On August 24 1972 Cat Stevens performed at Festival Hall in Brisbane Australia.
I really wanted to be there.
I was only 45 miles away !!
Unfortunately I was in the Australian Army stationed at the Jungle Training Centre in Canungra, and as it is with most armies around the world, they don't give you the day off when you really need it !!!
So I just had to buy the records.
Between 1970 and 1972 Cat Stevens released a perfect foursome of albums.
1970 Mona Bone Jakon
1970 Tea for the Tillerman
1971 Teaser and the Firecat
1972 Catch Bull at Four
Although 'Tea For The Tillerman' is often touted as the one to beat, 'Teaser and the Firecat' charted higher and longer. Having said that, the less commercial 'Catch Bull at Four' contains some remarkable tracks.
Steven Demetre Georgiou / Cat Stevens / Yusuf Islam / Yusuf has had a long and illustrious career.
He was spotted by Mike Hurst (remember him from my Dusty Springfield post - he was one of The Springfields), a record deal was made and it resulted in the album 'Matthew and Son' in 1967.
Three singles were released from that album, 'I Love My Dog', 'Matthew and Son' and 'I'm Gonna Get Me a Gun'. Also on the album was his song 'Here Comes My Baby' which became a bigger hit when it was recorded by The Tremeloes.
His follow-up album 'New Masters' bombed. There was one notable exception though. The song 'The First Cut Is the Deepest' was on there and Cat sold it to P.P. Arnold for £30. It has since been recorded and made a hit by many artists. Rod Stewart does a great version on his album 'A Night on the Town'.
In 1968 Cat fell ill. He ended up having over a year of bedrest and recuperation following tuberculosis and a collapsed lung. He spent the time writing songs. The result was the album 'Mona Bone Jakon' released in April 1970.
It got far better reviews than his previous album but two tracks stand out. 'Lady D'Arbanville' - written about his ex-girlfriend Patti D'Arbanville - was released as a single and got to number 8 on the British charts, and 'Katmandu' is notable if only for the fact that Peter Gabriel appears on it - playing the FLUTE !!
There's a story behind the album title 'Mona Bone Jakon'. Despite all the possible hidden meanings or secret vocabularies, Cat stated in a 1972 interview that Mona Bone Jakon was a name he made up to describe his penis.
Rock and Roll Man !!!
Then came 'Tea For The Tillerman'. Also released in 1970, but later in the year in November, this is a massive album. Although 'Father and Son' and 'Wild World' (also written for Patti D'Arbanville) were the single releases, just about every song on the LP is well known. To me, this is an album with 11 tracks and 11 solid, structured songs. Every one is crafted to perfection and says what it needs to.
My personal favourite? 'Longer Boats'.
Cat had taken a year at Hammersmith School of Art and for a while thought of becoming a cartoonist.
The album cover artwork for 'Tea For The Tillerman' was done by Cat himself, as was the cover for his next LP 'Teaser and the Firecat'.
If, like me, you were at primary school in England in the 1950s (or slightly before) then you immediately knew one of the songs on 'Teaser and the Firecat'.
'Morning Has Broken' was played and sung at school assembly almost every day and was quite probably known by the young Steven Georgiou from an early age. It was published in 1931 from a poem by Eleanor Farjeon put to a Scottish tune 'Bunessan'. Cat Stevens is sometimes listed as the composer, which is wrong, but he does get credit for arrangement.
To hear it played on a contemporary music album and then be released as a single and hit the charts was all very strange! The distinctive piano in the opening, middle and closing sections of the song were arranged and played by Rick Wakeman (of solo work and the group 'Yes' fame). Rick gave an interview on BBC Radio saying he was promised £10 for playing and was "shattered" that he wasn't on the credits and that he never received the money either.
The rest of the album has song after song that just scream classic Cat Stevens.
'Rubylove', 'Tuesday's Dead', 'Moonshadow' and the glorious 'Peace Train'.
To complete this foursomesome of must-have albums, in 1972 came 'Catch Bull at Four'.
'Sitting' and 'Can't Keep It In' were the single releases, but do not turn the page or leave the room until you listen to 'The Boy With The Moon and Star On His Head'.
In May 2020 Yusef announced that in September he'll be releasing a reimagined version of 'Tea For The Tillerman' titled 'Tea for the Tillerman²'.
I can't wait !!
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