Van Morrison is my favorite rock singer. At least three of his songs are in my ten all-time favorites . I own a considerable number of his albums, including nine LP’s that needed to be converted to CD’s or iTunes so I could listen to them.
When I bought my Ion iTTUSB turntable, plugged it into my computer, and started converting LP’s, I began with the Van Morrison albums, starting with Astral Weeks.
Getting them into iTunes while maintaining the best possible sound ended up being a bit more complicated than I originally thought as I first recorded them in Sound Studio, cleaned them up in SoundSoap 2, and, then, sent them back through Sound Studio, which means I listened to each album three or more times.
Let’s just say that by the time I’d finally finished recording the ninth album I no longer wanted to play any of the songs for a while. That feeling was never stronger than when I recorded a long-forgottten album entitled A Sense of Wonder recorded in 1984, which might also explain why I quit buying Van’s albums for several years.
I should have known not to buy it merely by glancing at the back of the album:
which included a little “fable” about “Boffyflow and Spike,” which seemed to me so badly written that I would have flunked any 9th grader who dared to turn it in.
The only song that even seems bearable is “Ancient of Days,” though an internet search for the album revealed that some of Van’s avid followers thought the album contained some of his greatest music. Hopefully they’ve since recovered from whatever ailment destroyed their taste buds.
It’s easy to forget that even great artists can produce flops. This album ought to serve as inspiration for every artist who’s ever produced a work of art he hates. With a new perspective, the next work might turn out to be a masterpiece.