He took the bomb. From W.B.E.Z. Chicago and PRX, this is Sound Opinions. I'm Greg Kott.

And I'm Jim Deregadis. Van Morrison's A Strall Weeks is a classic album that wasn't an instant hit.

I shall drum a chariot down your streets and cry.

But respect for the album's unique blend of jazz, rock, blues, and folk has only grown over the years.

Today a classic album dissection to mark the 50th anniversary of its release.

Plus, we hear from recent guests about their Desert Island jukebox picks.

Tracks they can't live without.

Man, I love, well, his freedom, first of all, he got away with so much.

I don't know how he's able to do it.

That's all coming up on sound opinions.

You're listening to sound opinions and later in the show we're going to hear from

Jason Isble, Ted Leo, Donwais, and more of our recent guests about their desert

island picks. Tracks they just can't live without. But first, this month marks the 50th anniversary of Van Morrison's astral weeks. We stroll through fields all wet with the rain

out back along the lane again

during the sunshine

in the sweet summertime

they're way bad young lovers too.

Greg from time to time here on sound opinions we like to dig deep into a classic album and kind of dissect it.

Talk about why this is an important record, our thoughts on it, why we love it, why it's

an enduring masterpiece. Yeah absolutely Jim it was a classic record in its time, although it didn't sell a whole lot of copies and it never really produced a major hit single.

It took 33 years to go gold.

Yeah, absolutely, but it was a major landmark work in Morrison's career in a lot of ways, even though

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