I'd love to hear Richard Davis interviewed on the subject, because apparently the jazz players simply worked off of Van's acoustic guitar demos. The playing is so telepathic though - pure musical empathy and drama.

I've heard conflicting accounts. I remember reading or seeing him in something where he sloughed it off, "People always ask about that, but I've played on hundreds of records; I really don't remember much of it." But I heard David Garland play it on his show recently and remembered him quoting Davis (he doesn't say where he's reading from.) Here's the audio. It pops up as a 57 or 58 minute file -- Jon B. the first part is an in-studio interview with a Dutch thereminist named Fay Lovsky -- but it's really a two hour show. Scroll your Real Player button all the way over. It will keep playing & the title will change to "Untitled Clip 2". From two minutes to seven minutes in Garland talks about the album. From 7 - 30:30 is side 1. Around 31:15 is the Richard Davis quotation, which is too long for my terrible transcription skills. Short version: he remembers recording the album at dusk & says that the post-dinner, relaxed atmosphere -- "the ambience of that time of day was all through everything we played" -- was perfect.

I think he was in the Eric Dolphy documentary Last Date, but I don't know why he would have been discussing Astral Weeks. Last Date does have this great scene with Dolphy playing an extended solo. Mingus wants him to stop, but Eric's so into the music he doesn't notice. Mingus eventually reaches over and pulls the mic away. Dolphy still doesn't notice & continues soloing. Mingus finally just shakes his head and pushes the mic back in front of the horn. The other guys in the band are trying not fall over laughing. (For those of you who don't know about him Charles Mingus was a very large man with a very bad temper. He was notorious for firing sidemen on the bandstand. He broke somebody's jaw on stage or in rehearsal -- the non-robot memory is failing me. Nobody except Eric Dolphy, whom Mingus referred to as a saint, would have provoked the reaction described above.)

ETA: Here's a link to the Mojo article. Gotta subscribe, though, & I'm cheap. Here's another interesting article (just skimmed it), Astral Weeks and the Troubles" (as in Northern Ireland.) It mentions Hornsby's love of "Thunder Road"! Plate o' shrimp, indeed.

Thanks Joe. My transcription:

Richard Davis: You know how it is at dusk when the day has ended but it hasn't? There's a certain feeling about the 7 to 10 session which is when Astral Weeks was by and large recorded on one night. You've just come back from a dinner break, some guys have had a drink or two, it's the dusky part of the day, everybody's relaxed. Sometimes that's can be a problem, but with this record I remember the ambience of that time of day was all through this record.

The random quotation at the top of the page:

"I love the smell of desperate librarian in the morning." Snyder, 'Gingerbread'

On the player: "Gingerbread Boy" from Miles Smiles, which is probably the best album from Miles' mid-'60s quintet, although most everything they did was pretty great & picking a "best" is rather arbitrary. "Gingerbread Boy" has the distinction of being the one studio non-original performed (or at least released) by the Carter/Hancock/Shorter/Williams group. They played covers at gigs (cf. Live at the Plugged Nickel), but went with original compositions in the studio.

And I miss Snyder. One of the problems with later BtVS seasons was the lack of memorable minor characters like Snyder (or Holland on AtS), the kind that could do so much with so little screen time. Glory's minions Jinx and Dreg were the last ones who really fell into that category for me.

ETA: Speaking of S3... "Bad Girls" just came on (Donna Summer, not Buffy). First ep I ever saw (reverse previous parenthesis). Eliza dancing. Oh my.

Eliza dancing. Oh my.

Plus the little heart she drew on the classroom window.

Yeah, I'd concur that the lack of strong supporting/recurring characters was an issue after they left high school. They never built up characters who were separate from the arc. Forrest was fun in S4, but couldn't continue on beyond the Initiative storyline. Whereas Jonathan and Harmony (to cite two examples) went on to have very complex stories over the years.

On-Topic: Joe, now you need to give us your pick for each of Miles' distinct eras. The Coltrane lineup (Workin' Steamin' Relaxin' Cookin' Other?), You did the sixties (Not E.S.P?), Gil Evans collaboration, Live, Electric Miles...

I was unsurprisingly irresponsible at the CD store.

Purchased:
Neutral Milk Hotel On Avery Island (I am listening to it right now and like it a lot)

and on erinaceous' rec from way back: Sufjan Stevens Seven Swans (haven't listened yet, but am eager to)

I think the important thing to focus on is how many albums I did NOT buy.

Two excellent purchases, tina. I approve!

Two excellent purchases, tina. I approve!

This is good to hear - because they were not used. And dropping $25 on music is really not something I should do these days.

But I am still grieving for all the albums I left behind...And I don't even want to get into my purchaseless trip to the comic book store. But again - on the positive side - I proved to myself that I can browse in the crack comic shop. I did not know I could.

I proved to myself that I can browse in the crack comic shop. I did not know I could.

What comics are you hankering for, tina? I can throw some in when I send you music. Any TPB?

Now playing: In a Silent Way. Just right for the approaching end of the work day. Today's been my first slow day at the new job. It's still much, much better than what I did before.

Today's been my first slow day at the new job. It's still much, much better than what I did before.

Huh, I didn't know you'd changed jobs, Hayden.