Astral Weeks review | Astral Weeks Live At the Hollywood Bowl

Great CD | Astral Weeks Live At the Hollywood Bowl | Van Morrison

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	• Astral Weeks Live At the Hollywood Bowl Van Morrison Listen To The Lion Records, 2009 average customer review:based on 97 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A True Musical Gift

Van Morrison has never made a bad album. Sure, we're all sick of hearing the Bert Berns stuff---but even that was way ahead of its time---at the time. What's become obvious to me since I first heard "Here Comes the Night", Mystic Eyes" or " Brown Eyed Girl" is the trick is to try to keep up with Van--cause he makes traveling at the speed of light sound effortless. Amen--Van

Astral Weeks review

Good album, not really the best, but defintely an important part for those that love Van.

Great CD

I bought this for my husband, who heard it at a party. He loves it, and has been listening to it over and over. It is a 2008 live recording of an album that was recorded 40 years ago. Van Morrison is still rockin after all these years! This cd comes through in such a way that can only be had by years of experience of life. It is richer and more full-bodied than the original. Hubby says it's best listened to with a drink and cigar at hand...good friends make it even better. (Of course, this is only if you are old enough for that sort of thing) The man sings and plays for himself...if you don't like it, your loss.

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Be joyous and then cry

What could be better than music that will make you joyous in one song and cry in the next? It doesn't get any better than this. Van is at the top of his game. Be sure to buy the DVD, too. It is one of the best birthday gifts I ever received. Absolutely mesmerizing!

Classic that stands the test of time.

To be honest, I hadn't listened to Astral Weeks in years and was a little skeptical of a live album based of off a 30 year old album. Let me say this as plain as I can, the album was so well done I bought tickets to see the live tour when it was in the area. I have never been transported or inspired by a concert like I was for this one. I have listened to this countless times since the show just trying to recapture the sensory treat.

I am a huge Van Morrison fan and he does not disappoint either live or on this album. Interestingly, the album was recorded from what was supposed to be a 2 night and done event. Not only has the album done well, the tour has done very well and grown better with experience. I understand Van will wrap the tour where he began - the Hollywood Bowl. It would be interesting to hear a live album based on the final show to compare to this recording.

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Recorded in 1968 when the Belfast-bred, blues-rock music legend Van Morrison was just 22 years old, Astral Weeks immediately received critical acclaim and continues to be cited as one of the greatest albums of the rock era. Subsequently the album has been ranked on numerous Best Albums of All Time lists, including #19 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and the 40th Greatest Album Ever on VH-1's list in 2003. Both Astral Weeks and Moondance (Morrison's next album) were inducted into the Grammy® Hall of Fame.

Astral Weeks became a cult favorite and was seen almost as a religion to many artists. On November 7 and 8, 2008, four decades later, at the age 63, Van Morrison revisited Astral Weeks live in its entirety at the Hollywood Bowl, and delivered a jawdropping, awe-inspiring performance.

The first half of the show featured Morrison playing timeless classics that have made him a legend, while the second half was the breathtaking performance of the Astral Weeks album.Van Morrison did not simply re-create what he did 40 years ago in a NY studio, but instead took the songs to a dramatically higher contemporary level. The jazz-rooted compositions of Astral Weeks are poetic stories of young love and the quest to find one's place in life. They were, and remain, ideal source material for musical improvisation that gives way to the sense of wonder for which Morrison has always striven.

". . . transcendence is what Morrison has been after with his music from the beginning, and it's what he achieved frequently on Friday, when he played his watershed 1968 album Astral Weeks live in its entirety for the first time. The wondrous, youthful timbre of his voice then has evolved over the years into a richer, fuller instrument, with every bit of its remarkable elasticity very much intact." (L. A. Times)

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