Track Listing

1. Wind
2. Rubylove
3. If I Laugh
4. Changes IV
5. How Can I Tell You
6. Tuesday's Dead
7. Morning Has Broken
8. Bitterblue
9. Moonshadow
10. Peace Train

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3494 in Music
• Released on: 2000-05-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.com essential recording
The third album Cat Stevens put out in a 15-month burst that began in the summer of 1970 with Mona Bone Jakon, Teaser and the Firecat is where the enigmatic folk-pop idol crested commercially, if not artistically. Its immediate predecessor, Tea for the Tillerman, possesses an air of mystery and unforced whimsy that proved impossible for Stevens to replicate. That said, the singer-songwriter had it in him to pull together a captivating collection that boasted two of the biggest hits of his meteoric, if self-inhibited, career--"Peace Train" and the sublime hymn "Morning Has Broken." "The Wind," "If I Laugh," and "Moonshadow" are every bit as tuneful and appealing as the hits, while "Rubylove," "How Can I Tell You," and "Bitterblue" would be standouts on Stevens's less accomplished later albums. In fact, only the bellicose social statements "Changes IV" and "Tuesday's Dead" ring hollow. --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews

One of my all-time favorites
Cat Stevens had two absolutely great albums, and this is one of them. The other was _Tea for the Tillerman_, and _Mona Bone Jakon_ was darned close. If you have those three, skip the "very best of" collections; you have most of the "very best of" Cat Stevens already. Borrow _Buddha and the Chocolate Box_ from somebody and tape "Sun/C79" and "Oh, Very Young," and you'll have the rest.

(Not that his other stuff isn't _good_, but it's mostly not of the same quality -- though portions of _Catch Bull At Four_ come within inches of it. I don't have much patience with "fans" who tell us that the rest of us aren't "true" fans if we find "Foreigner Suite" to be much ado about nothing and don't especially care for _Izitso_. If we have to suspend our powers of discrimination and uncritically adore everything an artist emits, who wants to be a "true" fan of _anybody_? And what genuine artist would want such "fans"?)

Since this album is so solidly written and produced (and its quality, in my opinion, more evenly distributed than that of _Tea_), it's hard to single out any highlights; besides, it's been one of my absolute favorite albums for about thirty years, and who can be objective after that long? Heck, I learned to play the guitar from Cat Stevens, James Taylor, and Jim Croce, with some help from Lightfoot and Fogelberg and CSN+/-Y and a handful of others. I can't step back now and pretend I'm hearing this stuff for the first time.

But like all of its longtime listeners, I have my personal favorites. One of these is "The Wind," which is just about the most perfect "spiritual-seeker" song ever written in all of human history. (Hey, I said I wasn't going to be objective.)

His take on the old hymn "Morning Has Broken" is just stunningly gorgeous. If you even _know_ this hymn, he's probably responsible at least indirectly; it enjoyed an amazing popular resurgence in the liturgies of the 1970s after he turned it into a hit. And "Moonshadow" also made quite a few appearances in religious programs during that same decade -- not to mention around campfires in various altered states of consciousness. (Moreover -- voice of experience here? you guess -- the song is sufficiently simple that it can be played convincingly in almost any of those states.)

But my real favorites are some of the less popular cuts. "If I Laugh." "Changes IV." "Tuesday's Dead." "Bitterblue." And the great "Rubylove," a challenge in seven-eight meter and one of the man's few recorded nods toward his Greek heritage. (After he converted to Islam and adopted the name "Yusuf," i.e., Joseph, I fell briefly into the not-quite-nice habit of referring to him as "Bouzouki Joe.")

Which reminds me -- here's a little history for the uninitiated:

"Cat Stevens" was the stage name of Steven Georgiou, who was born in the U.K. in 1949 of a Cypriot father and a Swedish mother. Something of a musical prodigy, he released his first two albums well before he was twenty years old as was on his way to becoming a "pop star." He then fell victim to a terrible case of tuberculosis. When he returned to singing and songwriting, he had taken a decidedly more reflective turn and found himself delivering absolutely beautiful stuff with no apparent commercial potential. That was fine with him; he was no longer particularly interested in commercial success. But, perhaps ironically, his delicate confessional songs and his deliberate avoidance of "commercial-ness" turned him into a huge international star.

Well, he eventually (1977) became a Muslim and adopted the name "Yusuf Islam" (after the biblical dream-interpreter Joseph). At that time he also left the music industry. He has since recorded a couple of albums about Islam, but his last collection of commercial music was _Footsteps In The Dark_ (ostensibly a second volume of his "greatest hits," but in fact a set of lesser-known favorites and a handful of tunes not available elsewhere).

You can feel safe in ignoring the comments from people who think he has become "rigid" and/or "intolerant." The simple fact is that nearly every Cat Stevens album (the exceptions being his first two) are filled with "spiritual seeking," and he eventually found what he was looking for in Islam. His "recent" (actually, 1990) remarks on Salman Rushdie were not what you probably think they were (and in particular he didn't call for Rushdie's death). He's no more "rigid" or "intolerant" than the rest of us; he's simply a religiously observant Muslim, that's all. There's a problem here only for people who think seekers should never get around to finding, or that traditional religion is more "dogmatic" than irreligion.

_Tea_ and _Teaser_ are still great albums, and they don't need to "transcend" their creator in order to be great; there's no need to run down Yusuf in order to elevate Cat. And since these albums _were_ written during his "seeker" stage, they're suitable for everybody -- future Muslims or not.

Fantastic
When my mom bought Cat Stevens best hits, I liked it so much that I dug around our basement to find old cassette tapes of his. I discovered "Teaser and the Firecat" and started playing it in the van I drove every day. I loved it so much that I bought the CD and I have listened to it hundreds of times. Every song on this album is great, and I am definitely going out to buy more Cat Stevens albums before I leave for college in a few weeks. Cat Stevens is a very talented artist and every word of his songs has a special meaning.

Opinion of a Cat Lover
I wasn't even born when this album came out, but I grew up listening to the timeless tunes of this prolific genius. He poured his heart out onto every song and this is evident in "Bitter Blue" and "The Wind". He was on a search to find the meaning of life, one of which many of us never embark, let alone attain. It is very sad that he gave up this beautiful gift from God, but if you know what he went through to get to where he is today, you'll know why he gave it up. I don't like that many people disapprove of his choice to become Muslim, but he is happy. Even though this musical master's career was short-lived, we'll be able to enjoy his creations for a lifetime and beyond. If anyone likes folk-music, this is definitely a piece for your musical collection.