# Astral Weeks



## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

There's a new restoration with additional tracks imminent. Clear the machine. I'm waiting

This is decent overview of some of the rumours that surround the original recording.

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/blog/2015/08/31/van-morrison-astral-weeks-reissue/

I have to say last years 5 CD version of Moondance was for diehards only and this is probably the same.

Still, more from Astral Weeks...Christmas will come early this year.

EDIT: I had it on preorder and Santa has just flown by.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Is there any word as to how far this reissue project is being taken and has Sir Ivan de Belfast himself had anything to do it? 

There was a planned overhaul of much of his 60s and 70s output some years ago but Van apparently pulled the plug part the way through. Pity, as the albums I really wanted are now very expensive - specifically Hard Nose the Highway and The Story of Them.


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Interesting article. Thanks for posting it.

I'd like to know more about what the long version of Slim Slow Slider will contain. Some years ago I read that a great sax solo had been chopped off the end. If that has been restored I'd be interested, but if, as the article seems to suggest, that part of the tape ended up being lost, what has been used to make the track longer?


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Perhaps he'll re-record a less grating vocal for Beside You? Arggh, I can't bear it! That aside, the album is one of my favourites.


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Dr Johnson said:


> Interesting article. Thanks for posting it.
> 
> I'd like to know more about what the long version of Slim Slow Slider will contain. Some years ago I read that a great sax solo had been chopped off the end. If that has been restored I'd be interested, but if, as the article seems to suggest, that part of the tape ended up being lost, what has been used to make the track longer?


Now we can all judge for ourselves here.

To me it sounds as though there is a break in the tape and that the great sax solo has indeed been lost for ever.


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## gHeadphone (Mar 30, 2015)

Ah im really looking forward to this! What a great album, loose and wild in equal measure.


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## Iean (Nov 17, 2015)

One of my all-time favorite CDs :angel:


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Dr Johnson said:


> Now we can all judge for ourselves here.
> 
> To me it sounds as though there is a break in the tape and that the great sax solo has indeed been lost for ever.


I'm not sure...the way these rumours grow,the music that's lost is always "amazing". Payne was not even supposed to be on the session and was more of a flautist than sax player so my guess is that's what we've all been waiting for. What knocked the stuffing out of me is Van coming in after the sax nods off and repeating six times "Glory be to him" in what sounds just like the Sally Army type of music that I heard as a kid in Ulster. I doubt Astral Weeks would have gained such renown had it finished like that! Lewis Merenstien ,the producer, has never got the full praise he deserves and that edit is a good case in point.

The stand out addition for me is the alternate take of Madam George, mostly because it is without the string overdubs. Again that shows the producers deft hand in his choice of arranger and the fact he fades them out for a while before bringing them back for the finale.

Time is short but Van was one of the first artists to be given the power to be his own producer. Listen to his next few albums and the sound is dire and the arrangements half finished. A tragedy when I think of what they might have been. You only have to contrast the reputation he had at the time as a live performer and the stuff issued on the records. It is no coincidence to me that his live album was overseen by Ted Templeman with superb taste and the result is amazing. If they are going to contimue raiding the archive I hope they release a multi CD affair with each of the nights they recorded without the order being chopped around. The released album is a composite but builds superbly.

You want live music? Can anyone point to better example of all that means?






The Heylin Biography is pretty good on this period and I will dig it out and check the facts.


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

You may be right: a great sax solo may not have been lost, but there _is_ a break in the tape and, as you say, the ending was better left off the original.


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

50 years old. 

Many more Happy Returns.


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Belowpar said:


> Time is short but Van was one of the first artists to be given the power to be his own producer. Listen to his next few albums and the sound is dire and the arrangements half finished. A tragedy when I think of what they might have been. You only have to contrast the reputation he had at the time as a live performer and the stuff issued on the records. It is no coincidence to me that his live album was overseen by Ted Templeman with superb taste and the result is amazing. If they are going to contimue raiding the archive I hope they release a multi CD affair with each of the nights they recorded without the order being chopped around. The released album is a composite but builds superbly.
> .


Tempis fugit. Some wishes do come true. They released a 4 CD live version of the alternate concerts recorded.

May have to sign up to a music service - All CDs in boxes for at least the next 4 months and I'm now really feeling it!


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

Belowpar said:


> Tempis fugit. Some wishes do come true. They released a 4 CD live version of the alternate concerts recorded.
> 
> May have to sign up to a music service - All CDs in boxes for at least the next 4 months and I'm now really feeling it!


Do it......

From th age of 14 when I heard Too Late on its release it has subsequently stayed with me and never been diminshed by familiarity...the box set just confirms how great a band he had and how strong a song writer he was/is?.....

I actually envy you if you have not yet heard the box set !!!!!!


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