Publications
Partners
The disappointment lies in realising how easily you let momentous albums of your past turn themselves into monuments set in stone, rather than the realistically mutable memories that would do the artist more justice.
All that is by rather ponderous way of saying - this 2008 recording is not nearly as good as the original 1968 studio version, but then neither is the original studio version. But both are still damn good.
It's kind of like having sex with an ex-girlfriend you haven't seen for many years. It can still be good, but it'll make you rethink the intensity of the initial relationship. Really, in music as well as life, there is no going back.
But Morrison and a stellar (not a cliché I would normally use, but it is Astral Weeks) cast of musicians come damn close to producing a classic. If there had been no original, this would be the classic. It's just disconcerting listening to an audience whistling and cheering songs that were designed to create the illusion that they were written for you, or at least for individuals huddled under headphones. We shouldn't let these dilatory musings put us off, though.
This is still a great album to listen to, and if it inspires you to go back to the original, even better. To refresh the memories of those of you who lived the 60s not wisely, but too well man, Astral Weeks was a revelatory amalgamation of jazz, bluesy rock, disjointedly beautiful lyrics and, well, Van Morrison.
The last element is a not inconsiderable addition to the mix. Nobody else has quite the laconic, wounded, amused delivery of Morrison. That's probably why I can't think of too many great covers of Van Morrison songs, except Patti Smith's "Gloria". On Astral Weeks Live, Morrison does himself justice, and his legend justice. It might not match many people's recollections of that first sharp, shocking discovery of the original, but it'll give a lot more people a similar awakening to the joys of intelligent songwriting.
All that is by rather ponderous way of saying - this 2008 recording is not nearly as good as the original 1968 studio version, but then neither is the original studio version. But both are still damn good.
It's kind of like having sex with an ex-girlfriend you haven't seen for many years. It can still be good, but it'll make you rethink the intensity of the initial relationship. Really, in music as well as life, there is no going back.
But Morrison and a stellar (not a cliché I would normally use, but it is Astral Weeks) cast of musicians come damn close to producing a classic. If there had been no original, this would be the classic. It's just disconcerting listening to an audience whistling and cheering songs that were designed to create the illusion that they were written for you, or at least for individuals huddled under headphones. We shouldn't let these dilatory musings put us off, though.
This is still a great album to listen to, and if it inspires you to go back to the original, even better. To refresh the memories of those of you who lived the 60s not wisely, but too well man, Astral Weeks was a revelatory amalgamation of jazz, bluesy rock, disjointedly beautiful lyrics and, well, Van Morrison.
The last element is a not inconsiderable addition to the mix. Nobody else has quite the laconic, wounded, amused delivery of Morrison. That's probably why I can't think of too many great covers of Van Morrison songs, except Patti Smith's "Gloria". On Astral Weeks Live, Morrison does himself justice, and his legend justice. It might not match many people's recollections of that first sharp, shocking discovery of the original, but it'll give a lot more people a similar awakening to the joys of intelligent songwriting.
