Editing Van Morrison (section)

===''Astral Weeks'': 1968===
{{Main|Astral Weeks}}
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| filename = Van Morrison Astral Weeks.ogg
| title    = Astral Weeks|description= The 1968 title song featuring the opening lines of the album: "If I ventured in the slipstream between the viaducts of your dream". His early voice was described as "flinty and tender, beseeching and plaintive".<ref name="O'Hagan, Sean" />}}
Morrison's first album for Warner Bros Records was ''Astral Weeks'' (which he had already performed in several clubs around Boston), a mystical [[song cycle]], often considered to be his best work and one of the best albums of all time.<ref name="AS2008">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/nov/02/vanmorrison-popandrock|title=Is this the best album ever made?|author=O'Hagan, Sean|date=2 November 2008|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|location=London|access-date=16 June 2010}}</ref><ref name="allmusicAW">{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r13454|pure_url=yes}}|title=Astral Weeks Review|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|author=Ruhlmann, William|access-date=22 May 2010}}</ref><ref name="RoganPage223">Rogan (2006), page 223.</ref> Morrison has said, "When ''Astral Weeks'' came out, I was starving, ''literally''."<ref name="HintonPage100">Hinton (1997), page 100.</ref> Released in 1968, the album originally received an indifferent response from the public, but it eventually achieved critical acclaim.

The album is described by [[AllMusic]]'s William Ruhlmann as hypnotic, meditative, and as possessing a unique musical power.<ref name="allmusicAW" /> It has been compared to French [[Impressionism]] and mystical Celtic poetry.<ref>{{cite news|title=Let's record gratitude for Van's monumental talent|last=Adams|first=David|date=28 February 2008|newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfloman.com/vanmorrison.html#1|title=Astral Weeks|website=Sfloman.com|last=Floman|first=Scott|access-date=8 October 2010}}</ref><ref name="HintonPage88,99">Hinton (1997), pages 88–89.</ref> A 2004 ''Rolling Stone'' magazine review begins with the words: "This is music of such enigmatic beauty that thirty-five years after its release, ''Astral Weeks'' still defies easy, admiring description."<ref name="RS19">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-19691231/astral-weeks-van-morrison-19691231 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101219205236/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-19691231/astral-weeks-van-morrison-19691231 |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 December 2010|title=(19) Astral Weeks|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|access-date=18 September 2011}}</ref> [[Alan Light (journalist)|Alan Light]] later described ''Astral Weeks'' as "like nothing he had done previously—and really, nothing anyone had done previously. Morrison sings of lost love, death, and nostalgia for childhood in the Celtic soul that would become his signature."<ref name="Astral Weeks, Light" /> It has been placed on many lists of best albums of all time. In the 1995 ''Mojo'' list of 100 Best Albums, it was listed as number two and was number nineteen on the ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's "[[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|500 Greatest Albums of All Time]]" in 2003.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/mojo.html|title=Mojo: 100 Greatest albums ever made (1995)|website=Rocklistmusic.co.uk|access-date=25 May 2010|archive-date=29 June 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120629064840/http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/mojo.html%23guitar|url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref name="500 Greatest Albums">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/van-morrison-moondance-19691231 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120602152130/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/van-morrison-moondance-19691231 |url-status=dead |archive-date= 2 June 2012|title=66Van Morrison, 'Moondance'|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=20 August 2012}}</ref> In December 2009, it was voted the top Irish album of all time by a poll of leading Irish musicians conducted by ''[[Hot Press]]'' magazine.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hotpress.com/news/6125654.html|title=Van's album tops musician's poll|work=Hot Press|date=18 December 2009|access-date=18 December 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1219/1224260976188.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019202458/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1219/1224260976188.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 October 2012|title=Stellar Van Morrison album tops best album list|author=McGreevy, Ronan|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=19 December 2009|access-date=21 December 2009}}</ref>