Astral Weeks by Van Morrison

Pros: Pretty enough music, repetitive and memorable. The ethos is pleasantly hippy.
Cons: The music's simple repetition turns downright boring and insulting after awhile, like watching "Barney".

So, you thought you'd never catch me giving something less than four stars, eh? Fooled you! After reading all the hype about "best album ever recorded" I picked this up and went into the first listening with all kinds of excited expectations. Wow. ...

Pros: An entire CD of exceptional listening
Cons: None

Listen to this CD in its entirety, with excellent equipment, headphones, in bed, the car, take a break, and listen anywhere you can that allows you to give it 100% of your attention. Because you may feel compelled to stop what you are doing and listen...

Pros: Brilliant, Stunning, Amazing,etc., etc.
Cons: None

There are those albums that once you’ve heard them it is hard to imagine what your life was like before them. They are so brilliant, so affecting, seeming to speak to you directly, that you feel enriched and privileged to be apart of what you...

Pros: The greatest piece of music ever recorded. Sex, love, heartache, passion, pain. It's all here.
Cons: It doesn't get any better. Every person should own two copies of this record.

Writing a review about your favorite album of all time is a delicate thing, and must be approached with precision and care. Lester Bangs already wrote the single best interpretation and deconstruction of Astral Weeks that I have ever read. In fac ...

Pros: Gorgeous performances and songs
Cons: Maybe too jazzy and inaccessible for some

Van Morrison’s album Astral Weeks is considered by many critics to be one of the finest albums ever made. Combining the jazzy elements of acoustic bass and vibraphone (xylophone), with acoustic guitars, horns, flutes and strings, what was created...

Pros: That voice, the music, musicianship, arrangements, production. everything
Cons: Are you mad!?!

I was reading Lester Bang's seminal review of this album just this morning and something struck me. How one person can be so wrong and yet so right in the same breath. Many view Bangs’ piece as the quintessential review of this work, and while I can ...

Pros: A very lasting and emotionally powerful album.
Cons: The music is deceptively simple, the usual caveats with "great" albums.

After reading all the hype about "best album ever recorded" I picked this up and went into the first listening with all kinds of excited expectations. Wow. How can so many be so wrong? Honestly, after listening to Van Morrison's Astral ...

Pros: birth
Cons: death

When Morrison left Them (the most American of British Invasion acts) he started his solo career by releasing a terminally poppy single, “Brown Eyed Girl”. After this, no one would have suspected that Van would deliver such a unusual and captivating...

Pros: Cannot fail to move you.
Cons: Eventually you have to turn it off.

Positively the most fabulous, strange, outlandish album of Van Morrison's career . . .

. . . but let me slow down a bit before I scare you off.

A few years ago a friend came to visit. She had this tape with her that she wanted me...

Pros: lush, beautiful orchestration
Cons: sometimes too abstract

I've always been a fan of Van Morrison. I think the first time I heard Brown Eyed Girl, I was hooked. As the years go by, I have grown to appreciate a lot of his different music on various different levels. He is a great rock/pop writer who is also...

Pros: beautiful in the way poetry can be, the way Van takes the lyrics and sings them like no one else ever may again
Cons: It can be as depressing as great poetry as well

Earlier this year, on April 9th to be exact, I dislocated my ankle and was rendered completely invalid for over a month and a half. I was on crutches and then I used a cane, and still to this day I can't walk right, my leg will click and hurt, and I...

Pros: Poetic, passionate, unforgettable
Cons: none

I bought The Best Of Van Morrison on CD when it came out in 1990 or thereabouts. I was 16 and just starting to really appreciate good music. I soon found that I knew most of the songs from the radio. I fell in love with Van's music and embarked on...

Pros: The essential Van Morrison. Not one miss. Speallbounding.
Cons: Different that his other stuff, but that's not a bad thing.

My father recently leant me this album, as he was, and still is, a huge Van Morrison fan. He has, however, been quite disappointed with his last few mediocre attempts, and wanted to prove to me that this guy used to have it.

I listened to this...