With his broken marriage in the past, Morrison visited Ireland on holiday for new inspiration, arriving on 20 October 1973 (with his fiancée at the time, Carol Guida).

[2] It has been compared to Astral Weeks (1968) with the same "stream of consciousness" lyrics but musically it is more Celtic, acoustic and heavily influenced by Morrison's Irish trip.

Although the resulting concerts and live album, It's Too Late to Stop Now, have come to be known as a performing high for Morrison, the tour was physically and emotionally exhausting.

Morrison decided afterwards to take a vacation break, returning to Ireland after a six-year absence ostensibly to record an RTÉ national TV show.

The vacation visit lasted nearly three weeks during which time he only toured the southern part of the island and did not venture into his native Northern Ireland as the province was engulfed in the Troubles.

"Bulbs" and "Cul de Sac" were recut in New York later with musicians with whom Morrison had never worked before: guitarist John Tropea, bassist Joe Macho and drummer Allen Schwarzberg.

According to biographer Erik Hage: "Veedon Fleece from a lyrical standpoint, shows maturity, renewed poetical confidence, and a direct nod to actual literary influences."

Morrison described the anti-hero Linden Arden as being "about an image of an Irish American living in San Francisco – it's really a hard man type of thing, whilst the latter was a song about what it's like when you absolutely cannot trust anybody.

"[13] "Streets of Arklow" describes a perfect day in "God's green land" and is a tribute to the Wicklow town visited during this vacation trip.

[26] Jim Miller from Rolling Stone found the entire album "self-indulgent" and called it "mood music for mature hippies.

[24] Allmusic critics Jason Ankeny and Thom Jurek called the album "brilliant" and commented that "With its elegiac tone and deeply autobiographical lyrics, this was a Morrison who didn't so readily associate himself with the feel-good, peace, love, and rhythm & blues sound American audiences were used to.

"[28] Derek Miller of Stylus Magazine believed it is astonishing, "so frothy and thick, that requires silence when it's over ... To me that's the better explanation for Morrison's three-year absence.

[31] After Veedon Fleece, most of Morrison's albums would chart higher in the UK than in the United States, partly due to his move back to Europe several years afterward.

[33] Biographer Brian Hinton has said that when he agreed to write Celtic Crossroads, it was with the hope that he might "turn a few people on to this album, above all others in Morrison's rich oeuvre.

Scott Thomas states in his review: "The Morrison-conceived Veedon Fleece is the symbol of everything yearned for in the preceding songs; spiritual enlightenment, wisdom, community, artistic vision and love."

Steve Turner concludes: "The Veedon Fleece...appears to be Van's Irish equivalent of the Holy Grail a religious relic that would answer his questions if he could track it down on his quest around the west coast of Ireland.