Astral Weeks

Astral Weeks grew out of a messy exit from Bang Records following the sudden death of producer Bert Berns, and a period in Cambridge, Massachusetts where Van Morrison worked out the album's loose, jazz-inflected, meditative sound at a small club called the Catacombs before recording in New York with session musicians who improvised around his vocal takes over just a few days at Century Sound Studios.

The album abandoned conventional pop songwriting for stream-of-consciousness lyrics and a song-cycle feel, built around themes of memory, first love, and something close to spiritual transcendence. It was a commercial non-event on release in November 1968, but was later championed by critics including Lester Bangs, went gold, and has been named among the greatest albums ever made, with acknowledged influence on artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Bono.

"Cyprus Avenue," widely regarded as the album's emotional center, distills its themes of memory and yearning into a single suspended, almost trance-like scene.