I was a big fan of Al Stewart’s “Year of the Cat” back in the mid-1970s. The surreal lyrics and the sax solo thrilled me. Apparently, “Year of the Cat” thrilled a lot of people which resulted in this re-mastered (by Alan Parsons) 45th Anniversary Edition. If you want to learn how the song came about, just click here. Are you an Al Stewart fan? GRADE: A
This 45th Anniversary edition of this special album includes a complete, previously unreleased concert recorded at the Paramount Theater, Seattle in October 1976 on the YEAR OF THE CAT tour over two CDs and a new mix of the track ‘Belsize Blues’, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in September 1975.
TRACK LIST:
DISC ONE
YEAR OF THE CAT
RE-MASTERED BY ALAN PARSONS
1. LORD GRENVILLE
2. ON THE BORDER
3. MIDAS SHADOW
4. SAND IN YOUR SHOES
5. IF IT DOESN’T COME NATURALLY, LEAVE IT
6. FLYING SORCERY
7. BROADWAY HOTEL
8. ONE STAGE BEFORE
9. YEAR OF THE CAT
BONUS TRACK
10. BELSIZE BLUES
(RECORDED AT ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS IN SEPTEMBER 1975)
DISC TWO:
LIVE AT THE PARAMOUNT THEATER,
SEATTLE – OCTOBER 1976
PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
1. APPLE CIDER RE-CONSTITUTION (LIVE 1976)
(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
2. THE DARK AND THE ROLLING SEA (LIVE 1976)
(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
3. ONE STAGE BEFORE (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
4. SOHO (NEEDLESS TO SAY) (LIVE 1976)
(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
5. NOT THE ONE (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
6. ON THE BORDER (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
7. BROADWAY HOTEL (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
8. ROADS TO MOSCOW (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
I love “Year of the Cat”—lovely, haunting, and melancholy. I also liked Stewart’s follow-up record, “Time Passages,” which doesn’t appear to be on this CD. I think “On the Border” got some radio play, but after that it seemed that Stewart just faded into obscurity.
Deb, I think Al Stewart’s music sold better in England and Europe.
I vaguely remember the song, but that’s about it. Wouldn’t have suspected it could be milked for a 2-CD set.
Michael, DISC ONE is the remastered YEAR OF THE CAT album. DISC TWO is a previously unreleased concert in Seattle from the mid-1970s. Both CDs sound great!
I do like the two songs Deb mentioned. At the time I was fascinated with “Roads to Moscow” as well.
Jeff, “Roads to Moscow” is on Stewart’s 1973 album, Past, Present and Future.
I liked the title song okay, but for me the rest were just filler.
Rick, I have five or six Al Stewart CDs I haven’t listened to yet. But, you’re right: Stewart was a pretty fair folk singer with a distinctive voice.
He was a pretty fair folk singer, though.
The first few times I heard “Year of the Cat” I’d missed the name of the singer and thought it was Donovan.
Michael, Al Stewart and Donovan do have a similar sound. I’m a big fan of Donovan’s Sunshine Superman album.
I was listening to Donovan’s Greatest Hits CD a couple of weeks ago. Some classic stuff. Also Deb’s favorite, “Atlantis.”
It always makes me think of him going to India with the Beatles, Mike Love, and Mia Farrow to see the Maharishi. Or as Lily Tomlin put it in her one woman show (I paraphrase), “You need to be rich enough to afford the fare to India to learn to give up material things.”
Jeff, Donavan had a few hits and then faded away. But his “Catch the Wind” gets featured in a lot of commercials.
Yes, I am an unabashed Donovan fan! I know he’s considered a bit hippie-trippy-dippy, but I love his music. Many people don’t know that Jeff Beck (and, iirc, Jimmy Paige) played on some of Donovan’s records—like “Atlantis” and “Barabajagel.”
Deb, I may have to dig out my Donovan CDs for future FORGOTTEN MUSIC posts.
Jimmy Page also played on some early Al Stewart albums. (Page was a very-in-demand studio musician.)
I like Al Stewart quite a bit. “On the Border,” on this album, has one of those perfect moments when the cadence of the lyrics and the music just fit like a hand in a glove: “And turn the rifles/Into silver/On the border.” (Like “You’re gonna need an ocean/Of calamine lotion,” that kind of fit.)
We saw Al Stewart in concert a few years ago, and he was very good. At one point he sang a little bit of someone else’s song, and said, “What does that have? Eight lines? I make things hard for myself. Nobody puts as many words into a song as I do.” And he’s right. All that history!
Jeff, the only guy I know who puts more words into a song is Lin-Manuel Miranda.