![]() ![]() The weight of experience along with some kind of personal turning point seems to allow Van to let loose in a way that he hasn't done for years. And make no mistake, this is deeply spiritual stuff. The original running order has been altered, numbers like the opening title track, Slim Slow Slider or Cypress Avenue get extended codas where Van lets his muse take full flow, leading him back into those blissful, repeated exhortations that always made his live shows something of a religious experience. Before accusations start flying of critics merely liking this because it harks back to his supposed 'glory years' of ther late 60s and early 70s, take note: this album succeeds because it steadfastly refuses to merely recreate that was, in its stream-of-consciousness-folk-jazz way, unrepeatable. Morrison's last album, Keep it Simple, certainly saw him lighten up and get in the groove in a way he hasn't done for aeons, but this is a quantum leap. Wailing, emoting and yes, reinventing his mystical chronicle of a Belfast childhood, supported by a superb band (with whom he'd had just one full rehearsal) this is Van the Man in peak form. For a man whose truculence and seemingly inexorable down-shifting into some kind of pub blues/jazz act had made most of his long time fans despair that he'd anything really truly special left to offer, Astral Weeks Live is nothing short of miraculous. Recorded over two nights in 2008, this live reprisal of Van Morrison's most critically lauded album is one hell of a surprise. ![]()
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