Van Morrison: three records to fall in love with

Astral Weeks: close to an extraordinary voice

On Astral Weeks, Morrison’s voice is the main instrument for me. His singing is a dream. He stretches words, repeats them, shifts their emphasis and lets a melody keep developing. You hear a singer giving himself completely to the music. Anyone who loves this album will probably recognise the feeling: a familiar song is playing, and a single phrase catches your attention all over again.

The musicians around him have so much to do with that. In the autumn of 1968, producer Lewis Merenstein brought an exceptional group into New York’s Century Sound studio. Richard Davis played double bass, Jay Berliner guitar, and Connie Kay of the Modern Jazz Quartet was on drums. Warren Smith contributed percussion and vibraphone, John Payne flute; Larry Fallon supplied the string arrangements. Three sessions produced an album whose interplay remains fascinating.

Richard Davis, in particular, rewards your full attention. His bass moves through the songs with a freedom that goes far beyond holding down the root notes. He responds to Morrison’s singing, adds melodic ideas of his own and gives the music support. Alongside him are the acoustic guitars, the delicate rhythmic touches and Morrison’s voice. The combination itself tells you much about the character of Astral Weeks: the openness of jazz meeting the directness of a folk singer.

The title track takes you straight into that world. Sweet Thing has an almost weightless movement. Madame George takes its time with its images and repetitions, drawing you further into the singing. Slim Slow Slider finally leaves the album on a spare, moving note. There is room here for tenderness, restlessness and longing. Morrison puts so much of it into his voice that the music continues to feel close.

This is a wonderful album for anyone who enjoys listening a little more closely. Follow the double bass for a while, give the guitar your attention, then return to the singing. The songs reward all of it. Familiarity can make them even more absorbing: beyond the moments you already love, there is still so much pleasure in the way these musicians play together.

My excitement about the new 45 RPM edition begins with that music and that singing. The Analogue Productions editions of Astral Weeks and Moondance have both impressed me enormously with their sound, especially Morrison’s voice. I also played my old US promo of Astral Weeks alongside the reissue, although my copy is too worn for a fair pressing comparison. Having this much-loved album in such a beautiful edition is a real pleasure.

Moondance: ten songs to keep coming back to

Moondance followed in 1970. From And It Stoned Me onwards, there is a different ease to the music. The songs are more compact, and the band has a wonderful feel for groove and melody. Folk, soul, jazz and rhythm and blues come together so naturally that it is easy to forget how distinctive the combination is. Morrison brings a wealth of ideas to songs that can feel familiar almost immediately.

He took on the production himself for the recordings at New York’s A&R studio. The band included John Platania on guitar, Jef Labes on keyboards, John Klingberg on bass and Gary Mallaber on drums and vibraphone. Jack Schroer and Collin Tilton contributed saxophones and flute. Judy Clay, Cissy Houston and Jackie Verdell added their voices to Crazy Love and Brand New Day. These musicians give the album its many colours while leaving the songs room to breathe.

The title track is a lovely example. The swing, the horns, Morrison’s phrasing: everything invites you to follow the band. Crazy Love brings tenderness, Caravan gathers the shared energy of the musicians, and Into the Mystic has a mood that stays with you long after it ends. There is so much warmth and movement on this one record. You want to spend time with these songs.

In my video, I singled out Glad Tidings as well as the title track. Wonderful songs, with Van Morrison at his best. An album’s ending often has a great deal to do with how keenly you want to play it again. Moondance keeps its appeal right through to the final song. Its famous tracks belong to an album that is a pleasure to hear in full.

In the Vinyl Room, we discussed which was the better album: Astral Weeks or Moondance. The result was exactly fifty-fifty. My choice leans a little more towards Astral Weeks, but we all agreed that both are amazing. I like that discussion because it brings you straight to the music: the song that has stayed with you, the voice, the album you have a personal connection with.

That makes these two 45 RPM double LPs especially appealing as a pair. You hear the same singer in two very different musical settings. The freedom of Astral Weeks and the concentrated songwriting of Moondance keep drawing your attention to different aspects of him. And the sound of both new editions has delighted me. A voice this expressive deserves that kind of care.

His Band And The Street Choir: soul that takes hold

His Band And The Street Choir appeared later the same year. Here, Morrison’s love of rhythm and blues, soul and gospel comes together in music full of life. My suggested starting point is Domino, the opening song. A tribute to Fats Domino, it has tremendous swing and a chorus that draws you in immediately. It is a wonderful introduction to the album.

Give Me a Kiss, I’ve Been Working and Blue Money continue that pleasure in rhythm and ensemble playing. Guitars, horns, piano and vocals work together with real drive. Elsewhere, Morrison lets his gentler side come through. That variety is part of what makes Street Choir so lovable: this band can push and celebrate, and it can give a quiet song the space it needs.

John Platania returns, playing guitar and mandolin. John Klingberg is on bass, Dahaud Shaar on drums and Alan Hand on keyboards. Jack Schroer’s saxophones and Keith Johnson’s trumpet and organ add to the colours. Morrison himself plays tenor saxophone on Crazy Face and Call Me Up in Dreamland. Judy Clay, Cissy Houston and Jackie Verdell appear as guest singers on If I Ever Needed Someone. The ensemble brings his enthusiasm for American soul and gospel vividly into the music.

With this record, I was able to make a direct pressing comparison. Alongside the new Analogue Productions edition, I played a UK second pressing and German first and second pressings. Of the older copies, the UK second pressing had the balance of midrange, treble and bass I liked best. What surprised me about all three was how much the music seemed to stay attached to the speakers.

The new 45 RPM edition frees it from them. The stage opens out substantially, and the instruments occupy places I can follow. I can point to the guitar and the drums, and hear more clearly what sits further forward or back. With a band like this, that is a significant pleasure. You hear more of the individual musicians and can follow their interaction more easily.

Most of all, there is Morrison’s voice. In the video, I put it this way:

“This voice is an earthquake, in my opinion.”

Alongside that power comes the phrasing. How he begins a note, stresses a syllable or carries a vocal line forward is much clearer to me on the new edition than on the other pressings. His voice feels like eighty percent of this record to me. When it communicates so much of its expression, the entire album benefits.

That is the appeal of a really good audiophile record for me. You notice a difference in sound and find yourself more involved with the music: this singer, the guitar beside him, the band carrying the song. His Band And The Street Choir gave me exactly that pleasure in the comparison. Anyone who loves Morrison through Astral Weeks and Moondance has another wonderfully engaging side of him to discover here.

Made with care: the Acoustic Sounds 40 Series

The Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series celebrates forty years of Acoustic Sounds in collaboration with Rhino. Analogue Productions presents all three albums as 180-gram, 45 RPM double LPs, pressed at Quality Record Pressings, or QRP. Matthew Lutthans handles the mastering at The Mastering Lab. The records come in beautifully made tip-on gatefold jackets from Stoughton Printing. These are editions that are a pleasure to hold and to have in a collection.

The mastering sources are worth a brief look. Astral Weeks and Moondance use flat 24-bit/192 kHz digital transfers of the original master tapes, with equalisation through The Mastering Lab’s analogue all-tube system. For His Band And The Street Choir, the manufacturer specifies a specially prepared, equalised tape copy: a “one-off EQ tape copy”.

Spreading the albums across four sides and cutting them at 45 revolutions per minute is part of the work Analogue Productions has put into these editions. The substantial jackets belong with that attention to presentation: an album cover you can open and enjoy while the record plays. That physical connection is part of the pleasure of vinyl for me. When the sound draws me in as it does with these three releases, I am all the happier to reach for them.

Which one goes on first?

Perhaps Astral Weeks, when there is time to give yourself completely to Morrison’s singing. Perhaps Moondance, because simply thinking about those songs makes you want to hear them. Or His Band And The Street Choir, for an evening of soul, horns and a band with irresistible drive.

My slight preference for Astral Weeks remains, along with my enthusiasm for Moondance and the pleasure of hearing how much the new Street Choir reveals of the singing and interplay in comparison. Each album has its own place. These audiophile vinyl editions in the Acoustic Sounds 40 Series make a lovely invitation to spend time with Van Morrison again. There is so much here to enjoy, whichever record you choose first.