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Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968
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A mind-expanding dive into a lost chapter of 1968, featuring the famous and forgotten: Van Morrison, folkie-turned-cult-leader Mel Lyman, Timothy Leary, James Brown, and many more
Van Morrison's Astral Weeks is an iconic rock album shrouded in legend, a masterpiece that has touched generations of listeners and influenced everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Martin Scorsese ...more
Van Morrison's Astral Weeks is an iconic rock album shrouded in legend, a masterpiece that has touched generations of listeners and influenced everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Martin Scorsese ...more
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I don't know for whom this book is intended. The title is clearly designed to lure fans of Van Morrison, and the lure worked on me. However, there is actually very little about Morrison and his work in this book. Instead there is a lot of random information about people and events in Boston around the same time that Morrison was there. There are gangsters, a folk music cult, happenings, psychedelic public television, a bank robbery and LSD. I couldn't have cared less about any of it and abandone
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I did not expect it to be so beautifully written.
Background: I graduated HS in the summer of 1968 in a town nearby to Boston and hid in my room and lived thru my radio. I visualized a lot of this since I could not get to Boston then.
The story is really more about Boston popular culture in 1968 than about Van Morrison.
Background: I graduated HS in the summer of 1968 in a town nearby to Boston and hid in my room and lived thru my radio. I visualized a lot of this since I could not get to Boston then.
The story is really more about Boston popular culture in 1968 than about Van Morrison.
Jul 02, 2018
Jennifer Ozawa
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
kindle,
pop-culture,
rock-n-roll,
nonfiction,
5-stars,
2018,
true-crime,
sixties,
northeast
I found this book utterly riveting. I had no idea about the Lyman compound or any of the bands profiled here. The best nonfiction books feel like stories, and this one did.
Guys, my phone's notes that were recording my thoughts on this book (read on a long train ride several weeks ago, I've been lazy about reviews) got accidentally deleted. So this will be a real short review.
Basically, it was adequate for what it was, but ultimately the people written about are a bunch of sociopathic wankers and I'm not altogether interested in their lives (I only read this because it's set in Boston, where I live, and I've seen a lot of excited reviews about it). The musicians an ...more
Basically, it was adequate for what it was, but ultimately the people written about are a bunch of sociopathic wankers and I'm not altogether interested in their lives (I only read this because it's set in Boston, where I live, and I've seen a lot of excited reviews about it). The musicians an ...more
I received a free copy of this book from Goodreads Giveaways.
There were so many interesting stories and back stories in this book, that it either needed to be longer or to shorten its scope. The Fort Hill Community alone could have taken up the entire book, as could Van Morrison and his time in Boston. Trying to mash them together, though in time period they really were in sync, does them both a disservice. Then you throw in everything else that was happening at around the same time--Dylan goes ...more
There were so many interesting stories and back stories in this book, that it either needed to be longer or to shorten its scope. The Fort Hill Community alone could have taken up the entire book, as could Van Morrison and his time in Boston. Trying to mash them together, though in time period they really were in sync, does them both a disservice. Then you throw in everything else that was happening at around the same time--Dylan goes ...more
What do The Jim Kweskin Jug Band, The Velvet Underground, Van Morrison, the Mob, The Bosstown sound, and an LSD based cult have in common? They were all active in Boston in 1968.
I, like many others, read this because I thought it was going to be about the making of the album Astral Weeks. While it is touches on Van preparing to make that album, it is really about the underground scene in Boston. While that year in San Francisco has been extensively written about, this is kind of an untold story ...more
I, like many others, read this because I thought it was going to be about the making of the album Astral Weeks. While it is touches on Van preparing to make that album, it is really about the underground scene in Boston. While that year in San Francisco has been extensively written about, this is kind of an untold story ...more
This book talked about a LOT of things I love. I did want to hear a little more about the general population and their experience of Boston in 1968 in contrast to the hippies and cult members and musicians he talks about here. The chapter on movies and the Boston strangler was my favorite because of that bigger picture stuff.
I got this book because I am an epic fan of the album Astral Weeks, and Van Morrison. I didn't know that it was almost entirely a history of Boston, a city I know and love in 1968. If I knew Morrison lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts at some point, I'd forgotten. So what is there not to love about this book - plenty.
As other reviewers have noted, this is not a book about Astral Weeks, and Morrison. The first chapter and the final chapter do focus on the man and the album, and throughout the book ...more
As other reviewers have noted, this is not a book about Astral Weeks, and Morrison. The first chapter and the final chapter do focus on the man and the album, and throughout the book ...more
I enjoyed the book but the title is a misnomer. It is a collection of chapters on the various counterculture happenings in Boston in 1968. It spends a lot more time on the Mel Lyman cult than it does on Astral Weeks but it is never less than interesting.
My friend just wrote this one up: http://artsfuse.org/168480/book-music...
And so did I, for The Baffler (!!!): https://thebaffler.com/latest/lost-in...
And so did I, for The Baffler (!!!): https://thebaffler.com/latest/lost-in...
I give this a 4 only because the writing, at times, was a bit "uneven". What a fascinating book! Right here in my back yard such WILD things were happening 51 years ago! From great "hippie" music (Bosstown Sound, WBCN), to a burgeoning study of the supernatural, to an "upscale" cult in Roxbury that STILL exists and warranted a cover story in Rolling Stone in the day, to, of course, Van Morrison's "oeuvre" as referenced in the title and conceived and recorded right in Cambridge. Let's see, what a
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This book is weird, interesting, disjointed, and probably not what you expect.
First, if you're a Van Morrison fan and you're expecting this book to center around him and the 'Astral Weeks' album, you'll be disappointed. What we have is a hodgepodge of stuff going on in the Boston area during the year Van Morrison lived in Cambridge. The author attempts to tie Van Morrison's presence and the album into everything else, or maybe the other way around, but it doesn't work. Van Morrison and the maki ...more
First, if you're a Van Morrison fan and you're expecting this book to center around him and the 'Astral Weeks' album, you'll be disappointed. What we have is a hodgepodge of stuff going on in the Boston area during the year Van Morrison lived in Cambridge. The author attempts to tie Van Morrison's presence and the album into everything else, or maybe the other way around, but it doesn't work. Van Morrison and the maki ...more
Before purchasing "Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968" by Ryan Walsh, you need to know a few things. (Don't worry, there's no spoilers.) First, it is not one of those book length explorations of the making of a classic rock album in the style of the 33 1/3 Series. Yes, Walsh explores how Van Morrison came to record "Astral Weeks," but it more of a point of departure than the crux. Second, this is not a book length exploration of a given year, a la Jon Savage's "1966". I didn't keep count, bu
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Not just a deep dive into the Boston origins of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, but a mosaic of the music and cultural scene surrounding them--centered in 1968, with flashbacks, flash forwards and on-theme digressions. As a participant in the local music scene who wasn't yet born in 1968 but very much lives in its aftermath, I can say that my understanding has been greatly expanded by this colorful, insightful and well-researched piece of rock journalism. The word "Astral" itself has new rippling s
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This is a (too?) detailed account of events that occurred in Boston/Cambridge in 1968. A chapter is devoted to each of: the end of the folk scene, Van Morrison's band, the groundbreaking TV show "What's Happening Mr. Silver?", the opening of the Boston Tea Party, the start of WBCN, the James Brown concert the night after MLK was killed, the "Spiritualist" movement in Boston, and more. Many many chapters concern Mel Lyman's Fort Hill Community and the "Avatar" newspaper. Finally, there's a chapte
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You might expect a book that takes Van Morrison’s legendary album title for its own, and suggests that it will be about Morrison’s time in Boston creating this breakthrough music, to actually be about that.
The bad news is that if that’s what the book is supposed to be about, it does get a little lost in digressions.
The very good news is that the digressions—Boston’s counterculture in the year of Counterculture ascendant—are far more interesting than a linear book about Van Morrison and the ma ...more
The bad news is that if that’s what the book is supposed to be about, it does get a little lost in digressions.
The very good news is that the digressions—Boston’s counterculture in the year of Counterculture ascendant—are far more interesting than a linear book about Van Morrison and the ma ...more
Primarily enjoyable for its evocation of a time and place, dominated by the cult-like Fort Hill Community in Boston, the hallucinogenic 60's of Timothy Leary, and to a lesser extent, the recording of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks. The writing style is well-paced and the interviews with Peter Wolf and Lewis Merenstein are illuminating regarding the year Van Morrison spent playing in Boston and recording this album. There are interesting coincidences and appearances by other celebrities or artists w
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This is a fascinating book, especially if you know Boston and can visualize the locations of this seemingly forgotten story of 1960s music, activism, and ideals. Walsh went deep in his research, and while I sometimes got lost in the many minor characters, I found the story fascinating. Well written investigation into a cultural moment that we think we know, though Walsh proves that digging vertically into a place and its happenings reveals new stories.
Didn’t care for the book that much. Save yourself the time and just read Lester Bangs’ transcendental review of Astral Weeks:
Van Morrison's Astral Weeks was released ten years, almost to the day, before this was written. It was particularly important to me because the fall of 1968 was such a terrible time: I was a physical and mental wreck, nerves shredded and ghosts and spiders looming and squatting across the mind. My social contacts had dwindled to almost none; the presence of other people ma ...more
Van Morrison's Astral Weeks was released ten years, almost to the day, before this was written. It was particularly important to me because the fall of 1968 was such a terrible time: I was a physical and mental wreck, nerves shredded and ghosts and spiders looming and squatting across the mind. My social contacts had dwindled to almost none; the presence of other people ma ...more
Originally a smaller piece on Van Morrison & his time in Boston during the summer of 1968 leading to his recording in the fall, in New York City, the landmark record album of the title. Those stories are fantastic & thrilling to read, evoking a Boston & Cambridge from another world. Many stretches make for riveting reading, including Walsh's odd encounter with local legend Peter Wolf, Van's old chum from the time, and the tales of other area band members. Unfortunately, to expand the
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Other reviewers have already said much of what I agree with. I was lured in by the title, expecting more about Van Morrison than what I got. Reading the Epilogue I realized that the author original wrote a shorter piece and then expanded it to a full book. Also the writer had a whole team of college student workers helping with the research. The bibliography and the list of interviews is long. The book is more about Mel Lyman I think than it is about Van Morrison.
That being said I was born just ...more
That being said I was born just ...more
Born in 1968, I only discovered Van Morrison in my late teens in the 80s and felt like my parents' generation did me a disservice. That's what lured me to this book about 1968. Interesting look at not only Van Morrison, but the whole Boston music and scene, marketed as the "Bosstown Sound, which promoted the blend of psychedelic and folk rock scene. T. My disappointment with this book was it's lack of clarity and focus. It seemed more like a series of loosely connected articles about just how di
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There are many questions floating around in my head after reading Astral Weeks. Near the top are “Should I finally put in the time with Van Morisson’s Astral Weeks” and “How did I miss all this!”.
Astral Weeks is more than just history, it deserves to be studied. And really, you shouldn’t complain because Ryan Walsh did all the hard work for you. In this deceptively dense book, Walsh focuses on a particular location at a particular time: Boston in 1968. What could possibly be occurring there that ...more
Astral Weeks is more than just history, it deserves to be studied. And really, you shouldn’t complain because Ryan Walsh did all the hard work for you. In this deceptively dense book, Walsh focuses on a particular location at a particular time: Boston in 1968. What could possibly be occurring there that ...more
I was never a big fan of Van Morrison's album "Astral Weeks," but recently I discovered a live bootleg concert by Morrison that took place at a tiny club in Boston in 1968, at which Morrison previewed some of the songs later to appear on that famous album. Ryan Walsh, author of "Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968," spent some serious time searching for that concert recording, which had been captured by Peter Wolf - later the lead singer of the J. Geils Band - back when Wolf was a DJ at Bosto
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It's not _really_ about Van Morrison as the cover might suggest, but he figures prominently enough and the author does a nice job of stitching together a vibe in what might otherwise have seemed like a collection of semi-related magazine articles. Definitely for anyone with interest in weird 60s, weird Boston, Van Morrison, or the art of the time.
The true lead role here is held by folkie-cum-cult leader Mel Lyman and the Lyman family and it's astonishing how wide their reach was and how many peo ...more
The true lead role here is held by folkie-cum-cult leader Mel Lyman and the Lyman family and it's astonishing how wide their reach was and how many peo ...more
This was one of the most fascinating and interesting books I have read in a long time. It's a snapshot of music and cultural history in Boston in the late 1960s. Yet it was a part of its history that until now I was totally unaware.
It seems Van Morrison wrote and performed one of my favorite records of all time, "Astral Weeks" while living in Cambridge, Mass (on the run from some unsavory characters in NYC). Also, Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground performed often in Boston at that time and th ...more
It seems Van Morrison wrote and performed one of my favorite records of all time, "Astral Weeks" while living in Cambridge, Mass (on the run from some unsavory characters in NYC). Also, Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground performed often in Boston at that time and th ...more
Four stars is a little generous, and Walsh can be an occasionally clunky writer, but I was thoroughly engrossed and entertained by this fascinating countercultural history of a single year in a single city (Boston in 1968). Exploring two separate events in depth -- 1) Van Morrison, on the run from both immigration officials and his mob-run record label in New York and choosing to spend a low-profile year in Boston performing with local musicians and writing what would become the Astral Weeks alb
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I was really psyched to dig into this one, and found several parts of it quite interesting. But Astral Weeks did not do what it set out to do. I saw it as a book about Van Morrison's short time in greater Boston in 1968, and how it inspired him to come up with his album Astral Weeks. Morrison gets maybe 50 pages of the book, which is instead a look at music, culture and socio-political happenings in Boston in 1968. (To be fair, the book's subhead is 'A Secret History of 1968.')
Around half the bo ...more
Around half the bo ...more
A riveting psychogeographical tour around Boston in the late '60s, using the creation of Van Morrison's ethereal masterpiece (Astral Weeks) as a lens. Walsh starts with Van Morrison's escape (from gangsters, from fame, from a crappy record contract) to Boston in 1968, where he began playing in the blooming but largely unheralded folk coffeehouse scene. From there he moves into the bizarre and wonderful world of late-60s Boston, a city with its own idiosyncratic arts culture that has largely been
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A great book for those interested in the 1960s counterculture - with focus usually on San Francisco and New York City it is great to read more about Boston; another reviewer complained about "random" things but the book clearly shows multiple connections between its main strands - a disenfranchised Van Morrison gigging in Boston while searching for direction, the famous Fort Hill gang centred around Mel Lyman, and the counterculture around the Boston Tea Party and the occult - as a fan of the Ve
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