Spot where Van Morrison recorded Astral Weeks

In September and October 1968, a 23-year-old Van Morrison walked into Century Sound Studios at 135 West 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan and recorded one of the most celebrated albums in the history of popular music. Morrison was virtually unknown in America at the time, recently dropped by his label and in the middle of a legal dispute that had left him unable to record for nearly two years. The sessions were rushed — Warner Bros. wanted a quick album — and Morrison arrived with minimal rehearsal and a band of jazz musicians he'd barely met.

What emerged in those few short sessions was Astral Weeks: a stream-of-consciousness suite that blended folk, jazz, and something entirely its own. The musicians improvised around Morrison's poetry-inflected lyrics, and the resulting album — recorded with almost no overdubs — has been described by critics as one of the greatest records ever made. Rolling Stone placed it among the top albums of all time.

Century Sound Studios no longer exists — the building on 52nd Street has long since been redeveloped into the anonymous Midtown commercial block it is today. There is no plaque, no marker. The address is now a glass tower, indistinguishable from its neighbours, with no trace of the studio where Van Morrison, barely holding his career together, recorded something timeless.