Whoops, threescore years (how time flies).

You can find the record on every single serious desert island (quite an image-an archipelago of babyboomer Bali Highs) and on every list of the peaks of popular music in the last half century. “Astral Weeks”, on the other hand, is universally recognized as a masterpiece. I understand that that’s a personal choice, and a rather quirky one, even though “Eli” commands immense respect in certain circles (after I wrote about it I saw Elton John on Elvis Costello’s “Spectacle”, where they were singing the praises of “Eli” like they were Laura’s mothers, in almost embarrassing hyperbole). I’ve written about Laura Nyro’s “Eli & the 13th Confession” as a desert island album of mine. This week we’re back to the legendary summer of 1968, treating ourselves to one of the finest albums we’ve had the great honor and pleasure to embrace – Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks”.