“The way Ryan told the story, the way he’d reported it out, yielded so many great characters,” says Park. Singer Elvis Costello has called it “the most adventurous record made in the rock medium.” But the backstory - why Morrison and his girlfriend Janet Planet moved to Massachusetts and what the singer did while he was here - had never been adequately explained. Critics agree that the LP, with its dreamy acoustic arrangements and seemingly stream-of-consciousness lyrics, ranks among the greatest ever. Walsh, who’s 39, has always felt an intense connection to “Astral Weeks,” and he’s not alone. “I already liked her, but I thought, ‘Wow, this is a good sign,’” says Walsh, sitting at the kitchen table in the couple’s apartment in Jamaica Plain. Walsh is also married to singer Marissa Nadler, who, not insignificantly, put “Astral Weeks” on the turntable at the end of their first date in 2010. By day, he’s the marketing manager for ArtsEmerson, and by night the frontman for Hallelujah the Hills, an indie rock band that takes its name from the 1963 cult comedy directed by Adolfas Mekas. The results are a real treat, upholding the same openness and sense of exploration that defines the original - even with the addition of more musicians and a string ensemble.Ĭlick the link above to hear the full review of Astral Weeks: Live at the Hollywood Bowl.Walsh, who grew up in Dedham and graduated from Boston University, is not a journalist. In November, Morrison revisited the album for the first time in a concert at the Hollywood Bowl. But since then, it has become touted as one of the most influential pieces of late-'60s rock. They worked to create an extraordinarily original piece over the course of just a few days, striking a delicate middle ground between rock and jazz.Īstral Weeks never cracked the Billboard Top Albums chart when it was first released. Verging on starvation and desperate to escape a contract with his first label, Morrison wound up in a New York studio with a small group of jazz musicians. Though he'd scored a hit the year before with 'Brown Eyed Girl,' he'd made little money off it. When Van Morrison recorded Astral Weeks in 1968, he had reached a low point in his life. The Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison recorded a live version of Astral Weeks in November.

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