Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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57 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Van's 1968 revisited a triumph, 6 Feb 2009
So, you record an album in a couple of days when you're nothing more than a wet-behind-the-ears scallywag from Belfast. Paraphrasing Dylan, channeling Robert Johnson, Van had stuff bustin' from his head. It didn't match up with what he did with Them, there were no pop songs there, it was all a bit over the place and no one quite knew what to do with it. From the early 70s on, however, "Astral Weeks" began to appear on best of lists from here to there. Never a big seller, it has nonetheless become one of the touchstone albums of the past few decades. Morrison never revisited that type of sound in the studio, though he obviously still had a great love for the album. For whatever reason, because he found the sound in his head from 1968, because he doesn't own "Astral Weeks" (notice that it isn't included in the recent remastered album series), he took it out, gave it a shake, dusted it down, assembled a great band and took the whole thing to Hollywood. Though his voice doesn't have the range it did all those years ago it works a treat. This could have been a polished, clean and sharp performance; instead there's a real sense that Morrison is pushing the songs and the performers and, whisper it, enjoying the arse off himself. This could have been a disaster (the cover certainly is!) but it isn't; it's a powerful, moving, hugely enjoyable performance. The songs skip and skittle from Van and the band and there's a real sense of performance - this isn't an exhibition of a work of art from the past, it's a vital, dynamic revisiting of a weird, odd, moving and beguiling collection of songs. Van lobs in a couple of bonus tracks too - the fabulous Listen To The Lion and the much underrated Common One (which is essentially a vocal sparring match between him and Richie Buckley). A treat. Now, Van what the hell is going on with those teeth?
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58 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Welcome back Van . I have been healed . , 9 Feb 2009
As the saying goes "back in a former life" I was a huge Van Morrison fan. It was fair to say that Van's music was my religion and that "I was healed on a daily basis". To "practice" the religion I had seen Van in concert, way over 50 times, and had bought or swapped as many bootleg albums. I had everything the man ever released commercially.
The religion stopped for me about a decade ago; I stopped being a major fan--I thought I would never see the day but it happened. Why? Well, painful as it was, I had to accept that the albums that Van was releasing were so beneath the great man's talents that it was sad to see and hear.
I could no longer support the man on his journey; a journey that had taken the shape of releasing an album a year for the sake of it. Each album was identical to the last - the music never changed, either did the voice .Even when he experimented with Skiffle and Country, well the end result was even sadder. So I stopped buying the albums and stopped going to concerts. I still practiced the religion but it was on a diet of previous albums ,former glories.
Today I was in my local record store and I saw this album. Considering that I believe that "Astral Weeks "is the greatest album ever released and "Sweet Thing" the greatest song I had to see if the religion could be re-ignited. Well the answer is a definitive yes. I have just finished listening to the CD and I have goose bumps on my skin and hairs are standing on the back on my neck. Van is back.
Musically, Van has reached heights here I did not believe were ever possible again. Sure his voice is no longer the same but he has got it to levels he hasn't got it to in twenty years. He has put together a band that are as good as the Caledonia Soul Orchestra were thirty odd years ago. Ritchie Buckley, Paul Moran, the string section, everyone, reach levels of musical brilliance to match the genius of Van.
This is the reworking of a masterpiece, different to the original but every bit as good . Is it better - that is impossible but I repeat it is as good . I can't pick highlights - the whole album is so superb. As you can read I am running out of superlatives.
As for the cover , I can only remember one other album cover that Van smiled and that was where a photographer tricked him and the record company released it much to Van's displeasure . In this case I would bet that the image was caught live during the performance and that Van gave his blessing to the photo to be used as an indication that he too was totally surprised to revisit, to be transcended back into the garden, all misty wet with rain, to be healed again. Or best perhaps to leave it to Van's words reproduced on the back insert " Get on the train....I believe I've transcended ....I do believe ....I've transcended...to be born again - I have transcended ....I've transcended .......I've transcended TIME."
Welcome back Van. I thought I would not live to see the day I got my religion back. I had hoped, never expected. A grateful fan.
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28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Astral Weeks Revisited, 9 Feb 2009
I've sat and listened to the original release of this album more times than I could possibly remember, since I first came across it in 1973.
To have Van revisit this masterpiece, himself, all in one go , is a dream come true.
Van approaches his interpretation of these songs anew, from a perspective of 40 years on, looking back at that time in his life when anything was possible. The voice has changed since then, but the artistry has not diminished.
On the Friday night in November in the Hollywood Bowl, when Van performed Slim Slow Slider,
I was conscious of being present in a moment of artistic beauty at the instant of great art being created.
It lifted me right up and took me way beyond where ever I'd been in terms of my relationship with, and my understanding of,
that song prior to that performance.
The whole trip to L.A. had already proved to be socially worthwhile, and that performance of that song on that night made it musically and artistically worthwhile.
And it stayed that way for the rest of the show , with Madame George laying me out completely.
And when I just listened to Slider on the new release , it totally re enforced my feelings about that moment.
Any critic who rates this album anything less than 11 on the ten scale, has missed the point altogether - pretty
much like the first time round!
As Mr T once said " I pity the fool!"
Shame we got the Saturday Madame George , which is merely stellar! :-)
As to the music on this album,Shortly after the shows in November, someone
declared that the violinist Tony Fitzgibbon won the award for MVP.
After listening to the official release, there can be little doubt that this is the case. Extra ordinary and empathetic, he is totally in the zone.
But I think, also that we must say a Big Hand for the Band.
This ensemble is as sweet as can be, and the whole thing is held together
by the glue that is David Hayes on bass
For me, Hayes is the best bass player I've heard in any Van Morrison band
and his performance on this album is the equal of the original.
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