Van Morrison
Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl
Listen To The Lion Records
8/10
I have never seen Van Morrison live, but my roommate gave me this warning going into listening to the Astral Weeks Live album:
“Oh, you know that thing bands do where they just play all together forever?”
“Do you mean jam bands?”
“Yea, he does that with his voice. It’s weird.”
Boy was he correct. Morrison’s voice slices straight through you… and then kind of sits there sticking it to you over and over with what borders on stuttering. A well recorded live album, Astral Weeks Live is a step back to when an amazing show did not require magnesium flares, giant inflatable pigs or any other gratuitous gimmicks. All that was required to have the audience enthralled was writing top quality songs and delivering them with every ounce of emotion that you can muster. Van Morrison may pseudo-yodel for three minutes a track, but that is far more enjoyable than any of the screamy horseshit I heard at last years Warped Tour.
– Jonathan Yost