Elvis Costello called it ‘the most adventurous record made in the rock medium.’ Legendary music critic Lester Bangs declared it the most significant record in his life, a ‘mystical document.”Īnd yet, Astral Weeks has gone decades without a significant update. Philip Seymour Hoffman quoted it in his Oscar acceptance speech. Martin Scorsese claims the first 15 minutes of Taxi Driver are based on it. One question I tried to ask everyone was, “Why hasn’t the album ever been remastered and re-released in an expanded edition?” After all, reissues of classic albums-usually accompanied by outtakes and demo versions-are one of the last sure things in the old, decrepit part of the record industry that involves people buying music.Īstral Weeks is regarded, as I wrote in April, “ as one of the best albums in the rock ’n’ roll canon. In the course of my reporting, I attempted to track down everyone who was involved with the album’s creation-and reached almost everyone, except the reclusive Van himself-to tell the story of the wild circumstances that led Morrison to compose its songs in an apartment on Green Street in Central Square. ![]() Astral Weeks Cover by John Keogh on FlickrĮarlier this year, I wrote about the Boston and Cambridge roots of Van Morrison’s psych-rock masterpiece, Astral Weeks.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |