Original released on LP Island ILPS 9118
(UK, April 1970)
Cat Stevens
virtually disappeared from the British pop scene in 1968, at the age of 20,
after a meteoric start to his career. He had contracted tuberculosis and spent
a year recovering, from both his illness and the strain of being a teenage pop
star, before returning to action in the spring of 1970 - as a very different
22-year-old - with "Mona Bone Jakon". Fans who knew him from 1967 must have been
surprised. Under the production aegis of former Yardbird Paul Samwell-Smith, he
introduced a group of simple, heartfelt songs played in spare arrangements on
acoustic guitars and keyboards and driven by a restrained rhythm section. Built
on folk and blues structures, but with characteristically compelling melodies,
Stevens' new compositions were tentative, fragmentary statements that alluded
to his recent "Trouble," including the triviality of being a
"Pop Star." But these were the words of a desperate man in search of
salvation. "Mona Bone Jakon" was dominated by images of death, but the album was
also about survival and hope. Stevens' craggy voice, with its odd breaks of
tone and occasional huskiness, lent these sometimes sketchy songs depth, and
the understated instrumentation further emphasized their seriousness. If
Stevens was working out private demons on "Mona Bone Jakon", he was well attuned
to a similar world-weariness in pop culture. His listeners may not have shared
his exact experience, but after the 1960s they certainly understood his sense
of being wounded, his spiritual yearning, and his hesitant optimism. "Mona Bone
Jakon" was only a modest success upon its initial release, but it attracted
attention in the wake of the commercial breakthrough of its follow-up, "Tea for
the Tillerman".
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