Bill from UsAccording to those present at recording, however, the sessions were pretty mundane and workmanlike.įrom my reading, not entirely true.Without it, he was a true outsider, even among peers. 'All of a sudden he grabbed a guitar and started singing songs about reincarnation, being in 'another time and place.'' The song Densmore is referring to is 'Astral Weeks.'ĭensmore further comments on how music was Van's only way to communicate. 'He sat on the couch, moody and glowering, and didn't say a word,' Densmore writes in Riders on the Storm. At the party, Densmore was struck by Van's isolation. On the final night of the residency, the two bands ripped into a 20-minute performance of ' Gloria.' Densmore went to the show's afterparty with Van, but Jim didn't go. (Them guitarist Jim Armstrong has also suggested Them started marijuana-aficionado Jim Morrison down his path of heavy drinking.) It was an impactful experience for Jim, as he picked up a lot of Van's stagecraft and gritty disposition. Each night, The Doors and Them jammed together.
In June 1966, Van and his band Them started a three-week residency at the Whiskey. The Doors were unsigned but were a regular act at the Whiskey A Go Go, one of the hottest clubs in Los Angeles. In his book Riders On The Storm, Doors drummer John Densmore recounts hearing Van Morrison work through 'Astral Weeks' in 1966, two years before the song was released.
