Cat Stevens Tell 'em I'm Gone

RARE RADIO & TV SESSIONS FROM CAT STEVENS FROM 1970 & 1971 Born Steven Georgiou on 21 July 1948 in London, the man who became world famous as Cat Stevens was the youngest child of a Greek Cypriot father and a Swedish mother. At age 15, inspired by the popularity of the Beatles, the young aspirant became interested in playing guitar. He soon discovered he had some talent as a songwriter, after listening to songs and albums by Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, blues artists Lead Belly and Muddy Waters, Biff Rose Leo Kottke and Paul Simon. He also sought to emulate composers of musicals, like Ira Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein. In 1965 he signed a publishing deal with Ardmore & Beechwood and recorded several demos, including The First Cut Is the Deepest . In 1966, at age 18, he was heard by manager/producer Mike Hurst, who arranged for him to record a demo and helped him get a record deal. Stevens' first few singles were hits: I Love My Dog reached number 28 on the UK Chart, and Matthew and Son , the title song from his debut album, and rose to number 2.

RARE RADIO & TV SESSIONS FROM CAT STEVENS FROM 1970 & 1971 Born Steven Georgiou on 21 July 1948 in London, the man who became world famous as Cat Stevens was the youngest child of a Greek Cypriot father and a Swedish mother. At age 15, inspired by the popularity of the Beatles, the young aspirant became interested in playing guitar. He soon discovered he had some talent as a songwriter, after listening to songs and albums by Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, blues artists Lead Belly and Muddy Waters, Biff Rose Leo Kottke and Paul Simon. He also sought to emulate composers of musicals, like Ira Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein. In 1965 he signed a publishing deal with Ardmore & Beechwood and recorded several demos, including The First Cut Is the Deepest . In 1966, at age 18, he was heard by manager/producer Mike Hurst, who arranged for him to record a demo and helped him get a record deal. Stevens' first few singles were hits: I Love My Dog reached number 28 on the UK Chart, and Matthew and Son , the title song from his debut album, and rose to number 2.

Tea For The Tillerman is arguably Cat Stevens’ best known and most cherished album. Originally released in November 1970, Universal Music will be celebrating it’s 50th anniversary in style on 20th November 2020 with a multi-format release suite, including a very special 5CD/BD/1LP/12” Live E.P. Super Deluxe Edition reissue of one of music’s most classic albums.
The Super Deluxe set is features a brand new 2020 Remaster of the record, as well as a brand new 2020 Mix (overseen by Yusuf Islam producer / engineer David Hefti), with audio mixed from the original 1970 Island Records multi-track master tape. The 2020 Mix also appears on the 1LP which is 100% exclusive to this box set.

The Collected Cat Stevens is a three-disc box set that by no means eclipses the four-disc package released in 2001, bit does give it a good run for its money. Largely chronological, but oddly relegating some of Stevens' earliest hits to the end of the final disc, the box opens and closes with two of his most emotive numbers, the hit "Lady D'Arbanville," and the questioning "Father and Son," first heard in their familiar studio form, and then as live recordings. In between times, a total of 54 tracks bounces through Stevens career, from "Matthew & Son" through to "*"Midday (Avoid City After Dark)," credited to the singer's latter-day Yusuf Islam identity, and it's difficult to pick fault with any of the inclusions – even those which, like "Moonshadow," "Morning Has Broken" and, indeed, "Father and Son," are so tweely saccharin that it seems incredible anybody ever took them seriously. They did, though, and Stevens remains one of the few early-'70s singer/songwriters whose ouvre continues to attract new listeners with every passing generation. This smartly projected box will only add to their numbers.

The Collected Cat Stevens is a three-disc box set that by no means eclipses the four-disc package released in 2001, bit does give it a good run for its money. Largely chronological, but oddly relegating some of Stevens' earliest hits to the end of the final disc, the box opens and closes with two of his most emotive numbers, the hit "Lady D'Arbanville," and the questioning "Father and Son," first heard in their familiar studio form, and then as live recordings. In between times, a total of 54 tracks bounces through Stevens career, from "Matthew & Son" through to "*"Midday (Avoid City After Dark)," credited to the singer's latter-day Yusuf Islam identity, and it's difficult to pick fault with any of the inclusions – even those which, like "Moonshadow," "Morning Has Broken" and, indeed, "Father and Son," are so tweely saccharin that it seems incredible anybody ever took them seriously. They did, though, and Stevens remains one of the few early-'70s singer/songwriters whose ouvre continues to attract new listeners with every passing generation. This smartly projected box will only add to their numbers.

A lot has been said of Cat Stevens' early music being over-produced and filled with bloated '60s studio touches, which is true, but, even so, that shouldn't obscure the fact that in these songs lie the genius that was to become Cat Stevens. And they're not altogether bad songs either. This collection opens with "I Love My Dog," which, while not brilliant, at least showed that Stevens was willing to approach songwriting from unconventional angles even at that stage. The following track, "The First Cut Is the Deepest," would have been a perfect fit for the Righteous Brothers. The majority of the songs, which aren't as consistently great as his later work, are still impressive. "I'm So Sleepy" sounds similar to some of the tracks he'd be cutting in a few years, as does the Gordon Lightfoot-esque "Blackness of the Night" and "Where Are You," which wouldn't have been out of place on Mona Bone Jakon. That's not to say that some of the songs aren't poorly done, but, overall, if the horns and strings are stripped away, you still have a Cat Stevens album.

A lot has been said of Cat Stevens' early music being over-produced and filled with bloated '60s studio touches, which is true, but, even so, that shouldn't obscure the fact that in these songs lie the genius that was to become Cat Stevens. And they're not altogether bad songs either. This collection opens with "I Love My Dog," which, while not brilliant, at least showed that Stevens was willing to approach songwriting from unconventional angles even at that stage. The following track, "The First Cut Is the Deepest," would have been a perfect fit for the Righteous Brothers. The majority of the songs, which aren't as consistently great as his later work, are still impressive. "I'm So Sleepy" sounds similar to some of the tracks he'd be cutting in a few years, as does the Gordon Lightfoot-esque "Blackness of the Night" and "Where Are You," which wouldn't have been out of place on Mona Bone Jakon. That's not to say that some of the songs aren't poorly done, but, overall, if the horns and strings are stripped away, you still have a Cat Stevens album.

On its original release in 1972, Cat Stevens' fourth LP on Island/A&M, 'Catch Bull At Four', spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200, making it his biggest album of all time. To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Island Records / UMe reissues a newly remastered version of 'Catch Bull At Four'.