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Van Morrison
Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl
Listen To The Lion Records
The Beatles said "It was thirty years ago today" and that's a helluva long time, but Astral Weeks was recorded exactly forty years before the day they re-recorded it live at the Hollywood Bowl and for those of you quivering under your beds, let me just say that first of all, yes, it is a long fucking time, but fear not: Van, at 63, is in good form, good as ever, and still fearlessly delivering the goods. He's backed by forty musicians (get it...forty?), many of who played on the original (yup). The instrumentation is lush, naturally, lots of cool guitars and pretty licks and flutes, violins and cellos (and after only one rehearsal...holy shit) but the thing that struck me the most while listening to this is that it appears that Van is unchanged; he's still that guy that who can move you in a phrase. "Slim Slow Slider" is especially poignant, more so than on the LP. "The Way That Young Lovers Do," my favorite on the original, is spectacular, "Cypress Avenue" and "Madame George," too. Listening to this CD is like opening your screen door at the end of a hot summer's day and seeing a long lost pal standing there, ready to go over old times with you like they just happened yesterday. Bless the Belfast Cowboy. He's ornery as hell but he did a great job raising us. Check out my review of the original Astral Weeks at www.vinylprincess.blogspot.com
—The Vinyl Princess
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