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Astral Weeks is a folk rock and R & B album by IrishThe island of Ireland ire in Irish, Airlann in Ulster Scots) is the third-largest island in Europe. It lies on the west side of the Irish Sea, close to the island of Great Britain. It is composed of the Republic of Ireland in the south and Northern Irelan musicianA musician is a person who plays or composes music. Musicians can be classified by how they make music: A singer (also called a vocalist) uses his or her voice. An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument. Composers and songwriters make up music and wri Van Morrison, recorded in a matter of days, and released in November of 1968 (see 1968 in musicSee also 1967 in music, other events of 1968, 1969 in music, 1960s in music and the list of 'years in music' Events January 4 Guitarist Jimi Hendrix is jailed by Stockholm police, after trashing a hotel room during a drunken fist fight with bassist Noel R). Astral Weeks was critically acclaimed upon its first release and remains a cult favorite, in spite of never achieving significant mainstream success.

The influential rock journalist Lester BangsLester Bangs (born Leslie Conway Bangs December 14, 1948 April 30, 1982) was an American music journalist, author and musician. A very influential, if not founding, voice in rock music criticism, Bangs died in New York City, overdosing after treating a co wrote in 1979 "It sounded like the man who made Astral Weeks was in terrible pain, pain most of Van Morrison's previous works had only suggested; but like the later albums by The Velvet Underground, there was a redemptive element in the blackness, ultimate compassion for the suffering of others, and a swath of pure beauty and mystical awe that cut right through the heart of the work."

With varied rhythms and frenzied vocals, mixed with bizarre lyrics that evoke images instead of coherent ideas and narratives, Astral Weeks has been compared to the school of Impressionism in painting, which similarly seeks to evoke emotions associated with an image. While few would argue that Astral Weeks is a concept album, the songs do seem to link together and form an extremely loose narrative.

The musician John Cale was recording next to Van Morrison's studio, and reported "Morrison couldn't work with anybody, so finally they just shut him in the studio by himself. He did all the songs with just an acoustic guitar, and later they overdubbed the rest of it around his tapes."

This is in fact completely untrue - the live tracks for the sessions were performed by Van on vocals and acoustic guitar, along with upright bass (not bass guitar), second acoustic guitar, vibes, flute, and drums. The only instruments added afterwards were strings, horns and the occasional drum part.

"Astral Weeks" uses a form of symbolism that would eventually become a staple of his songs, equating earthly love and heaven, or the closest a living being can get to it. Morrison's guitar and Richard Davis' bass guitar can be seen as the earth opposing the tuneful horns and Connie Kay 's percussion.

Morrison has denied that "Madame George" (pronounced "Madame Joy") is about a transvestite, as many have believed. An earlier recording with slightly altered lyrics and a much swifter tempo changes the tone considerably from the Astral Weeks recording, which is downbeat and nostalgic; the earlier recording is joyous, and seems to be from the point-of-view of a partygoer who sees the titular character.

The blues song "Cyprus Avenue" is a live favorite of Van Morrison's fans.

In 2003 the TV network VH1 named Astral Weeks the 40th greatest album of all time. The same year Rolling Stone magazine named it the 19th greatest album of all time (link)