132. Van Morrison — Astral Weeks (1968)

1. I was looking forward to this one, uncertain what to expect. Van Morrison is one of those artists I always knew I should respect without really knowing; I knew him as the artist behind great tunes like “Brown Eyed Girl” and “Moondance,” and more recently as one of a string of unfortunately conservative idiot old rockers who think vaccines and lockdowns to save lives are bad, and so this record came out of left field. It practically came out of the left field stands, it was so far away from what I anticipated.
2. Rather than the tight, structured pop tunes he’s more famous for, Astral Weeks finds Morrison recording stream of consciousness, playing looping acoustic guitars and often singing without a clear melody to follow, lacking choruses, the words and music spilling out of him. The first time I gave it a spin, it all really blended together; I was bored. A couple spins later and I more get it; rather than meander, it mesmerizes. I’ve not sat down to listen with a lyric sheet in front of me, but I suspect I’ll appreciate it even more with that addendum.
3. The star, aside from Morrison himself, is bassist Richard Davis, who holds the whole thing together with his often improvised-sounding jazz acoustic bass lines. Once I started to notice those notes, the whole thing clicked much more deeply for me.
4. The influence on some artists is really clear; Bruce Springsteen’s first two albums take this style and fit it into defined songs, while Glen Hansard adopted the troubadour nature of the tunes and vocals. Evidently the first 15 minutes of Taxi Driver is based on this album. It’s not going to be ranked as highly on my list as the general critical public seems to place it, but I’m happy to have given it its time, and look forward to revisiting in time.

Next up: yet another Byrds album.

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