Includes liner notes by Van Morrison.
Quoted, recommended, and worshipped by the critics for decades, this underground masterpiece has now become part of the establishment. It cries to be listened to without interruption, which may explain why it failed to reach either the UK or US charts. It wanders and weaves, repeating themes and lyrics as if one song, yet we never tire of "gardens wet with rain," "champagne eyes," or the wonder of how Morrison can make a place like Ladbroke Grove seem so hauntingly evocative. This all-acoustic but fully arranged record is also a great educator in opening your eyes beyond pop, to folk, soul, and jazz, and although (or perhaps because) Morrison continues to return to its themes again and again, this is his core.
Industry Reviews
Ranked #15 in NME's list of the `Greatest Albums Of All Time.'
NME (10/02/1993)
Ranked #6 in Q's 100 Greatest British Albums - ...Its musical daring, mantra-like incantations and kaleidoscopic use of language [is] still beyond cosy categorization....recalling his provincial, '50s Belfast youth with an almost feverish imigination and regret...
Q (06/01/2000)
Ranked #19 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time - ...ASTRAL WEEKS is Morrison going deep inside himself, to the far corners of his life and art, without a net or fear...
Rolling Stone (12/11/2003)
[O]ne of rock's crowning glories and, with Morrison at times entering an almost trance-like state of rapture, the very apex of his art.
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