One of my all time top five. But I don't listen to it very often. I think that's because it's not an every day kind of record and it works poorly as background music. It's an album that demands the right mind-set and the listener's undivided attention. If you have those two things, it's an amazing album.
I bought a CD copy of this in high school without having heard any of the songs. Rolling Stone or some other publication told me it was great and I'm a sucker for the persuasiveness of arrogant, yet irrelevant critical opinion. It took me a little time to warm up to the style and the orchestral song-structure, but I easily got hooked on the songwriting and Van Morrison's ornately painful vocals. By the time I got it on vinyl, it was already one of my favorite albums.
The first side is entitled "In The Beginning" and the second side, "Afterwards", is jump-started by the energetic "Young Lovers Do", the only song on the album even remotely danceable. Everything else has a sort of isolated mysteriousness, both compelling and uncertain. "Cyprus Avenue" and "Madame George" are poetically epic and their sometimes quizzical lyrics are full of enigmatic beauty.
favorite song: "Madame George"
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