Other than the Beatles, there was only one rock star that all of the music crazies I knew in high school and college agreed about (even the guy who insisted Mick Jagger was just too derivative): Van the Man Morrison. In high school it was the hits. I owned Astral Weeks but of course couldn’t find an LP with “Brown Eyed Girl” on it. Then in 1972 I glommed onto the two-record reissue of Them featuring Van Morrison and discovered that band and Lester Bangs at the same time (rather, they both jumped out at me in ways I can’t remember happening before — made me an immediate Creem subscriber). And yeah it wasn’t a perfect selection, but now you can get one:
If you pretend this is much too much I’m not gonna talk to you.
but, just as a counterweight —
here’s the least-flattering photo of Van Morrison ever published.
and as a bonus dollop of information and opinion —
here’s a sharp Richie Unterberger essay on classic LP liner notes.
Miles To Go 
And, without linking to Richie Unterberger essay, I now remember why you would mention Elliot Murphy in the post about VU. Another reason why that album was so important to me.
I have the 2 cd “Gold” and “Mighty like a rose” and a few alternates on the bootleg “The real philosopher’s Stone” so I think I’ll pass…
But then you’ll miss out on the liner notes by the only music journalist acceptable to Van Morrison — Van Morrison (heheheh).
Yeah, truth is my Them collection was weak on CD (never got either double-disc set for some reason). There’s a bunch of griping about re-channeled stereo and suchlike here and there. “Gold” sound alright to you?
I am now living many miles away from my collection and I can’t check it but but I never had any complaints about the sound of “Gold”. I am not an audiophile, though.