I know I will be roasted for the following : I also love the Lydie Auvray's cover of Sad Lisa. But the original can't be surpassed of course...
Izitso - sunshine pop synth style...and some darker sounding songs. Original UK vinyl is audiophile worthy. The brilliantly strange Catch Bull At Four is my choice for indispensable after you have burned out on Cat the acoustic troubadour.
I'm a fan of his "old Decca Material". I have the US Deram double album combining "Matthew and Son" with "New Masters". While "Matthew and Son" was a low charting song, I heard it on the radio as a pre-teen. Even though the (Over) production was not to Cat's liking, it got my attention. Cat wrote songs that were made hits by other artists, most notably "Here Comes My Baby" and "The First Cut is the Deepest".
Moderator Note: Twenty posts have been deleted. Members are reminded that this forum is a politics and religion free zone. Please do not bring either of those two topics to this forum!
I know what you mean. I wasn't " burned out " on acoustic Cat but was glad he took the road he did when he put out ' Catch Bull...'. A ballsier, heavier sound. Great album.
The natural first step for me is Tea For The Tillerman, but check out the first two albums on Deram to hear the progression. Apparently, John Paul Jones plays on “Matthew And Son” … who knew?
To the OP, don’t waste your time on the reworked TFTT². Some of the reworked songs are unrecognizable from the originals. I guess that’s the point, but it didn’t do anything for me.
I really like some Songs from the Decca era. It's Just That to listen to too many of them in a row gets tiring. A good 40 minutes compilation of that era would be in my Cat Stevens top 5.
The On the Road to Find Out 4 CD box set gives a great overview of his catalog if you want to go beyond the greatest hits, but don't need everything. I love Mona through Catch Bull, but for me the box set is just enough for everything else. It has the two Harold & Maude exclusive tracks plus some demos and other rarities as well. Nice booklet too.
Excellent article. I particularly like this paragraph, which is more broad than just Cat Stevens: Artists owe nobody anything,” the culture writer Greil Marcus told me in no uncertain terms, in response to a prompt I sent him about artists’ responsibilities to their audience. “People invest themselves in the artists they care about. … But ultimately I think artists’ followers have an obligation not to betray themselves through what Robert Christgau once named ‘autohype.’ That means convincing yourself that whoever’s clearly inferior, fake, corrupt, stupid or just plain dull work is as good as anything they ever did — that if one just looks hard enough, the flowers of genius will blossom.”
Some years ago I picked up a Cat Stevens (self titled) (1967) vinyl LP at an Antique shop in the Blue Mountains for $10. It was in mint cond. and I'd had never heard half of the tracks before. The track Come On, Baby is a standout.. It's catchy lyrics, its great arrangement... never get sick of hearing it. Besides that.... The Moody Blues had its CORE 7... Cat Stevens IMO had his CORE FOUR >>>>> Mona Bone Jakon. Tea For The Tillerman Teaser And The Firecat. Catch Bull At Four. (18th Avenue sounds brilliant on vinyl!)
Izitso - one of my favorite albums by anybody. And my three favorite cuts have not come up in any discussion of that album, which is not a shock. I really love "Remember The Days Of The) Old Schoolyard", "(I Never Wanted) To.Be A Star" and even though it doesn't have parentheses in the title I'm crazy about, "Killin' Time" although I usually forget the title because it has an irresistible repeated hook of "You missed the point/You missed the point/You really missed the point" That's what I think the title is, but it isn't. I love that little refrain, I like every song on the album, but those are the highlights for me. There is a nice variety of moods and some adventurous experimentation. The lyrics appear to me to be utterly sincere. There are no bad cuts on here. If you like Greatest Hits, which is a treasure of outstandingly catchy pop songs and instantly appealing folksy ballads, plus the only appearance of one of his best songs ever,."Two Fine People", the place to go for more of that is Izitso.
