Who recorded the 1968 album 'Astral Weeks'?
"contemplative and meandering narratives provide a counterbalance to the controlled catharsis of June's soul"". ""The Guardian"" Dave Simpson found the ""gloriously ethereal atmosphere"" of ""Astral Plane"" reminiscent of Van Morrison's ""Astral Weeks"". Josh Hurst of ""Slant Magazine"" wrote, ""[The] mingling of the earthbound and the otherworldly is crucial to the album, and June makes it sound like the most natural thing in the world."" June's songwriting also received praise. Emily Zimmerman of ""Exclaim!"" wrote that ""her persona as a creator is both spellbinding and well versed in the ways of the world"". ""Rolling Stone"" ranked the album at No. 24"
"with an unusual arrangement, the song was recorded at the ""Astral Weeks"" sessions on September 25, 1968, at Century Sound Studio with Lewis Merenstein as producer. The strings and harpsichord were overdubbed a month later. Calling it the central song of the album, Allmusic described it as ""a chamber-music hybrid of folk-blues, jazz, and classical music, and over it Morrison sings a meditative memory lyric about his adolescence in Belfast, Northern Ireland."" On the ""Astral Weeks"" recording, Morrison's vocals are backed by his acoustic guitar, Richard Davis on acoustic bass, along with flute, harpsichord and strings. According to Roy Kane,"
"time. The ""Astral Weeks"" band featured guitarist Jay Berliner, who had played on the album that was released forty years previously in November 1968. Also featured on piano was Roger Kellaway. A live album entitled ""Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl"" resulted from these two performances. The new live album on CD was released on 24 February 2009, followed by a DVD from the performances. The DVD, """" was released via Amazon Exclusive on 19 May 2009. In February and March 2009, Morrison returned to the US for ""Astral Weeks Live"" concerts, interviews and TV appearances with concerts at"
"full expression with ""Astral Weeks"" in 1968 and he was noted to have remained a ""master of his transcendental craft"" in 2009 while performing the ""Astral Weeks"" songs live. This musical art form was based on stream of consciousness songwriting and emotional vocalising of lyrics that have no basis in normal structure or symmetry. His live performances are dependent on building dynamics with spontaneity between himself and his band, whom he controls with hand gestures throughout, sometimes signalling impromptu solos from a selected band member. The music and vocals build towards a hypnotic and trance-like state that depends on in-the-moment"
"Weeks"" session on October 15, 1968, at Century Sound Studios in New York City with Lewis Merenstein as producer. It is the only song on the album that looks forward instead of backward: Van Morrison described the song to Ritchie Yorke: """"Sweet Thing' is another romantic song. It contemplates gardens and things like that...wet with rain. It's a romantic love ballad not about anybody in particular but about a feeling."""" The song was listed as No. 415 on the All Time 885 Greatest Songs compiled in 2004 by WXPN from listener's votes. Sweet Thing"" is the only song from ""Astral"
"or creation of this release, as it was an unauthorized appropriation of circulating material created long after his death. Astral Weeks (Charles Mingus album) Astral Weeks is an unauthorized bootleg album of Charles Mingus' music, released by ""Moon Records"" in Italy on vinyl and CD in 1990. The material was recorded live in Copenhagen, on April 14, 1964, during Mingus's European tour that month and The European Tour.</ref> The release contains only two tracks: ""Fables of Faubus"" and ""Meditations"", although the full performance of his group's music that day also included other compositions that are absent from the Moon releases."
"they took place forty years after the classic ""Astral Weeks"" was first released by Warner Bros. Records in 1968. One of the original musicians, guitarist Jay Berliner, joined with the many other musicians on the revisited version of ""Astral Weeks"". The New York Daily News in the January 4 edition named ""Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl"" as one of the ""Five Most Anticipated Pop Music Events for 2009"". A DVD of performances from the concerts, """" is an Amazon.com Exclusive and was released on May 19, 2009. The album won ""Live Album of the Year"" at the MPG"
"Lewis Merenstein Lewis Merenstein (October 23, 1934 – September 6, 2016) was an American record producer, most famous as the producer of the Van Morrison album ""Astral Weeks"", and as executive producer for ""Moondance"", Morrison's 1970 album. ""Astral Weeks"" was listed as #19 on the Rolling Stone Magazine's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003. In November 2006, when CNN published their list of ""The All-Time 100 Albums"", ""Astral Weeks"" was on the list, along with ""Moondance"". He was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1934; his aunt was Bess Berman, co-founder of the Apollo record label. He moved"
"as it did in 1968 and has every year in between"". ""Astral Weeks"" has appeared in all-time best album polls worldwide, and according to Acclaimed Music, it is the 15th most ranked record in critics' all-time lists. In 1978, it was voted the 4th best album of all time in Paul Gambaccini's poll of 50 prominent American and English rock critics. It was also ranked second greatest by ""Mojo"" in 1995, 19th by ""Rolling Stone"" in 2003, and 3rd by ""The Times"". In 1998, it was voted the 9th greatest album of all time in a ""Music of the Millennium"""
"vocals and acoustic guitar in a separate vocal booth with the other musicians playing together on upright bass, lead acoustic guitar, vibes, flute, and drums. The strings and horns constituted the only instruments added subsequently to the initial recording sessions. Producer Lewis Merenstein had a background in jazz, and according to Merenstein, Morrison ""was not an aficionado of jazz when I met him. R&B and soul, yes; but jazz, no."" For the ""Astral Weeks"" recording sessions, Merenstein first contacted veteran bassist Richard Davis. Perhaps best known for his work with Eric Dolphy, Davis essentially served as the session leader, and"
"pneumonia in New York City. Lewis Merenstein Lewis Merenstein (October 23, 1934 – September 6, 2016) was an American record producer, most famous as the producer of the Van Morrison album ""Astral Weeks"", and as executive producer for ""Moondance"", Morrison's 1970 album. ""Astral Weeks"" was listed as #19 on the Rolling Stone Magazine's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003. In November 2006, when CNN published their list of ""The All-Time 100 Albums"", ""Astral Weeks"" was on the list, along with ""Moondance"". He was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1934; his aunt was Bess Berman, co-founder of the"
"vocal improvisation and a freer, folkier feel"". Later, Kielbania heard jazz-trained flautist John Payne for the first time while sitting in on a jam session. He invited Payne to the club where he played with Morrison, hoping Morrison would invite him to join them. After allowing Payne to sit in on one performance, Morrison extended an invitation, which Payne accepted. The trio of Payne, Kielbania, and Morrison continued performing for four months. In the weeks they played at the Catacombs, they began to develop the template for ""Astral Weeks"". It was around this time that Warner Bros. Records approached Morrison,"
"songs again gives them even more soul than they did in 1968. There's a freedom to his voice that fills you up - like going to church - you feel deep inside. It's simple. It's transcendent."" ""Daily News"" critic Jim Farber concluded: ""But its most transcendent moments showcase the pleasure of letting a singer take his voice to the limit."" ""The Observer"" critic's review commented that: ""Transcendence is an overused word, but when Morrison hits his stride he seems to float onto another plane."" Speaking of the 1968 ""Astral Weeks"" recording, Morrison told David Wild with ""Rolling Stone"": ""It received"
"complete evening show of the two informal small band concerts of June 27, 1968. On August 5, 2008, Legacy released a 4-CD compilation of the complete recording sessions for the special. on June 20–23, 29 1968 on June 27, 1968 Elvis (1968 album) Elvis is a live album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released by RCA Records in December 1968. It was recorded from his 1968 ""Elvis"" special in Burbank, California at Western Recorders on June 20, 21, 22 and 23, 1968, and at NBC Studios (Burbank) on June 27 and 29, 1968. It peaked at #8 on"
"passion and tenderness that have always mixed in the best postwar popular music"". ""Astral Weeks"" influenced future releases of other musicians such as Bono and Bruce Springsteen. Mike Ragogna with ""The Huffington Post"" wrote that ""Astral Weeks"" influenced Springsteen's 1973 first album ""Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J."" and two of the songs from his second. Steven Van Zandt, from Springsteen's E Street Band, has said: """"Astral Weeks"" was like a religion to us."" According to writer Steve Turner, the album also became popular with travelers of the hippie trail, ""from Europe through to Kathmandu and there were even reports of"
"the songs ""Madame George"" and ""Cyprus Avenue"" in stream of consciousness: ""['Madame George'] just came right out...The song is just a stream of consciousness thing, as is 'Cyprus Avenue'...I didn't even think about what I was writing."" In an interview with ""Paste"" in 2009, Morrison said the songs on ""Astral Weeks"" were written ""prior to 1968 over a period of five years"". In an NPR review he comments: ""It's not about me. It's totally fictional. It's put together of composites, of conversations I heard—you know, things I saw in movies, newspapers, books, whatever. It comes out as stories. That's it."
"Elvis (1968 album) Elvis is a live album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released by RCA Records in December 1968. It was recorded from his 1968 ""Elvis"" special in Burbank, California at Western Recorders on June 20, 21, 22 and 23, 1968, and at NBC Studios (Burbank) on June 27 and 29, 1968. It peaked at #8 on the ""Billboard"" 200. It was certified Gold on July 22, 1969 and Platinum on July 15, 1999 by the RIAA. The live album from the ""Elvis"" special is the audio-only version of the special, and consists of a mixture of"
"surpassing both ""Yesterday"" by the Beatles and ""Stand by Me"" by Ben E. King. The group's 1968 ""Greatest Hits album"" was also a major hit, reaching #4 on the US album chart. In 1968, Mason Williams' instrumental composition ""Classical Gas"" reached #2 on the ""Billboard"" chart, selling more than a million copies, and Williams won three Grammys that year. Another notable Warner release from this period was ""Astral Weeks"", the second solo album by Van Morrison (his first was on Bang), who signed with the label in 1968. Although it sold relatively poorly on its first release (and did not"
"The Apple Years 1968–75 The Apple Years 1968–75 is a box set by English musician George Harrison, released on 22 September 2014. The eight-disc set compiles all of Harrison's studio albums that were originally issued on the Beatles' Apple record label. The six albums are ""Wonderwall Music"" (1968), ""Electronic Sound"" (1969), ""All Things Must Pass"" (1970; spread over two CDs), ""Living in the Material World"" (1973), ""Dark Horse"" (1974) and ""Extra Texture"" (1975).<ref name=""Grow/RSonline"">Kory Grow, ""George Harrison's First Six Studio Albums to Get Lavish Reissues"", rollingstone.com, 2 September 2014 (retrieved 4 September 2014).</ref> The final disc is a DVD containing"
"that Morrison's lyrics were thoughtful and deeply intellectual, ""in terms of the myths and metaphors that exist within the world of rock and roll"". He believed both the music and lyrics captured the spirit of Bob Dylan's 1967 album ""John Wesley Harding"", while calling ""Astral Weeks"" a ""unique and timeless"" record. ""Rolling Stone"" later named it the album of the year. ""Melody Maker"" also called it one of the year's best records, featuring Morrison's ""small harsh voice"" backed by an attractive musical combo that ""verges on genius"" during ""Madame George"". When his third album ""Moondance"" was released in 1970, Warner"
", and we made this album, and we landed when it was done."" In a ""Rolling Stone"" interview in 1972, Morrison told John Grissim, Jr.: ""I was really pretty happy with the album. The only complaint I had was that it was rather rushed. But I thought it was closer to the type of music I wanted to put out. And still is, actually."" ""Astral Weeks"" has poetic, stream-of-consciousness lyrics that evoke emotions and images instead of coherent, intellectual ideas and narratives. According to Guy Raz from NPR, it is a folk rock album, ""perhaps ""the"" seminal album of the"
"a record about people stunned by life, completely overwhelmed, stalled in their skins, their ages and selves, paralyzed by the enormity of what in one moment of vision they can comprehend."" Irish musician Glen Hansard said it made him think about life with a greater depth of feeling, ""with a greater sense of fear and horror and desire than you ever imagined."" Colin Larkin credited Morrison for fully realizing his ambition to ""create without pop's constraints"" on ""Astral Weeks"", while AllMusic's William Ruhlmann said its reputation among critics was justified because ""unlike any record before or since,"" it ""encompasses the"
"and Van equates his move to a new world — both America and that of love— with a sense of being lost, ""ain't nothing but a stranger in this world"". The song ""Astral Weeks"" was rated #475 on the WXPN All Time Greatest Songs in 2004 and #875 on the list of 885 Essential Songs voted on by listeners of WXPN in 2008. ""Astral Weeks"" was featured on Morrison's album ""Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl"", released in 2009 to celebrate forty years since ""Astral Weeks"" was first released. The song ""Astral Weeks"" has been covered by Glen Hansard"
"able to share with Indian musicians in Bombay, where part of the album was recorded in January 1968. Released as ""Wonderwall Music"", and described by author Peter Lavezzoli as ""a charming potpourri of Indian and Western sounds"", it features Barham on piano, harmonium and flugelhorn, and in the role of orchestral arranger. Following the Beatles' break-up in April 1970, Barham supplied the orchestral arrangements on Harrison's acclaimed triple album ""All Things Must Pass"" (1970). The album was co-produced by Spector, whose ""distant and authoritarian"" style Barham says he found difficult to adapt to after the ""intimate, friendly atmosphere"" typical of"
"poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4 and ""The Guardian"". In 2000, ""Q"" placed the record at number 6 on its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. ""Time"" included ""Astral Weeks"" in its 2006 list of the ""All-TIME 100 Albums"". When ""Astral Weeks"" was voted the best Irish album of all time in 2009, Niall Stokes wrote in ""Hot Press"", ""It's an extraordinary work, packed with marvelously evocative songs that are rooted in Belfast but which deliver a powerful and lasting universal poetic resonance."" The album was also included in the book ""1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You"
"on the album ""Interstellar Space Revisited: The Music of John Coltrane"". Interstellar Space Interstellar Space is a studio album by American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. It was recorded in 1967, the year of his death, and released by Impulse! Records in September 1974. ""Interstellar Space"" consists of an extended duet suite in four parts with the drummer Rashied Ali, and was recorded at the Van Gelder Studio on February 22, 1967, the week after the session that produced ""Stellar Regions"". As a result, the melodies often overlap; ""Venus"" has the same melody as the title track of the previous LP,"
"Die"". Marcus referred to the impact of the album, calling it a ""common language"", and related in a 2009 interview that ""I was so shocked when I was teaching a seminar at Princeton just a couple years ago, and out of 16 students, four of them said their favorite album was ""Astral Weeks""."" Marcus goes on to say, ""Now, how did it enter their lives? We're talking about an album that was recorded well before they were born, and yet it spoke to them. They understood its language as soon as they heard it."" Elvis Costello described ""Astral Weeks"" as"
"Yardbirds '68 Yardbirds '68 is a double CD and LP record album by English rock group the Yardbirds. Recorded in 1968 in New York City when the group was a quartet with guitarist Jimmy Page, it includes live performances and demos. Page produced the album, which was released in November 2017 on his own record label. The tracks were recorded during the Yardbirds' last American tour in 1968; the live recordings are from their performance at the Anderson Theater on 30 March and studio recordings are demos from sessions at Columbia Recording Studio in April. Previously, the ten live tracks"
"that's what he was last known for. So Joe Smith and Mo Ostin asked me to go up [to Boston] and listen to him. And I went up and it was at Ace Recording Studio at 1 Boylston Place, and there was Van Morrison, very timidly sitting on a stool and I came in very timidly sitting on a stool and he played! And the first tune he played was ""Astral Weeks."" Thirty seconds into it, my whole being was vibrating, because having spent all that time with jazz players, when he was playing, I could hear—the lyric I got"
"Meadow"" was used as the theme for the NPR program Selected Shorts. For a 1978 album ""Nostalgia Suite"", the group became a quintet with drummer Joe Porcaro added. On November 7 and 8, 2008 Kellaway served as band leader and pianist during the ""Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl"" concerts by Van Morrison, celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the acclaimed album that was released in November 1968. Featured also is guitarist Jay Berliner, who played on the album. Kellaway received an Oscar nomination for Best Adaptation Score for the film ""A Star Is Born"" (1976), and a Grammy Award"
"removed. Writer credits are from the album liner notes. Running times (not included in the notes) are taken from the AllMusic album overview. Yardbirds '68 Yardbirds '68 is a double CD and LP record album by English rock group the Yardbirds. Recorded in 1968 in New York City when the group was a quartet with guitarist Jimmy Page, it includes live performances and demos. Page produced the album, which was released in November 2017 on his own record label. The tracks were recorded during the Yardbirds' last American tour in 1968; the live recordings are from their performance at the"
"the lead guitar playing of Ronnie Montrose. The song's intro was created, according to Montrose, when ""One afternoon I was messing around with what is now the intro on the record, [Van] stopped me and ... said ' ... that thing you just played ... that's the intro, don't forget it'"". This guitar driven intro in Clinton Heylin's opinion made it one of Morrison's most memorable singles. ""Wild Night"", which has been described by biographer Ken Brooks as ""a great start to the album"", was first recorded after the ""Astral Weeks"" sessions in Autumn 1968 and was re-recorded numerous times"
"single in August 1968. The album's songs range in style from British blues and ska to tracks influenced by Chuck Berry and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Most of the songs on the album were written during March and April 1968 at a Transcendental Meditation course in Rishikesh, India. The group returned to EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London at the end of May to commence recording sessions that lasted through to mid-October. During these sessions, arguments broke out among the foursome over creative differences. Another divisive element was the constant presence of John Lennon's new partner, Yoko Ono, whose attendance in the"