Disco de Al Stewart: “Year of the Cat”

Kireviewer - please stick to your Brittney Spears cds. Don't enter into the historical realm of a real musician and brilliant writer. (See review below) What is Lord Grenville? Get serious. It's an historical recreation of a real ship, in war time, which was facing many enemy vessels and instead of retreating - fought bravely to the death. "We won't be back again... won't be back again." Year Of The Cat is like a beautiful painting, each song a wonderful real-life historical story. Just the title song alone is such a masterpiece of modern music and poetry. "She goes strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre contemplating a crime... She comes out of the sun in a silk dress, running like a water colour in the rain." That's my favorite, but the smuggling ship in "On The Border" is a close second. "The ghost moon sails among the clouds... turns the riffles into silver, on the border." I wish there were more caring musicians like Al Stewart and his under-rated guitar playing. Don't forget to listen to the great Peter White's beautiful guitar. And the lyrics are absolutley unheard of today. Quality unprescidented.

Years ago, Arista & Mobile Fidelity released Al Stewart's "Year Of The Cat" on CD & I purchased the MF version. Over the years I've played the two hits from this album ("On The Border" & the title track) but due to what I was doing at the time, the other tracks were passed over in favor of playing another CD or to do something else. When I learned that Rhino was releasing "Year Of The Cat" (with a sonic upgrade!), My interest in this album peaked once again so I purchased it while visiting New Jersey. One night I decided to play it as I went off to sleep. I couldn't get to sleep that night until I heard this masterpiece four times! This CD is loaded with artistic wit & creativity & I am shocked that I managed to go all this time without listening to these treasures. Rhino did a beautiful job remastering this album too. I have never heard such detail in this album as I did with this Rhino CD. When I play this CD now, I have to play the entire CD. The only way I can play the two individual tracks is if I happen to be playing a "Various Artists" CD or listening to the radio. If anyone I know tells me they have any of the original "Year Of The Cat" CD's, I will strongly insist that they upgrade to the Rhino version. Thanks to this CD (& Rhino), I am going back through all of my CD's to revisit them one track at a time. My only hope is that if I discover another overlooked treasure like this one, I hope Rhino is involved with the latest issue. "Year Of The Cat" is a stunning album! The Rhino CD sounds spectacular! I highly recommend this CD!---William F. Greco

I first heard Al Stewart when I was about 10 years old (as of this review, I am 24). My father owned a ragged cassette tape of songs copied from the Year of the Cat vinyl LP, which we played in the car and at home quite extensively. Even at such a tender age, I could feel the genuine emotions conveyed through his songs: the sympathetic lamentations of "Lord Grenville," the cinematic seclusion of "Broadway Hotel," and the haunting remembrance of the title song. As I grew older into my teens, I went through a phase of musical exploration one might expect of someone at that stage of adolescence, seeking much more aggressive and noise-oriented forms of musical expression to placate the confusion of discomforts stirring within me, and thus I ignored the auditory pleasantries of childhood. But when I entered college and came to know myself more maturely, I started feeling a yearning for certain nostalgic facets of my past, and this album was one of them. How wonderful it was to find the CD here on Amazon.com!

Even as I listen to it now, I still find previously unnoticed nuances. Aside from the brilliant music contained on this album, I have also come to recognize how incredible the production was for its time (1976), as well as the usage of rather advanced synthesizers for subtle melodic support. The music itself is compelling in its atmosphere and timelessness, compared to what was then more popular. The guitar solos still ring true with clarity (not to mention the stylistic drum work and bass lines), never meandering away from their purpose, and Al's to-the-point style of singing is comforting like an honest friend.

There are so many exceptional songs on this album, spanning a wide range of places, moods, and even time periods. As a child, "Lord Grenville" was always my favorite, but now that I am a singer myself, I have grown partial to "One Stage Before." Its candid lyrics and dream-like vocal effects speak clearly to a musician's heart. He is truly a modern troubador, exploring love and sadness in equal measure.

Year of the Cat is a classic on so many levels, and while my college peers are content to surrender themselves to more contemporary sounds (as am I when the mood strikes me), it is unfortunate that many of my generation will miss out on this treasure of songs simply because of its "antiquity."

Sometimes an album can be summed up prefectly in one song...more often than not, by the single. (Think Fleetwood Mac Tusk or U2's With and Without You from the Joshua Tree) So it is with Year of The Cat. The world of course is filled with great singles...but every now and then one comes along that passes a little thing I call the Blue Moon test. Imagine it's 1956 and you are a young teen in America...and suddenly Blue Moon as sung by Elvis on Sun records drifts out of that tiny radio on your bedside table. It sounds like it is from another world...another time...and unlike many great radio singles...it always sounds like that. Years later when it comes on, it doesn't sound like a song that moved you in 1956, it still sounds like it did then...out of place with everything else on the radio. Very few bands have singles like this...Born To Run by Bruce, Don't Fear The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult, When Doves Cry and Kiss by Prince, Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone, I am The Walrus by the Beatles, Creep by Radiohead, She's Gone by Hall and Oats, Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, these are just a few...Year of the Cat is another. The song sets the tone for the entire album...the mood. Smart lyrics, a touching voice that floats above the precision band and stunning guitar work by Peter White and Al Stewart. The arrangements are delicate, yet hook you in, and the production is clean...not overly slick, but polished the way you would expect from Alan Parson, man at the board on his work, Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon and Let It Be. The other songs on the album lead you to Year of the Cat like a road map. They mark the way, build up a sense of drama that something is coming...and yet, they all still manage to hold their own. In fact, the best songs on the album work becuase of this drama...they don't just tell a story, they set up the conflict, lyrically and musically. Broadway Hotel, Sand in Your Shoes, Flying Sorcery, the rocker (for Al anyway) If It Doesn't Come Naturally Leave it, and the other hit, On the border all pull you and leave you wanting more...expecting more...and then, Year Of The Cat delivers the pay-off. If all you have ever heard from this album are the two singles, you owe it to yourself to hear them in context.

This album made Al Stewart a household name in America. Mention his name and the first thing people say is "The Year of the Cat". The title song is on my top three song list and is truly a great great song. More than that, it is a production. This work starts out with the simple piano piece that can be heard throughout the song and builds gradually in a great crescendo to the instrumental during the middle part of the song and finishes on a musical high that is unparalleled. Twenty plus years after its release I still listen to it often and take pleasure in every second of this masterful piece of work. Every song on this album is a winner. The lyrics are superb and he surrounds himself with the very best of musicians.