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ProggyMan · 05-23-2008, 04:38 PM

Case Against:
This is considered Van Morrison's first 'classic' album and it's easy to see why. His songwriting, while not as top notch as on Moondance, Tuplo Honey or Veedon Fleece, is still excellent. Not to mention the title track is one of, if not the, best song he's ever written. Unfortunately nothing else on the album quite reaches the heights of 'Astral Weeks' and ultimately there's a point where even the best of ideas can get old. Especially one so reliant one aspect of the music, Mr. Morrison's aforementioned angelic vocals. His voice doesn't have quite the richness or depth of later albums, and he's obviously not as experienced vocally, because there's made little use of his vocal agility and dynamicness. Also the lyrics often seem a bit clumsy, even contrived. This is still a good album, but it lacks the relative musical diversity of Moondance and just plain gets old quickly.

05-23-2008, 04:38 PM	#47 (permalink)
ProggyMan Reformed Jackass Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 3,964	Case Against: This is considered Van Morrison's first 'classic' album and it's easy to see why. His songwriting, while not as top notch as on Moondance, Tuplo Honey or Veedon Fleece, is still excellent. Not to mention the title track is one of, if not the, best song he's ever written. Unfortunately nothing else on the album quite reaches the heights of 'Astral Weeks' and ultimately there's a point where even the best of ideas can get old. Especially one so reliant one aspect of the music, Mr. Morrison's aforementioned angelic vocals. His voice doesn't have quite the richness or depth of later albums, and he's obviously not as experienced vocally, because there's made little use of his vocal agility and dynamicness. Also the lyrics often seem a bit clumsy, even contrived. This is still a good album, but it lacks the relative musical diversity of Moondance and just plain gets old quickly. Last edited by ProggyMan; 05-23-2008 at 06:34 PM.