Disco de Al Stewart: “Orange”

Orange is the not the easiest of albums; the most personal of all Al Stewart's work, but also the last of his truly autobiographical albums; his next phase was more experimental, more historical - and yes - more commercial.

Orange was an acquired taste - many fans saw it as a sell out (at the time), as it was so smooth and professional compared with the first three.

And smooth it is; a polished performance of well-written, intelligent lyrics with a backing from fine musicians.

Many of us, born within a year or three of Al, could (and did) relate to his angst. Almost uniquely in my experience, this album seemed to talk equally to both male and female listeners.

Finally, and this must be recorded for posterity, this is the album that spawned the 'Al Stewart Joke' on the UK folk club circuit: "Tragedy - Al Stewart has a new girlfriend. [pause] That means another album." They were only jealous!

Al Stewart is quoted in the liner notes to the CD re-issue of "Orange", that he suffered writer's block for nearly two years after the release of his third album "Zero She Flies" in 1970 and that it was only the ensuing breakup with his longtime girlfriend, Mandy Newell that got his creative juices flowing again. The 10 songs on "Orange", originally released on January 1, 1972 in the UK and in Europe only, are the interesting fruits of his toils. Another reviewer here erroneously as has been pointed out, claims to have heard "Carol" and "Sirens of Titan", but after repeated listenings to "Orange", I hear snippets of melody that Stewart would more successfully incorporate into his 1974 masterpiece, "Past, Present and Future", as for instance the rhythmic acoustic guitar chord that leads into "Songs Out of Clay" which can later be heard more fully fleshed out on 1974's, "Roads to Moscow".

With producer John Anthony at the helm for "Orange" great care was put into engineering these songs, as Stewart's vocals are clearer, the string arrangements are lush but not overbearing, and the guitars, bass and drums blend in a much cleaner sounding mix than previous Stewart albums. And what of the songs? Al Stewart was still searching for a unique unifying theme and alas he did not quite find it on "Orange" which is a collection of nice but fairly straightforward lost love tunes in the singer songwriter confessional style that was so much in vogue in the early `70's (Joni Mitchell, Elton John). Stewart, with his new band in tow including Tim Renwick and Brinsley Schwarz on guitars and Rick Wakemen on keyboards, appropriately recorded an upbeat cover of Bob Dylan's kiss off love lost tune, "I Don't Believe You" to jump-start the "Orange" studio sessions. Although Stewart conveys a genuine hurt over his breakup with Mandy, he wisely avoids wallowing in self pity by keeping the melodies light and bouncy and by focusing his lyrics on documenting the sometimes touching, occasionally sad, and other times funny events of the doomed relationship. With his keen eye for factual detail, Stewart in a journalistic style, depicts the joys and travails of young Brits in love in the post-1967 hippie era, where a certain innocence is revealed in going to a Hendrix concert, traveling to Holland, staying in and making love, getting into a fight at a party and even in infidelity (it wasn't called `swinging' London for nothing). Stewart, who is quoted in the liner notes again said that these songs were `cathartic'. Only on "Songs Out of Clay and "Night of the 4th of May" does Stewart explore some darker moods and imagery that must have been present during the stormy parts of the breakup. Stewart's moral is that free love has personal and emotional consequences, and while not an entirely novel idea, it is a reasonably accurate assessment of romantic relationships that go sour in any "era". Stewart acknowledges all of these events of his past love relationship and then moves on, clearing the deck so he could fully tap into his creative muse two years later for "Past, Present and Future".

Available only as a UK import, it's nice to see "Orange" finally available on CD in the US. The bonus tracks, since they are NOT out takes from the "Orange" sessions, are rather superfluous with the only interesting song being Stewart's sprightly cover of Paul Anka's, "It Doesn't Matter Anymore". "Orange" is highly recommended for Al Stewart fans, as it shows the artist in transition from lovelorn folk singer to progressive folk rocker. "Orange is also recommended to any fans of the 70's singer songwriter style of light rock. 4 Stars

Orange was always a personal favorite of mine. I remember hearing it for the first time at a party while in college in the 70s. While not nearly as well known as "Past, Present and Future," "Year of the Cat" or "Time Passages," "Orange" has some fabulous tracks. "Songs Out of Clay," "Amsterdam" and "You Don't Even Know Me" could be heard well into the 80s at eateries such as Bennigan's ot TGIF so obviously other people had taken notice of this album. Unfortunately Al Stewart never achieved the fame that I thought he deserved but his music has aged very well. I highly recommend this CD if you like Al Stewart at all in the 70s.

Here we find Al in 1972. He's almost to that point of really really great songwriting all the way around (He took brief moments in earlier albums on songs like "Clifton In The Rain" and "A Small Fruit Song"). On ORANGE, his songs are still mostly love confessions, but still well worth hearing as he is beefing up his sound. Highlight songs "Songs Out of Clay", "The News From Spain" and "Amsterdam".

This is still one of my favourite Al Stewart albums: a classic singer/songwriter collection of sensitive, magical, lyrically powerful songs about love and loss, and the difficulty of communication. From the bitter-sweet lyrics of 'You don't even know me', to the doom-laden epic grandeur of 'News from Spain', Stewart presents the trials and tribulations caused by our fickle hearts, and the many deceptions we practise. 'I'm falling' is a love song par excellence, capturing the very simple, almost mundane reasons for which we fall in love, as we come to discover the small but important things which attract us, or seem imbude with meaning somehow. 'Once an orange' is a great sparkly guitar instrumental, but the haunting lyrics of 'Songs out of clay', and its deceptively simple production (exquisite Spanish guitar work from Tim Renwick), makes this the outstanding piece, in my eyes. It's really pure poetry: "And the golden rays of the sun divide/In the slanting mists of the rain", and the rest is equally good. If you're a sensitive being, you'll love this album, especially if you swim against the tide and prefer his earlier work, before 'year of the cat', as lyrically and emotionally his work somehow rings the more true, than the blander, more commercial stuff. There's nothing to lose by checking out this little masterpiece.