Astral Weeks

[Dancing Mustard]

So yeah, a couple of months ago I procured a copy of Van Morrison's 'Astral Weeks' album, and a copy of his 'Greatest Hits'. I have since come to the conclusion that Astral Weeks is complete and utter genius, and that it easily ranks in my top ten albums of all time.

What I wanted to know was this: Is anybody here familiar enough with the works of Van Morisson to suggest which album of his I should next invest in? I'm rather hoping that he has another album similar in style to Astral Weeks, and if you could direct me to that, then that would be just great. Alternatively if AW is a bit of a standout odd album and is something of a departure from his usual style, then which album would you regard as his 'best', and which would you recommend me to purchase instead?

Thanks in advance,
DM

[heavycola]

Astral Weeks is his best, definitely. It's genius, as you say. Still can't hear the beginning of 'Sweet thing' without hackles raising.
His other brilliant album is Moondance. Some beautiful tracks on there too. Heartily recommended. It's certainly different in style to AW, a little less introspective maybe and generally more upbeat, but they go together well. I'm a little jealous that you get to listen to it for the first time.

But my favourite VM song is called TB Sheets. It's fucking amazing. He wrote it when his girlfriend was dying of TB, i believe. But it's not on either of thoe albums and i'm not sure where it's from, to be honest. If you can find it on itunes give it a listen.