He tapped into some older, stockpiled compositions and wrote a few new ones. Songs such as “Sweet Thing,” “Cyprus Avenue,” and “The Way Young Lovers Do” (the latter two made the cut on Legacy’s recent double Morrison career spanning package), hit the spot between Morrison’s sprawling, often inscrutable lyrics - he claims many were channeled and it sounds it - and music that both falls between and combines genres with grace and beauty.Īrriving after his hit Moondance put him on the map, Morrison was rushed to release His Band and the Street Choir for 1970’s Christmas shopping season. Perhaps that imbues a sense of finding something special that only a cult following are clued into. 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. Despite its 1968 recording, nothing sounds quite like Astral Weeks not then, not now.
