Van Morrison-Astral Weeks (1968)


 

Artist:  Van Morrison

Title: Astral Weeks

Label:  Warner Bros.

Format:LP"

Cat: WS 1768

Year of Release: 1968

Country and Year of Edition: US repress, cream labels

Listed Condition: VG+/VG+  

Sell Date: 7/15/22

Sell Price: $24.99

Discogs Last Sold:2/20/22 NM/VG+ $24.99

Low: $12.99 VG/VG

Median: $24.26

Average: $25.29

High: $42.00 NM/VG+

Current low price:$21.18

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 2

Have/Want: 511/482

Where Sold: Clarkston, WA

Time it took to sell: 7 years

Where and When Bought: Worcester Al Bums used mid 80's $3.99

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A

Sad To See It Go: No

"Behind You" is the ultimate stalkers lament.  If I didn't know better, I would've thought "you breathe in/you breathe out/you breathe in/you breathe out/and you're highhhhhhhh..." was either about dope or a child's hyperventilation.  But no, just a partner of Van's narrative,  trying to escape, but Van's character is right behind.

And so it goes, the album open to misinterpretation in 2 parts, one titled In The Beginning and one titled Afterwards.  Perpetually lauded in the Greatest Of All Time Rock canon, Astral Weeks is indeed uniformly excellent.  If I didn't know it cold in high school when I bought it, I had a roommate that made sure of it years later and yet still long ago.  Yet, the familiarity is not one of knowing every word or heartily singing along aloud like "Gloria" or  in my head like "Into The Mystic" or "Sunny Side Of The Road”.  It's more a tertiary knowledge, like cat shit in the box that hasn't begun to smell.  You know it's there, but requires a bit of action to move along.  If the action doesn't happen there will be a motivating factor to make it so.

Rock albums aren't meant to have a professor standing over the listener armed with footnotes and an army of musicologists to reference.  They may ponder the harpsichord arrangement of Larry Fallon on "Cypress Avenue."  Or merely recognize that avenue in the lyric of "Madame George."  

Sometimes it's best to keep your distance in the backstreets.


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