New Yusuf Islam album (a.k.a. Cat Stevens)

Status
Not open for further replies.

Mike Blakesley

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Moderator
The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, Yusuf Islam, has released a new album "Roadsinger" today (May 5). Here is the review from AllMusic. Check out the last sentence if you're a fan of his past hits.

The album is even on the A&M label!


Yusuf Islam's (formerly Cat Stevens) previous recording, 2006's An Other Cup was a mostly enjoyable lighter weight -- and yes, sometimes preachy -- extension of the latter albums in his previous incarnation. The compositional sense here, on the far more satisfying Roadsinger, is much more direct, laid-back, earthy, and yet elegant. And while it definitely points forward, Roadsinger looks back to excellent recordings such as Catch Bull at Four and Teaser and the Firecat: on the intro to "Be What You Must" he even quotes "Sitting."

The voice here is immediately recognizable as that of the man who gave us so many beautiful, direct songs about living, searching, observing, and waiting. It has been deepened a bit by age, but somehow that adds to its quality. Certainly most, if not quite all, of these songs deal with spiritual themes, and yes, they discuss how one can be happy and whole by embracing a spiritual way of life, but the manner in which they do so is gentle, more attraction that promotion, and the compositions themselves stand up to the past while furthering a musical vision that is at the heart of who this artist always was.

The songs are low intensity, mostly hummable, and always rooted in the strumming or fingerpicking of an acoustic guitar even as strings, electric guitars, wispy percussion, and sometimes horns wind their way in without digging as deeply into the pop conscious productions of An Other Cup. The set was co-produced with Martin Terefe who has also worked with Martha Wainwright and James Morrison.

The album fits like a glove onto Stevens' former identity, with some songs as gloriously rich and beautiful as anything he's ever written. With its lithe string arrangement and guitar work by Yogi Lonich, the title track asks a central question: "...Where do you go/When the world turns dark/and the light of the truth is blown out/And all the roads are blocked..."

"Dream On" is a gauzy, small wonder of a track with a gorgeous saxophone part that stands as an accompaniment to the repetitive vocal. "All Kinds of Roses" is a hymn to tolerance despite one's own beliefs; its metaphors are artfully layered.

The opener, "Welcome Home," feels like Stevens never exited the stage -- though we all know he did for nearly three decades -- with its strummed acoustic and that opening baritone offering ever so gently the lines "on the path, all seekers this way...carried down to the marketplace/No one knew my face/Then a stranger sang, with a voice like the wind/Then the hills began to sing, 'welcome in.'" "Shamsia," the disc closer, is a haunting piano and string instrumental dedicated to a young Afghan girl who defied the Taliban and attended school even though she was blinded as punishment.

Even the cover, with its peace sign-bearing VW microbus standing in a square with Islam playing and singing under a street lamp, signifies that this is a return, and that the two paths he kept separate for so long, that of a pilgrim and that of an artist and traveling musician, have merged on one all embracing road.

Roadsinger is an utterly solid catalog entry under either his adopted spiritual name or his former one. Longtime fans will not be disappointed, and the rest of us should take note, too, because this kind of songcraft is seldom come by anymore. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
 
Actually, there's no A&M indication anywhere on the CD or the case. It says, Eder Music BV, under exclusive license to Universal Music Enterprises.

I picked this up yesterday, but only got to hear the 1st track. It sounds pretty good - like vintage Cat Stevens!
 
Actually, there's no A&M indication anywhere on the CD or the case.
Interesting. I only thought it was on A&M because the catalog number at our distributor starts with AMB, which is their code for A&M releases. (Don't ask me why the B is in there but it's been that way for years.)
 
Since it's from a label under the massive Universal Music conglomerate, Uni probably opted to catalog it under the A&M (IGA?) umbrella for consistency with the other Stevens releases.

Often Collectors Choice or other reissue lables merely have their logo or name placed on a disc that is actually manufactured (and sometimes even distributed) by the "source" label -- Sony, Uni and Capital work this way.

I find it annoying to see a Collectors Choice release and in fine print read: "Manufactureds and Distributed by Universal Special Products." This usually indicate that the reissue label merely bank-rolled the re-release for a cut of the profits.

On whim a few years back I looked into what it would cost me to have an "IRS Corner" release of an IRS album and the terms were very steep. $10,000 up front (from me) with a pressing of 10,000 copies. I'd only get between $1.50 to $3 per copy (so if ALL COPIES sold I'd make between $5000 and $20,000). BUT They'd be available for three years and any unsold copies would go to cutout rack jobbers with no cut for me. So selling 10,000 copies in three years means 10 copies would have to sell every day for that three year period. Way too risky. It's better for the artist to re-acquire the rights and market them selves...

--Mr Bill
 
It's NOT a Universal Special Markets release. It is what I said above. Uni Special Markets usually means a "budget" release and this is a full price CD.
 
Sorry, Steve... I'll re-phrase...

Since it's from a label under the massive Universal Music conglomerate...

(original post edited to match for clarification)

--Mr. Bill
 
Steve Sidoruk said:
Uni Special Markets usually means a "budget" release...

To my mind "Special Markets" means "special" in the same way a certain olympics is "special." :wink:

--Mr. Bill
 
Very good cd, I like it a lot more than "An Other Cup". Hopefully next time the album will be longer than 31 minutes, though.
 
LPJim said:
...There are several clips on YouTube... ...I especially like this one, which has the piano opening of "Sitting" from CATCH BULL AT FOUR...:


JB



And it's anything that "recalls" moments from earlier Cat Stevens that make a good selling point, or at least what make high hopes of what will make this really sell...



Dave
 
I finally got a chance to listen to this album. It is excellent! At least 90% of the appeal of all of his '70s output. The only complaint I would have is, it's short on uptempo material, but it's still a trip back in time. His voice still has all of the emotion it ever had.

If you are a fan of TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN or the couple of albums after it, I would highly recommend this.

Note: The cover just says "Yusuf" so if you're looking for it in a store, who knows? It could be under the Y's, S's or I's.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom