A musical fan favorite: "Astral Weeks"

     

Astral Weeks, by Van Morrison, may be regarded as a masterpiece.

    A favorite album was first released 54 years ago. It has never aged and I can unreservedly suggest Astral Weeks as a music masterpiece.

   The second album recorded in 1968 by Irish singer Van Morrison has become a cult favorite. Its melodies and words are magic in some real ways. 

    The album was aptly described by famed rock critic Lester Bangs as this: "Astral Weeks, insofar as it can be pinned down, is a record about people stunned by life, completely overwhelmed, stalled in their skins, their ages and selves, paralyzed by the enormity of what in one moment of vision they can comprehend."

   This work of art has attracted much attention including on its 50th anniversary in 2018. Astral Weeks has also been remastered a few times -- my copy is a CD from many years ago.

    I love great singers and Van Morrison, now 76 years old, is surely one of the best. Astral Weeks was recorded when he was just 21. It followed the release of "Brown-Eyed Girl," and Morrison later said the songs were written over a period of five years.

  These are the songs in Astral Weeks, divided into two groups on the CD: 

    "In the Beginning," is Astral Weeks, Beside You, Sweet Thing and Cyprus Avenue. 

    "Afterwards" includes The Way Young Lovers Do, Madame George, Ballerina and Slim Slow Slider.

    I once heard Astral Weeks described as a type of therapy for angst, anxiety or nerves. It is surely that. I slip it into the Bose, sometimes at night when I write blogs, or during the day. One recent time was during a dark, rainy morning when I could not shake feeling blue.

    Astral Weeks is a pick-me-up, beautifully produced and offered to the world as a gift.