Rightly hailed by music critics as one of the finest albums of all time. A truly flawless album and one of those I never tire listening to. Van Morrison recorded the whole album in 48 hours. I love it.

Love Van Morrison. Sure hope to have chance to see him live, before I croak!

Ground breaking masterpiece. Still sounds good all these years later.

It's a challenging album, it sold squat at the time, not surprisingly, as it had little to nothing to do with most 60's rock: and fans of his R&B based material, or the band Them, or any other style he delves into, may very well be disappointed, as there are no hits or particularly well-known tunes on it. The songs are long, meandering, sometimes inscrutable, and jazz based- it's actually a kind of jazz album more than anything else, though there is some soul influence also.Lyrically very impressive, and a passionate performance all around. This is the type of album that musicians themselves and hard core music afficionados almost inevitably appreciate more than the general public would.

i honestly believe it is one of the best albums ever. utterly ground breaking for its time, it challenged and evoked deep emotion. extraordinary considering he was only in his mid-twenties at the time. he apparently was doing a lot of acid at the time but anyone who thinks this undermines the quality or credibility of this music is a fool. any lover of music, of any age, anywhere, will i imagine adore this album.

I have to agree with critics on this one. It took about 3 listens to fully appreciate this album. It brings me inner peace now every time I hear it. No real hit singles to be found but I play this more times a year than Moondance.

a perfect record.

The 1968 masterpiece, "Astral Weeks" is all about emotion. Van plays what he feels, and the album is held together by neat string bass parts (a rarity in pop music), Morrison's visual lyrics and powerful voice, and a cast of great back-up musicians. In my opinion, the highlight is "Sweet Thing", a flourishing melody of great power. It's beautiful to the last track, where it disappears into the Irish mist without any warning. The whole record is masterfully done- good music to meditate to. If you don't know the story behind this record, Van hired a bunch of jazz musicians, telling them to play what they felt. He sat alone in a glass booth and played a series of folk-based songs with them following behind. I didn't understand it when I first bought it. But listen to it enough times, you'll understand its genius. Yes, I do believe that this is one of the greatest albums I have ever heard.