OST "Harold and Maude" ~ Cat Stevens, 1971

Original released on LP Vinyl Films VFR-2007-3

(Special Collector's Edition, 2007)

Um dos grandes trunfos do filme "Harold And Maude / Ensina-me a Viver" foi sem dúvida a sua banda sonora, composta pelas canções de Cat Stevens, na altura a viver o seu apogeu criativo. Essas canções ajustam-se que nem uma luva às imagens, quer através das letras quer musicalmente. E o mais curioso é que a grande maioria foi retirada de dois albuns já existentes no mercado: “Mona Bone Jakon” e “Tea For The Tillerman”, ambos de 1970. As duas únicas novidades, compostas expressamente para o filme foram os temas “Don’t Be Shy” e “If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out”.

Dada a edição recente daqueles dois albuns, não foi considerada importante na altura a saída de um novo LP com a inclusão completa das canções que apareciam no filme. Apenas no Japão apareceu uma pequena edição pirata rotulada de banda sonora que rapidamente desapareceu da circulação para desgosto de possíveis coleccionadores. Em meados da década de 80 aqueles dois temas apareceram por fim editados legalmente no 2º Volume dos “Greatest Hits" de Cat Stevens. Mas não era isso que os verdadeiros fãs queriam. Esses queriam uma verdadeira banda-sonora do filme, com as palavras “Harold”, “Maude” e “Soundtrack” estampados na capa.

Tivemos todos de esperar 37 anos, tempo mais do que suficiente para Cat Stevens ter mudado de nome, trocado as luzes da ribalta pelo recolhimento religioso e ter por fim regressado à gravação de novas canções. Mas a espera é capaz de ter valido a pena. Numa altura em que os tempos do vinil estão pouco a pouco a regressar, o aparecimento de uma edição especial para colecionadores nos fins de 2007 representou a concretização de um sonho já muito antigo. A edição foi limitada (apenas 2.500 unidades) pelo que rapidamente se esgotou. Felizmente consegui a minha cópia a tempo (apesar de ter dispendido quatro vezes mais do que o preço "oficial") e ela aqui está, em todo o seu esplendor.

O autor deste projecto chama-se Cameron Crowe, um coleccionador obsessivo de bandas-sonoras e também escritor, director, produtor e arquivista em part-time, que durante os últimos três anos meteu mãos à obra, ajudado pela sua própria editora, a Vinyl Film Records, e também pela Paramount, que produziu o filme. E, claro, contou também com a ajuda do Senhor Yusuf Islam, o regressado Cat Stevens. O resultado é excelente!

Desde logo a inclusão óbvia de todos os temas, incluindo versões alternativas e instrumentais, e prensados em vinil colorido, com oito cores diferentes à escolha (a minha cópia é em rosa claro-escuro, como se pode ver aí em cima). Vem também incluído um single de 7 polegadas com versões demo dos dois temas extras, também impresso em vinil colorido (no meu caso é branco) e acompanhado de uma pequena folha manuscrita com as letras das duas canções. Isto tudo vem inserido num dos lados da dupla capa (gatefold), a qual, no seu interior, apresenta uma montagem fotográfica de uma série de imagens relacionadas com o filme: livros, fotos, bilhetes, contas, singles, posters, enfim, uma autêntica parafernália de “Harold and Maude”.

No outro lado da capa encontra-se um grande envelope onde se pode ler “Harold & Maude Publicity Kit 25 Stills”, que é uma cópia do envelope na altura enviada à imprensa com fotografias para promoção do filme. No interior encontramos um catálogo com 36 páginas, recheado de fotografias originais e com histórias, curiosidades (sabiam que Elton John chegou a ser abordado para o papel principal?) e depoimentos de todos quantos estiveram envolvidos na produção do filme. A finalizar dois posters gigantes, um de Cat Stevens, a preto e branco, e outro com o poster a cores da edição japonesa do filme. Como se referiu atrás, este vinil encontra-se há muito esgotado, podendo apenas adquirir-se a preços exorbitantes. Entretanto, Rato Records fez uma banda-sonora especial, com 20 faixas (mais 3 bonus), onde se incluiram alguns diálogos e trechos de música clássica ouvidos no filme.

(VER CRÍTICA AO FILME AQUI)

CAT STEVENS - "Mona Bone Jakon"

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".

CAT STEVENS: "Tea for the Tillerman"

Original released on LP Island ILPS 9135

(UK 1970, November 23)

"Mona Bone Jakon" only began Cat Stevens' comeback. Seven months later, he returned with this "Tea for the Tillerman", an album in the same chamber-group style, employing the same musicians and producer, but with a far more confident tone. "Mona Bone Jakon" had been full of references to death, but "Tea for the Tillerman" was not about dying; it was about living in the modern world while rejecting it in favor of spiritual fulfillment. It began with a statement of purpose, "Where Do the Children Play?," in which Stevens questioned the value of technology and progress. "Wild World" found the singer being dumped by a girl, but making the novel suggestion that she should stay with him because she was incapable of handling things without him. "Sad Lisa" might have been about the same girl after she tried and failed to make her way; now, she seemed depressed to the point of psychosis. The rest of the album veered between two themes: the conflict between the young and the old, and religion as an answer to life's questions. "Tea for the Tillerman" was the story of a young man's search for spiritual meaning in a soulless class society he found abhorrent. He hadn't yet reached his destination, but he was confident he was going in the right direction, traveling at his own, unhurried pace. The album's rejection of contemporary life and its yearning for something more struck a chord with listeners in an era in which traditional verities had been shaken. It didn't hurt, of course, that Stevens had lost none of his ability to craft a catchy pop melody; the album may have been full of angst, but it wasn't hard to sing along to. As a result, "Tea for the Tillerman" became a big seller and, for the second time in four years, its creator became a pop star. (William Ruhlmann in AllMusic)

London-born Cat Stevens (a.k.a. Steven Georgiou) had scored hits since the late 1960s, but with "Tea for the Tillerman", his fourth album, he became a global star. Previous LP "Mona Bone Jakon" (featuring hit single "Lady d'Arbanville") had seen Stevens emerge as one of a new breed of reflective singer-songwriters. For this album he preserved the same core of musicians (Alun Davis, guitar; Harvey Burns, drums; John Ryan, bass) and the producer, maintaining the uncluttered production of "Mona Bone Jakon". Apart from Stevens' ear for a great melody, what caught the listener's attention most was the sensibility of his lyrics and his readliness to address pressing issues of his time - notably the search for spiritual direction that underpins "But I Might Die Tonight" and "On the Way to Find Out". "Father and Son" was written at the heels of a massive explosion of youth culture, but the song is all the more poignant for the lack of recrimination between the eponymous pair. (The album's sleeve, painted by Stevens, picks up on the subject of youth and age.) The album's melodic appeal and gentle charm saw sales soar and it garnered a gold disc. Seven years later, Stevens became a Muslim, changed his name to Yusuf Islam, and abandoned the music business to practice the spirituality yearned for in his songs. Since then, his work has rarely approached the tuneful simplicity of this much-loved album. (Liam Pieper in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die")

Cat Stevens had already released one album in 1970, "Mona Bone Jakon" back in April, when "Tea for the Tillerman" arrived that November. And almost immediately, things changed for the 22-year-old London singer-songwriter born Steven Demetre Georgiou. And then they just didn’t stop. Stevens had been kicking around the British folk scene for quite some time, penning songs for other people and just trying to make a living when he started recording his fourth album in London during the summer of 1970. Nobody, not even Stevens, had any reason to believe that "Tea for the Tillerman" would sell any better than his other LPs ("Mona Bone Jakon" peaked at No. 164). But none of his other albums contained songs as uniformly great as those found on "Tea for the Tillerman", a career milestone and the album that finally helped break Stevens worldwide. It all started with “Wild World,” his first Top 40 single (which stopped just shy of the Top 10 at No. 11), and ended a little more than a year later, when the cult movie Harold and Maude used Stevens’ songs (including a handful from "Tea for the Tillerman") on its soundtrack. And it was all setup for his biggest success in 1971 with “Morning Has Broken” (which hit No. 6) and the album "Catch Bull at Four" (which hit No. 1, his only LP to do so).

But "Tea for the Tillerman" is the album that made Stevens a star, the one that introduced his voice (soft, quivering, delicate and raspy at points) and songwriting (sharp, moving, eminently hummable) to a larger audience. Prior to "Tillerman", he was best known as the guy who wrote “The First Cut Is the Deepest,” which R&B singer P.P. Arnold had a hit with; afterward, he became one of the most representative voices, faces and personalities of the ’70s’ folk movement. From the opening “Where Do the Children Play?” (an ecologically minded survey of the era’s deadliest threats) and “Hard Headed Woman” to “Wild World” and “Father and Son” (one of the most moving songs ever written about the divide between parents and children), the album is a soft-rock landmark - made primarily on acoustic instruments, including congas, double bass and violin - that’s as timeless as it is a part of its generation. After the album’s success, Stevens pretty much followed its template for most of the ’70s, until his career dried up at the end of the decade. The majestic arrangements, the driving force behind many of "Tea for the Tillerman"'s songs, almost sound neutered in later recordings. But here they shake things up, giving lift to everything around them. Stevens relied on them later; on "Tillerman", they were just another piece of the creative process that helped define the album and, in turn, helped define the artist. (Michael Gallucci)

NOTE: In the same file you'll find the original album (CD1), the bonus tracks (CD2), the 2020 remaster (CD3) and also a copy from the remastered 180 gr vinyl.

Yusuf / Cat Stevens – Viña Del Mar Festival, Chile 2015 (Full Concert)

The Newest Version Of "Wild World"

YUSUF ISLAM / CAT STEVENS: "Tea For The Tillerman 2"

Original released on CD Island 08888689

(EU 2020, September 18)

Very interesting to listen to the re-recording of this record 50 years after the  original release. As with most artists the vocal range changes over the years and it is also a rare chance for Cat Stevens/Yusuf  to re-interpret the songs he wrote a half century ago. "Father and Son" is the most fascinating song on the album. With the 1970 Cat Stevens singing the "son" part and the 2020 Yusuf singing the 'father" part...….. a song 50 years in the making. (in RateYourMusic)

"Tea For The Tillerman" is one of my favourite albums ever, so it was equal parts excitement and doubt when I heard about the existence of this version. Would it hold up to the original? As a whole, no. Most of it is revisited well enough, but the standout worst track has to be Longer Boats. My least favourite from the original and this version doesnt change that. "Where Do The Children Play", "Sad Lisa", "Into White" and "Father and Son" are the positive standouts. "Hard Headed Woman" is rewritten to point out that no longer is he looking for her, he now has her in his life. Give this a go if you're a big fan of the original but don't expect the magic to be recreated. (in RateYourMusic)

Most moviegoers will tell you that remakes and sequels are almost never as good as the originals, and for every "The Godfather Part II" you get four or five things like "Exorcist II: The Heretic" or "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2". So why does Hollywood make them, and why do people pay to see them? Most of it can be chalked up to the notion of the pre-sold commodity - people have a good idea of what to expect, even if the quality isn't up to snuff, and there's always the hope the filmmakers will beat the odds and they'll have the same fun they had a few years previous. One can only imagine Yusuf, the artist known as in his salad days as Cat Stevens, was thinking along these lines when he decided to make "Tea for the Tillerman 2", a song-by-song remake of the 1970 album that became his international breakthrough hit. This time around, Yusuf and producer Paul Samwell-Smith (who also produced the original) have maintained the original sequence but given the tunes brand new arrangements, in effect giving fans a new and different version of one of their favorite albums. If the idea was to put these songs into a more modern context, that's not how it plays out; for the most part, "Tea for the Tillerman 2" trades the early '70s folk-rock of the original for a sound reminiscent of mid- to late-'70s soft rock, going to a great deal of trouble to travel a very short distance. (The album's greatest concession to modern tastes is a rap-influenced section in "Longer Boats," which is only slightly less embarrassing than it sounds.) With a few exceptions, the songs hold up rather well in their pastoral optimism and cautious tone about the state of the busy world. However, these new interpretations don't bring out much that's fresh or enlightening, and where the voice of 22-year-old Cat Stevens was strong and versatile, the 72-year-old Yusuf sounds a bit fragile and weary (and he clearly can't hit all the high notes). He sounds emotionally committed to the material throughout, which sometimes helps and sometimes makes things worse in his painful sincerity, and the jazz-tango arrangement of "Wild World" is simply puzzling. 2009's "Roadsinger" and 2017's "The Laughing Apple" proved that Yusuf is still capable of writing fine songs and making them work in the studio. "Tea for the Tillerman 2", on the other hand, is a curious misfire that trades strength and confidence for second-guessing and stylistic uncertainty. This isn't likely to win Yusuf any new fans or find favor with the millions who loved the original; while it's not quite as pointless a remake as Gus Van Sant's 1998 version of "Psycho", it comes too close for anyone to recommend it. (Mark Deming in AllMusic)

CAT STEVENS: "Majikat - Earth Tour 1976"

Original released on CD Eagle ER 20041-2

(US 2005, March 22; recorded 1976, January 22)

During his popular heyday in the 1970s, Cat Stevens did not release a live album, so it was some surprise that, nearly 30 years later, a live recording turned up on both DVD and CD. The performance captures Stevens on his 1976 American tour, just past his commercial peak. ("Numbers", the album he was promoting, broke a string of six consecutive Top Ten albums in the U.S. by peaking at number 13 in Billboard.) Supported by the same musicians who had played on his records, including guitarist Alun Davies and keyboard player Jean Roussel, he had a repertoire of hits and other favorites, and the audience can be heard cheering enthusiastically, not only for the chart singles, but also for tracks from albums like "Mona Bone Jakon", "Tea for the Tillerman", and "Teaser and the Firecat". Stevens performs faithful versions of eight of the 11 hit singles he had scored in the U.S. up to this point (omitting "Morning Has Broken," "Sitting," and "Ready"), interspersing them with equally familiar songs such as "Where Do the Children Play," "Tuesday's Dead," and "Father & Son." ("How Can I Tell You," another audience favorite, is missing from the DVD version of this concert, while the DVD boasts performances of "Miles from Nowhere" and "Ruins" not found on the CD.) For most of the show, Stevens says practically nothing, but toward the end he becomes much more talkative, saying of "Sad Lisa" that he may have been writing about himself rather than the woman of the title; admitting that his recent single "Two Fine People" is musically a rewrite of his earlier hit "Wild World"; and revealing that he actually wrote "Peace Train" on a train, although he was thinking of Alfred Hitchcock (and presumably, of the film "Strangers on a Train") at the time. More such revelations would have been welcome, but as it is the album constitutes an excellent Stevens best-of. (William Ruhlmann in AllMusic)

CAT STEVENS: EP "Matthew And Son"

EP Deram 15.000 M (FRANCE, February 1967)

CAT STEVENS: "Foreigner"

Edição original em LP Island ILPS 9240

(UK, July 1973)

Between 1970 and 1972, Cat Stevens recorded four albums in the same manner, using the same producer and many of the same musicians, painting the album covers, and assigning the records ponderous titles. Things changed with his next album, "Foreigner". The recording itself had been produced by Stevens, and while a couple of Stevens' usual backup musicians had been retained, New York session musicians appeared, and second guitarist Alun Davies was gone. With him went the acoustic guitar interplay that had been the core of Stevens' sound, replaced by more elaborate keyboard-based arrangements complete with strings, brass, and a female vocal trio featuring Patti Austin. It's easy to look at the 18-plus minute "Foreigner Suite" that took up the first side and accuse Stevens of excess and indulgence. What should be kept in mind, however, is that his peers in 1973 were acts like Jethro Tull and Yes, who in turn were taking their cue from the Beatles' "Abbey Road " and the Who's "Tommy". Call "Foreigner" ambitious, then, rather than indulgent. Actually, the suite is full of compelling melodic sections and typically emotive singing that could have made for an album side's worth of terrific four-minute Cat Stevens songs, if only he had composed them that way. As it is, the suite is a collection of tantalizing fragments. But the album's second side, featuring the Top 40 hit "The Hurt," demonstrates that, even in the four-minute range, his songwriting and arranging were becoming overly busy. On the whole, "Foreigner" marked a slight fall-off in quality from "Catch Bull at Four", which itself had marked a slight fall-off from "Teaser and the Firecat". The decline seemed more extreme, though, because "Foreigner" clearly was intended to be better than its predecessors. That's the risk of ambition. (William Ruhlmann in AllMusic)

CAT STEVENS: Colômbia, 2015

CAT STEVENS Debut Album

Original released on LP Deram DML 1004

(UK 1967, March 10)

Cat Stevens' "Matthew & Son" was among the handful of releases that introduced Decca Records' "offbeat"-oriented (but ultimately largely psychedelic/progressive) Deram label in England. Actually, Stevens' "I Love My Dog" launched the label in fine style by climbing to number 27 on the U.K. charts, and its follow-up, "Matthew & Son," hit number two, resulting in the release of the original album of the same name. The latter was not only a fine account of Stevens' early folk-influenced pop/rock sound, but was also a beautiful, candid audio "snapshot" of one side of Swinging London's musical ambience in late 1966 and early 1967. It melds tinkling harpsichords ("Matthew & Son") and moderately ambitious orchestrations (mostly horns and strings) on some songs ("I Love My Dog") with folky acoustic guitar on others ("Portabello Road"), a lot of it carrying highly expressive, weirdly personal lyrics. Though it was like pulling teeth to get some of those early records out from Decca, this album sounds today like the record that should have accompanied the American version of the Beatles' "Rubber Soul" onto millions of turntables. It's very distant from the sound that Stevens was ultimately known for, and in many ways, it's more dated than what he did for Island/A&M, but it's much more self-consciously accessible, arranged in different styles, ranging from vaudeville-style band accompaniment ("I See a Road") to trippy Donovan-esque ballads ("Baby Get Your Head Screwed On," "When I Speak to the Flowers," "Hummingbird"). Some of it, such as the sax-driven "Come on and Dance," is a little awkward as efforts at a soul sound, but all of it is fun, even the slightly too Engelbert Humperdinck-esque "Lady." (Bruce Eder in AllMusic)

DISCOGRAPHY
(Born July 21, 1948, London, United Kingdom)

1966-09-30 Sg (UK Deram DM 102): A. I Love My Dog; B. Portobello Road

1966-12 Sg (UK Deram DM 110): A. Mathew & Son; B. Granny

1967-03-10 LP MATTHEW & SON (UK Deram DML 1004): A1. Matthew & Son; A2. I Love My Dog; A3. Here Comes My Baby; A4. Bring Another Bottle Baby; A5. Portobello Road; A6. I’ve Found a Love; A7. I See a Road; B1. Baby Get Your Head Screwed On; B2. Granny; B3. When I Speak to the Flowers; B4. The Tramp; B5. Come on and Dance; B6. Hummingbird; B7. Lady

1967-03-24 Sg (UK Deram DM 118): A. I’m Gonna Get Me a Gun; B. School Is Out

1967-07-28 Sg (UK Deram DM 140): A. A Bad Night; B. The Laughing Apple

1967-12-01 Sg (UK Deram DM 156): A. Kitty; B. Blackness of the Night

1967-12 LP NEW MASTERS (UK Deram DML 1018): A1. Kitty; A2. I’m So Sleepy; A3. Northern Wind; A4. The Laughing Apple; A5. Smash Your Heart; A6. Moonstone; B1. The First Cut Is the Deepest; B2. I’m Gonna Be King; B3. Ceylon City; B4. Blackness of the Night; B5. Come On Baby (Shift That Log); B6. I Love Them All

1968-02-23 Sg (UK Deram DM 178): A. Lovely City (When Do You Laugh?); B. Image of Hell

1968-10-18 Sg (UK Deram DM 211): A. Here Comes My Wife; B. It’s a Super (Dupa) Life

1969-06-13 Sg (UK Deram DM 260): A. Where Are You; B. The View From the Top

1970-04-24 LP MONA BONE JAKON (UK Island ILPS 9118): A1. Lady D’Arbanville; A2. Maybe You’re Right; A3. Pop Star; A4. I Think I See the Light; A5. Trouble; B1. Mona Bone Jakon; B2. I Wish, I Wish; B3. Katmandu; B4. Time; B5. Fill My Eyes; B6. Lilywhite

1970-09 Sg (UK Island WIP 6092): A. Moon Shadow; B. Father and Son

1970-11-23 LP TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN (UK Island ILPS 9135): A1. Where Do the Children Play?; A2. Hard Headed Woman; A3. Wild World; A4. Sad Lisa; A5. Miles From Nowhere; B1. But I Might Die Tonight; B2. Longer Boats; B3. Into White; B4. On the Road to Find Out; B5. Father and Son; B6. Tea for the Tillerman

1971-09 LP TEASER AND THE FIRECAT (UK Island ILPS 9154): A1. The Wind; A2. Rubylove; A3. If I Laugh; A4. Changes IV; A5. How Can I Tell You; B1. Tuesday’s Dead; B2. Morning Has Broken; B3. Bitterblue; B4. Moonshadow; B5. Peace Train

1971-12 Sg (UK Island WIP 6121): A. Morning Has Broken; BI Want to Live in a Wigman

1972-09-27 LP CATCH BULL AT FOUR (UK Island ILPS 9206): A1. Sitting; A2. Boy With a Moon & Star on His Head; A3. Angelsea; A4. Silent Sunlight; A5. Can’t Keep It In; B1. 18^th Avenue; B2. Freezing Steel; B3. O Caritas; B4. Sweet Scarlet; B5. Ruins

1972-11-17 Sg (UK Island WIP 6152): A. Can’t Keep It In; B. Crab Dance

1973-06 Sg (UK Island WIP 6163): A. The Hurt; B. Silent Sunlight

1973-07 LP FOREIGNER (UK Island ILPS 9240): A. Foreigner Suite; B1. The Hurt; B2. How Many Times; B3. Later; B4. 100 I Dream

1974-03-19 LP BUDDHA AND THE CHOCOLATE BOX (UK Island ILPS 9274): A1. Music; A2. Oh Very Young; A3. Sun/C79; A4. Ghost Town; A5. Jesus; B1. Ready; B2. King of Trees; B3. A Bad Penny; B4. Home in the Sky

1974-11-08 LP SATURNIGHT (LIVE) (JAP A&M GP-228): A1. Wild World; A2. Oh Very Young; A3. Sitting; A4. Where Do the Children Play?; A5. Lady D’Arbanville; A6. Another Saturday Night; B1. Hard Headed Woman; B2. Peace Train; B3. Father and Son; B4. King of Trees; B5. A Bad Penny; B6. Bitterblue

1974-12 Sg A. Ready; B. I Think I See the Light

1975-05 Sg (UK Island WIP 6238): A. Two Fine People; B. A Bad Penny

1975-11 LP NUMBERS (UK Island ILPS 9370): A1. Whistlestar; A2. Novim’s Nightmare; A3. Majik of Majiks; A4. Drywood; B1. Banapple Gas; B2. Land o’ Free Love & Goodbye; B3. Jzero; B4. Home; B5. Monad’s Anthem

1976-01 Sg (UK Island WIP 6276): A. Banapple Gas; B. Ghost Town

1977-03 Sg (GER Island 17.920 AT): A. (I Never Wanted) To Be a Star; B. The Doves

1977-04 LP IZITSO (UK Island ILPS 9451): A1. (Remember the Days of the) Old Schoolyard; A2. Life; A3. Killin’ Time; A4. Kypros; A5. Bonfire; B1. (I Never Wanted) To Be a Star; B2. Crazy; B3. Sweet Jamaica; B4. Was Dog a Doughnut?; B5. Child for a Day

1978-12-03 LP BACK TO EARTH (US A&M SP-4735): A1. Just Another Night; A2. Daytime; A3. Bad Brakes; A4. Randy; A5. The Artist; B1. Last Love Song; B2. Nascimento; B3. Father; B4. New York Times; B5. Never

2005-03-22 CD MAJIKAT (EARTH TOUR 1976) (US Eagle ER 20041-2): 1. Wild World; 2. The Wind; 3. Moonshadow; 4. Where Do the Children Play? 5. Another Saturday Night; 6. Hard Headed Woman; 7. King of Trees; 8. C79; 9. Lady D’Arbanville; 10. Banapple Gas; 11. Majik of Majiks; 12. Tuesday’s Dead; 13. Oh Very Young; 14. How Can I Tell You; 15. The Hurt; 16. Sad Lisa; 17. Two Fine People; 18. Fill My Eyes; 19. Father & Son; 20. Peace Train

2007 LP HAROLD AND MAUDE (special collector’s edition) (Vinyl Films VFR-2007-3): A1. Don’t Be Shy; A2. On the Road to Find Out; A3. I Wish, I Wish; A4. Miles From Nowhere; A5. Tea for the Tillerman; A6. I Think I See the Light; B1. Where Do the Children Play?; B2. If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out; B3. If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out (banjo instrumental); B4. Trouble; B5. Don’t Be Shy (alternate version); B6. If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out (instrumental version)

CAT STEVENS: "New Masters" + Bonus

Original released on LP Deram DML 1018

(UK, December 1967)

"New Masters" is as uneven musically as its predecessor, "Matthew & Son", was bold. It was recorded after Cat Stevens had enjoyed a trio of hit singles of his own and a pair of hits ("Here Comes My Baby," "First Cut Is the Deepest") as a songwriter, but also after he'd started drinking regularly and the hits had stopped coming as easily. As he had also broken with his producer, Mike Hurst, it was - according to Andy Neill - truly a lawyers' record, in the sense that attorneys were all over the studio during the recording, representing both sides of the dispute. And with the record label caught in the middle, the resulting album was allowed to die on the vine in 1967/1968 (though Decca was able to sell it in profusion when it was reissued [especially in America] when Stevens re-emerged as a popular singer/songwriter in the early '70s). In a sense, it's more of the same as "Matthew & Son" but, intrinsically, not as interesting as a late 1967 release, as the earlier record was as an early 1967 release. The quirky, folky pop sound is there, on songs like "Kitty" and "Northern Wind." Some of it's highly derivative - "The Laughing Apple" owing a bit to "Greenback Dollar," among other songs - interspersed with pop balladry ("Smash Your Heart") and whimsy ("Moonstone," "Ceylon City"), plus the author's version of his own pop-soul standard "The First Cut Is the Deepest." (Bruce Eder in AllMusic)