Not surprisingly, the album never charted at the time. It remains unique in Morrison’s bulging, diverse 50 year catalog and still inspires with its sheer audacity. The result is riveting, even on its longest, most winding and dreamy tunes. From the opening title track, bassist Richard Davis’ rubbery stand-up lines flutter and ground Morrison’s poetic lyrics with their near free-form delivery. Morrison’s chamber jazz/folk/singer-songwriter masterpiece exists in a timeless space that still makes it seem fresh and groundbreaking. While neither benefit from the impressive vault excavation work done on Moondance (the super deluxe version of that ran 5 discs), these overdue reissues that include a smattering of bonus tracks and enhanced booklets, at least bring them up to date with substantially improved sonics, excellent historical liner notes and appropriately classy presentation.ĭespite its 1968 recording, nothing sounds quite like Astral Weeks not then, not now. rights to the three earliest classics, finally got around to remastering and expanding them first with Moondance in 2013, now Astral Weeks and … Street Choir. It has taken too long but Warner Brothers, who owns the U.S.
