THE 50(ISH) GREATEST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME
Astral Weekends
Album #30 : Van Morrison — Astral Weeks
When listening to this album this week, I thought to myself ‘I’m not 100% sure what astral means. So, I looked it up and Google gave me two options, ‘relating to or resembling the stars’ and ‘relating to a supposed non-physical realm of existence to which various psychic and paranormal phenomena are ascribed, and in which the physical human body is said to have a counterpart’.
In other words, taking a holiday from yourself. Fittingly, I had a long weekend this week, taking Monday and Tuesday off work. It was brilliant. Not only because we had the meal tasting for our wedding (which was great) or the fact that the sun was beating down (also great) but mostly just because I was not in my spare room looking at my laptop.
It was so good to be able to step away from the stresses and frustrations of work and have just two days away. After the last eighteen months, it was also nice to take a break from feeling like I was living through Armageddon. Whilst life isn’t entirely back to normal (face masks were still worn, track and trace details were still provided), it was great to take a break from the looming spectre of the pandemic.
In a way, it was also nice to take a break from myself. Let’s be clear, I didn’t have any spiritual awakenings and spend the long weekend on the astral plane (I did go to a wedding in Nottinghamshire, though — so basically the same?) but I did find time to pause and take it all in, which isn’t always easy.
Annoyingly, however, the nature of a break is that it must end and I, whilst the weather has stuck around, I have come crashing back into working life. As such, I’ll need to keep this brief. I have a lot to catch up on…
Thanks for reading — over the course of 2021, I’ll be reviewing 50(ish) of the greatest albums ever recorded. You can see the list here:
There is also a playlist featuring the best song from each album here.
