Van Morrison. Astral Weeks (1968)

Astral Weeks is a folk-rock and R & B album by Northern Irish musician Van Morrison, released in November 1968 on Warner Bros. Records. Astral Weeks was critically acclaimed upon its first release. It has often been placed on the most authoritative lists of best albums of all time: in the 1995 MOJO list of 100 Best Albums it was listed as #2 and was #19 on the Rolling Stone Magazine's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003.It became and remains a cult favourite, despite the fact that it failed to achieve significant mainstream sales success for decades. (It finally went gold in 2001).

On the back cover of the album sleeve is printed a poem with Van Morrison's signature. The poem obviously written to his then-wife Janet Planet ends with the lines:

I close my eyes and sleep for love comes flowing streams of consciousness

Soft like snow, to and fro,

Let us go there together, darlin', way from the river to here and now

And carry it with a smile, bumper to bumper

Stepping lightly, just like a ballerina.

The album cover photograph of Van Morrison was taken by Joel Brodsky, best known for his "Young Lions" photoshoot with Jim Morrison that resulted in the photograph of Jim used on the 1985 album cover of The Best of the Doors.

Track Listing

All songs were written by Van Morrison.

Side one: Part One: In The Beginning

1. "Astral Weeks" – 7:00
2. "Beside You" – 5:10
3. "Sweet Thing" – 4:10
4. "Cyprus Avenue" – 6:50

Side two: Part Two: Afterwards

1. "The Way Young Lovers Do" – 3:10
2. "Madame George" – 9:25
3. "Ballerina" – 7:00
4. "Slim Slow Slider" – 3:20

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