Esoteric Recordings is proud to announce the release of a new remastered and expanded two CD edition of ‘Time Passages’, the legendary album by Al Stewart first released in September 1978.
Esoteric Recordings is proud to announce the release of a newly re-mastered and expanded 3 CD 40th Anniversary edition of the classic album 24 CARROTS by AL STEWART. Released in 1980, the album came on the heels of a series of highly successful albums YEAR OF THE CAT and TIME PASSAGES, which saw the legendary folk-rock musician reach a wider audience and, after adopting a more rock orientated approach, gain top ten success in the USA where he had relocated.
For Al Stewart fans who can't afford the five-CD set Just Yesterday, this 30-song double-disc collection is a fair – but only a fair – alternative. It is lacking a few items, however, that would make it more satisfying. For starters, the studio renditions of "Roads to Moscow" and "Nostradamus" are nowhere to be found, and then there's the absence of Stewart's debut single, "The Elf."…
This live recording is something of a surprise – make that a shock, in the most positive way – appearing 45 years into Al Stewart's professional career. From the opening notes of a medley of "Last Days of the Century" and "Constantinople," Stewart – in partnership with guitarist/singer Dave Nachmanoff (who also produced this record) – launches into a set with the kind of energy and enthusiasm one would more easily expect from a twenty-something neophyte than a sixty-something veteran…
Eleven songs from Al Stewart's albums Past, Present and Future (1974) through Live Indian Summer (1981), remastered in 1992, which gives it more than decent sound. "Roads to Moscow" is drawn from Past, Present and Future (the inlay card erroneously lists Live Indian Summer), and "Year of the Cat" is the hit studio version, but the producers have chosen live versions of "Nostradamus" (which emphasizes its Tommy-like central riff) and "On the Border," rather than their superior originals, probably to retain the value of the original albums…
Year of the Cat brought Al Stewart a genuine worldwide smash with its title track, and for its successor, he did make a few concessions. These, however, were slight – just a slight increase of soft rock productions, an enhancement of the lushness that marked not only Year of the Cat but also Modern Times. These happened to be welcome adjustments to Stewart's sound, since they increased the dreamy continental elegance at the core of his work…
EMI's 1993 double-disc collection To Whom It May Concern: 1966-1970 contains the entirety of Al Stewart's early recordings for Epic Records, including all of his first three albums, Bedsitter Images, Love Chronicles, and Zero She Flies…