Page "Van Morrison" Paragraph 21

Morrison has said, " When Astral Weeks came out, I was starving, literally.

" Released in 1968, the album eventually achieved critical acclaim, but it originally received an indifferent response from the public.

To this day, it remains in an unclassifiable music genre and has been described variously as hypnotic, meditative, and as possessing a unique musical power.

It has been compared to French Impressionism and mystical Celtic poetry.

A 2004 Rolling Stone magazine review begins with the words: " This is music of such enigmatic beauty that thirty-five years after its release, Astral Weeks still defies easy, admiring description.

" Alan Light would later describe Astral Weeks as " like nothing he had done previously — and really, nothing anyone had done previously.

Morrison sings of lost love, death, and nostalgia for childhood in the Celtic soul that would become his signature.

" It has been placed on many lists of best albums of all time.

In the 1995 Mojo list of 100 Best Albums, it was listed as number two and was number nineteen on the Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003.

In December 2009, it was voted the top Irish album of all time by a poll of leading Irish musicians conducted by Hot Press magazine.