Disco de Al Stewart: “To Whom It May Concern (1966-70)”

I deeply loved Al Stewart and his music when I was in college in the late 1970's. My girlfriend and I were both enamoured with him, and shared some beautiful times while listening. One particular favorite album was "The Early Years", which had selections from his first four albums, then out of circulation. It was a hard album to find and I gave it to the woman when she left. I have been wishing for 20 years that I could listen to "Mary Foster", "Love Chronicles", "Electric LA Sunset" and "Manuscript" again, as well as all the others. I am now 41 and appreciate it more than ever.

Thanks Al.

I have heard couple of the songs in this album before however I have never had the chance to listen to majority of the songs from this period of Al Stewart. What can I say? Magnificent can be the word to describe this album. Life and Life Only, Electric Los Angeles Sunset, Ivich, Bedsitter Images, Anna, My Enemies Have Sweet Voices and Small Fruit Song make this collection unmatchable. Al Stewart's voice, music and lyrics have always touched me. But this period of his career is seemed to me really different. It is pure and more experimental. This CD is a must not only for those who would like to explore Al Stewart's music but also for those who are looking for an immortal piece from 60s.

I'd been waiting for this collection to be re-released for some 25 years now."Zero She Flies" is one of the most beautiful and poignant records ever recorded, and sadly has remained out of print until it appeared on this wonderful compilation. "Gethsemane Again", one of the finest tunes Al ever wrote, is a true highlight.A lot of people,particularly in the States, don't realize Stewart's folk troubadour origins and will forever associate him with late 70's AOR, so I encourage anyone who is interested to check out this fine retropsective of one of the more underrated performers of our time. Even after all these years, I'm still mesmerised by tunes like "Manuscript" and "Electric Los Angeles Sunset".

Listening to this two disk set you can see how Al Stewart grew over the years as both a musician and lyricist. There are some gems here that have been unavailable to all but the most hard core fans for more then 20 years. A definate "must have" for anyone who appreciates Al Stewart's music.

Many, if not most Al Stewart fans will tell you that his early albums contain the great majority of his best work.

The early offerings by Stewart had a sincerity,an earthiness and an emotional richness about them that he hasn't come close to duplicating for over a quarter of a century now. What a shame.

I wouldn't go so far as to say his later work is insignificant but it doesn't nearly measure up to the quality of song crafting you'll find represented on this album. Early Al Stewart was a major influence on me as I first began writing songs and albeit it still is. It's sad that Al just can't write them and perform them like that anymore.

It is my opinion that to ignore Stewart's work that is previous to 1976's "Year of the Cat" release would be akin to ignoring Bob Dylan's work before 1976, if not worse.

Al Stewart is one of the most underated artists from the 70's, no doubt about it. Especially in the folk/rock genre.

Twenty years ago I read an article that said Al Stewart never had a hit before Alan Parsons became his producer and he's never had one since they parted ways. While that's very true, the court of public recognition is often very wrong. If that's a good criteria to use for judging musical worth then "Kiss" is better than "Steely Dan" and "Snoop Doggy Dog" is much better than "Miles Davis."

Point is, just because this music didn't meet with popular acclaim doesn't change the fact that it's great stuff. Until this recent release that amalgamates the first three albums, they were all VERY, VERY hard to find. I'm so glad that they've become available again. It seemed ridiculous to me that the buying public had no access to such brilliant work.

I've always had the first three albums on vinyl. Now, I'm VERY happy to have them on CD. My LP's were sounding pretty bad from wear.

If you'd like an album that will sound fresh and different to you and that's full of great stuff that no one in your circle has ever heard before... This would be a good album for you to get.

I'm very glad Alan Parsons didn't work on these early projects, the sparse production values greatly enhance the raw folkiness of the songs.

Alan Parsons did do a great job producing Pink Floyd in the 70's but that doesn't mean that he was qualified to produce tremondously good acoustic folk pieces. With these songs less is soooo much more. Thank God they weren't recorded with 20 tracks of overdubbing.

If you like early Dylan, early CSNY, Joan Baez, etc., etc., I promise you, you'll LOVE this album. Contributing studio musicians (before they became famous) include, Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Roger Meadows Taylor (Queen) and Rick Wakeman (Yes).

I have sevral hundred albums in my collection. Early Al Stewart is indeed one of my VERY favourite parts of that collection.

If you want to ignore Al Stewart's work after "Year of the Cat," (1976) you won't be missing much. Ignore the work before that album... And you'll be missing out on one of the very best and most underated artist's of the 70's.

It's hard to understand how songs of such quality and depth never found their way to the mainstream. But then again perhaps those are the very same reasons why this album can still sound refreshing and good to me.