Van Morrison-Astral Weeks

There have been few records so have such a vast impact on my life as "Astral Weeks". My father, an avid music fan who's love for rock n roll rivals mine, first played the cassette of the album in the car when I was a young boy. Instantly I was blown away, just something so pure about the way Van sings is astounding and made a lasting impression on my being. What Van Morrison may or may not lack in sheer lyrical prowess he makes up for in powerful emotional delivery. There is no voice on Earth that sounds like his, so full of human expression, mourning, pain, loss, love, and life. The album has followed me through some of my post painful and happy experiences.

As I got older and more into music my love for "Astral Weeks" didn't subside, but only grew due to my new understanding of what a deep and complex record it really is. Released at the end of 1968, critics and listeners were all immediately blown away by the complexity in the lyrics and the arrangements but also by the sheer listen-ability of the album, even in the face of some very dark subjects and themes. The rhythms and string arrangements are very un-traditional and even frenzied for Pop music (possibly due to musicians from free jazz whiz Eric Dolphy's crew coming into lend some horn and reed work), but the beauty that emanates from them is tremendous. Van's lyrics on the album are better than his lyrics on other records; he wrote in a strange and evocative style that promotes images as opposed to narrative arc. The songs, even the saddest ones, evoke strong images of hope and in a few cases, redemption. The very first lines off the record's first track, "Astral Weeks", read, "If I ventured into a slipstream, between the viaduct of your dream, would you find me?" Two of the record's most famous tracks, "Cyprus Avenue" and "Madame George" are written in a stream-of-consciousness style that is very hard to decipher the text, but the themes of the song still resonate with the listener in a vivid fasion. And it really is all about Van Morrison's voice when talking about his music. He has the most unique voice of any white-male vocalist I've ever heard, with such a powerful understanding of human emotion it's phenomenal. He howls and the listener weeps, or smiles, or thinks. Easily one of the greatest emotional rides in the history of recorded music, and an album so full of human emotion and range that it remains truly timeless.