The Album Review Club - Week #128 - (page 1587) - Pretty Vicious - The Struts

He really is a grumpy old fucker. I meet him quite regularly through work and he has never smiled. Chatted to his driver once who told me that it took him about 2 years for him to actually call him by his name.
Whilst I must admit that the first dance when I got married was "Have I told you lately" I have never actually listened to much other Van or Astral Weeks....We shall see.
 
Put me down as another who has never knowingly listened to much Van Morrison… Van Halen are more up my street.
An interesting one to listen to and see how we get on.
 
LGWIO said:
He really is a grumpy old fucker. I meet him quite regularly through work and he has never smiled. Chatted to his driver once who told me that it took him about 2 years for him to actually call him by his name.
Whilst I must admit that the first dance when I got married was "Have I told you lately" I have never actually listened to much other Van or Astral Weeks....We shall see.
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Name dropper! You’ll be telling us you’ve met the bloke off Eggheads next ;)
 
GornikDaze said:
Name dropper! You’ll be telling us you’ve met the bloke off Eggheads next ;)
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Its a perk (or curse) of the job meeting the odd big name. Cannot say that I have met the famous Morrissey stalker that is MES.
I would put Van in the same category as Tiger Woods, both miserable "up themselves" fuckers. Now, George Lucas....one of the nicest men you will ever meet.....Maybe up there with "The Hoff"
 
Mancitydoogle said:
A classic, think this will be vary high scoring.
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I’m not so sure. A classic it is but not the most accessible of Van’s albums. I was torn between this and Poetic Champions Compose but in for a penny. Will be interesting to hear what those who have never listened to Morrison make of it
 
journolud said:
I’m not so sure. A classic it is but not the most accessible of Van’s albums. I was torn between this and Poetic Champions Compose but in for a penny. Will be interesting to hear what those who have never listened to Morrison make of it
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You might be surprised how many "Van the Man" fans there are this week.

Me? I'm partial to No Guru, No Method, No Teacher right before PCC came out. And of course, "In the Garden" takes the cake!

Can't wait to give Astral Weeks a good listen, because as much as I'm familiar with his more popular songs, I don't have this album or really don't know if I've heard these songs before.

I'll leave tonight with Wiki's interesting facts on this album when it first came out - which is fascinating:

Reception

Astral Weeks sold poorly when it was first released in 1968. The album became a somewhat popular cult import in the United States, while in the United Kingdom it was largely overlooked by critics. The British magazine Beat Instrumental published a negative review of the record, finding Morrison's songs monotonous and unoriginal. In NME, Nick Logan regarded it as a pale imitation of the guitarist José Feliciano's 1968 Feliciano! album, which was one of the year's best-selling records. With the exception of Astral Weeks' title track, Logan felt the compositions were indistinguishable and "suffer from being stuck in the same groove throughout". In the American magazine Stereo Review, editor Peter Reilly panned it as a "free-verse mind bender of an album", plagued by nonsensical lyrics and incoherent singing from Morrison, especially on "Madame George".

More to come beyond these initial thoughts...
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
You might be surprised how many "Van the Man" fans there are this week.

Me? I'm partial to No Guru, No Method, No Teacher right before PCC came out. And of course, "In the Garden" takes the cake!

Can't wait to give Astral Weeks a good listen, because as much as I'm familiar with his more popular songs, I don't have this album or really don't know if I've heard these songs before.

I'll leave tonight with Wiki's interesting facts on this album when it first came out - which is fascinating:

Reception

Astral Weeks sold poorly when it was first released in 1968. The album became a somewhat popular cult import in the United States, while in the United Kingdom it was largely overlooked by critics. The British magazine Beat Instrumental published a negative review of the record, finding Morrison's songs monotonous and unoriginal. In NME, Nick Logan regarded it as a pale imitation of the guitarist José Feliciano's 1968 Feliciano! album, which was one of the year's best-selling records. With the exception of Astral Weeks' title track, Logan felt the compositions were indistinguishable and "suffer from being stuck in the same groove throughout". In the American magazine Stereo Review, editor Peter Reilly panned it as a "free-verse mind bender of an album", plagued by nonsensical lyrics and incoherent singing from Morrison, especially on "Madame George".

More to come beyond these initial thoughts...
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Yup. But Nick Logan in particular did write a lot of shite at times.
 
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