road cd

sometimes before heading out on a highway trip, i buy a CD that i have not listened to yet. i find risk exciting, and can make the drive feel quicker. last night before i returned from saskatoon to swift current (about 2 hours and 45 minutes), i saw a "Van Morrison - Still on Top: The Greatest Hits" 2 cd, 37 track disc. seeing the fairly low price for a double cd, i thought that this would be perfect. vm's "Astral Weeks" is one of my favorite albums, and i also own "Moondance" and have listened to and enjoyed his recent "Magic Time" (2005) cd. plus i know other singles like "brown eyed girl", "domino", etc.

i bought it blind (without looking at the track listing). i know that morrison has a lengthy back catalog and am largely unfamiliar with it. as i started listening, the initial track "jackie wilson said (i'm in heaven when you smile)" was a great way to start, and there were familiar tracks and tracks completely new to me.

i would rate it 7.7/10. would is the key word. i have to give it a 6.7/10. i'll explain. standout tracks were the Moondance selections - "Moondance", "Into the Mystic", "And it stoned me", as well as "Celtic New Year", "Baby Please Don't Go", "Gloria", and "Brown eyed girl". i had never heard the song "Wavelength" before - a synth heavy, 70s sounding song which i very much enjoyed.

if you know morrison's works at all, you might at this point you be wondering what i started wondering midway through the first CD: when am i gonna here an "Astral Weeks" song? ...maybe it is on the second album...saving the best for last... strangely, no!!

though well regarded as a classic album, and arguably Morrison's best, it is strangely omitted.

my first thought was that perhaps it was on a different label than other albums, and thus would of been breaking some legal obligation.

but no, both it and moondance were on the warner label. so, my only guess is that morrison himself has some issues with that album now, or is sick of it, or some other strange reason.

 i would of liked an asterisk on the 'Greatest Hits' label saying *almost the greatest hits - doesn't contain Astral Weeks at all (we can't believe it either)

And so, I am forced to give it a 6.7 rating.