When Warner Brothers bought out his contract with Berns, Morrison began writing the songs that would form Astral Weeks. It is a virtually unlistenable collection of songs but in its way is a work of twisted near-genius. These include gems such as Ringworm (“I can see, from the look on your face, that you’ve got ringworm”), Twist And Shake, Shake And Roll, stomp And Scream and Scream And Holler, all of which have little more than their titles for lyrics. Morrison’s response was to record thirty one “songs” all using pretty much the same chord sequence and near-nonexistent lyrics in one day.

The contract required that Morrison submit thirty six songs to Berns’ publishing company within a year. Berns died shortly after the album’s release and Morrison found himself still tied into a contract with Berns’ widow a contract he did not want to be in. One of the songs, Brown Eyed Girl, was also released as a single and reached the American Top Ten.

Berns instead released the songs as an album, Blowin’ Your Mind, to Morrison’s displeasure. Morrison signed to Berns’ Bang label, recording eight songs that Morrison believed would be the A and B sides of four singles. When Them split in 1966, Bert Berns who had written and produced Here Comes The Night, offered Morrison a deal. Gloria, the B side of Here Comes The Night would go on to become a garage rock classic. That search would eventually lead him to form Them with whom he would have a run of hit singles: Baby Please Don’t Go, Here Comes The Night and Mystic Eyes. The band split at the end of the tour and Morrison returned to Belfast in search of another band. With an apprenticeship served in a variety of Irish showbands, Morrison found himself touring Europe with The Monarchs at the age of seventeen. Other bands and other instruments would follow, Morrison learning to play saxophone, harmonica and piano. His father bought him his first guitar and Morrison formed his first skiffle band at the age of twelve. Morrison’s father was a jazz, blues and country music fan who had an extensive record collection, said to one of the biggest in Belfast, and Morrison became a huge music fan himself, steeping himself in his father’s records. Morrison grew up in Belfast where his father was an electrician in a local shipyard. It was unlike anything Morrison had attempted previously and while echoes of the album have reappeared in later recordings, Morrison never attempted another album in exactly that style. How a twenty three year old Belfast boy came to create an unique fusion of acoustic jazz and stream of consciousness lyrics will remain something of a mystery. Rock music hadn’t heard anything like it when it was released, and has heard very little like it since. Whenever a list of the the greatest rock albums appears Astral Weeks is, if not right at the top, then not far off. Classic Albums, John Scott takes a look at that perennial favourite Astral Weeks by Van (The Man) Morrsison…

Van morrison astral weeks album