The Astral Weeks Poll

The title song for me, too. Nothing sounds better when you're alone and the sun's coming up.

hmm, it's between Madame George and Young Lovers.

way young lovers do

sweet thang #2

I haveta go with "Young Lovers Do" for the melodrama and giddiness of it. With "Madame George" a close second for the come-down and the keyboard.

Cyprus Avenue for me, although in the past it could have been any of the others. There's an ascending sequence on CA (can't remember the lines) that transcends the rest of the record.

Title track, by a wide margin.

But if we're counting live versions, I'd probalby go with formidable version of Cyprus Avenue from It's Too Late To Stop Now.

Ballerina always. It's the Bass playing.

"Sweet Thing" for when he lifts into "I shall drive my chariot down your street and cry" and the strings shiver back.

Then "Slim Slow Slider" because I've been waiting for Sonic Youth's version ever since reading in some Chicago zine eons ago a suggestion that they should cover it.

It's the Bass playing.

Oh absolutely. All throughout. Probably the best ever on a nominally pop record. Richard Davis was his name, right? I think he taught in Madison. I read an interview with him where he confessed that the band didn't even meet Van during the recording sessions or something to that effect. Which only makes the album even great to my ears.

it's all good, but I voted for madame george -- the cymbal taps at the end = best thing ever

Slim Slow Slider.
The best song the big man ever wrote.

'You're gone for something
And I know you wont be back
I know you're dying, baby
And I know you know it, too'

just. awesome.

yes, that one.

Richard Davis is on tons of great jazz stuff. He once complained that all anybody wanted to talk about (slight exaggeration, I'm sure) was Astral Weeks.

this is a really, really tough call. initial thought was "cypress avenue" but i am not 100% sure.

jay berliner plays guitar on this and mingus's 'black saint' -- his playing's restrained but sooo lovely.

i voted with my sentimental heart and went with "sweet thing" -- i know it's voting for the record's maraschino cherry but so be it.

i woulda pegged young lovers as the cherry; sweet thing is more the hot fudge. damn i want a sundae.

Van Morrison is Norah Jones for hippies.

sweet thing = cosmic propulsion

x-post save your tiresome x is to y bullshit for another tiresome thread about hipsters

i woulda pegged young lovers as the cherry; sweet thing is more the hot fudge. damn i want a sundae.

First of all, hilarious. Second, I agree. Why would "Sweet Thing" be the cherry, Mike?

And what does that make "Slim Slow Slider?" The bowl? The ice cream rotting in your stomach?

i was just thinking that "sweet thing" is like the most straight-forward and "folky" track, and the most poppy one, you know? it also just wears its sentimentality so brightly and clearly.

and it doesn't seem to be about letching after a pubescent girl, or being in love with a drag queen, or watching his girl die of TB. so yeah that was my reason!

'slim slow slider' is like the last melted spoonful and the realization that you can never have another bite of ice cream for the rest of your life.

or something. this poll was hard. i'm gonna be all o_0 if 'the way young lovers do' wins or is in the top three or is in the top... 7. i like the song and all, but it just sounds so normal and un-special i guess compared w/ the rest of the album.

Beside You! I can't believe I'm the only one.

Srsly Jess when he sings "and we talked of the way that I was for you and you were for me" and then the brass climbs up to the top notes and goes BAP BA DADA DAAA that's abnormal and special. Mostly that song is about his singing, I think.

This poll is impossible! Picked the title track mainly cause it's first. Could probably go with any other song at any other time. Maybe the closest thing I've ever heard to a perfect album.

Mostly that song is about his singing, I think.

It's ALL about his phrasing, the whole album. It's fantastic.

"Kids out in the street collecting bottle tops.
Gone for cigarettes and matches in the shops."

Or is that the other way round? Anyway, the rhythm of the lines is amazing.

And

"The love that loves to love the love that loves the love that loves to love the love that loves to love the love that loves".

Wow! The repetition into glosolalia thing - incredible.

But regardless, it's Slim Slow Slider for me. The tension between the simple songs and the incredible rich arrangements and playing and improvising that is present throughout the album is kind of resolved here, as the simple blues structure of the singing is undercut, as it sounds like a song falling apart or straining to escape the confines of its chord structure, but is also incredibly sympathetic to the lyric. The drop just as he sings the "I know you're dying" line ...

I hear they carried on playing for ages, but he cut it to that three minutes or whatever. Can you get the full version.

I love this album. It meant so much to me and my circle while I was at 6th form that I couldn't listen to it for about ten years afterwards, it was too evocative, so I've only come back to it fairly recently. It's magnificent.

That sentence doesn't really work - what I mean is that the playing both works against the structure of the song and is also sympathetic to its emotional content.

And I supose that that tension is exposed rather than resolved here.

Ballerina is the loveliest love song. It's got that insanely great "You know I saw the writing on the wall" where "writing" lasts for aaaaaages.

Richard Davis was his name, right? I think he taught in Madison

He was actually teaching at the Oberlin Conservatory the first year I was there. He played on some of the killer Pharaoh Sanders records from the 60s as well.

i thought strng wasn't jess

anyway i don't see whats 'unspecial' about 'young lovers,' as an uptempo burner its one of the more unique pieces in the album

more votes

i'm not jess but noodle vague otherwise otm! forgot that part.

putting this on now.

I apologize for my trollish comment. I don't like Van Morrison much, except for Them, but he's not all that hippie or all that Norah Jones. And I need to cio being a dick about stuff I don't like.

viaducts

Has to be the title track with Cypress Avenue, Slim Slow Slider, and Sweet Thing very close behind.

It's a weird album for me. Those 4 songs are truly sublime and yet, yet, I actively avoid Beside You and Ballerina. Not that Beside You and Ballerina are all that different in tone, sound, or use of language. But for me at least they don't have the same magic as AW or SSS. And without that magic the whole thing collapses and then I can kinda understand the otherwise mind-bogglingly foolish opinions of those who don't like the album.

I apologize for my trollish comment. I don't like Van Morrison much, except for Them, but he's not all that hippie or all that Norah Jones. And I need to cio being a dick about stuff I don't like.

-- Hurting 2, Friday, June 22, 2007 5:01 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Link

dude no. i'm a dick about stuff i don't like, mostly about stuff i haven't heard, which is a lot. i was the dick.

i actually listened to this alb tonight and i only got to 'sweet thing.' two minutes in i changed to something else. so gorgeous (maybe too gorgeous?) whoever voted for 'beside you' otm.

it's been a long time. i only remember smoking cigs w my car doors open to 'sweet thing.' in november. gets you through the winter you know?

/emo

'beside you' is amazing

voted "Sweet Thing", but could've been basically any of them. I do not have as much of an appreciation for "Slim Slow Slider" as some other people seem to because on my CD copy it skips terribly (don't know why, it's done this ever since I got it) so I end up getting stuck in this glitchy clicking gunkfest and then eventually just having to cut the album off and it's kind of a TOTAL BUMMER

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Madam George would top my own personal poll of all songs ever

The Way Young Lovers Do is one of the most fascinating pieces of music to my ears, the way the various parts weave together in 6/8, the strings, the bass, brass and vocals. But lyrically, Madam George is the prize. I especially love the verse where language seems to break down altogether, dissolving into 'laughing music, dancing music, all around the room.'