Friday, 15 May 2009

News, Views and Music Issue 31 (Top Five): Longest AAA Songs





♫ And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: which of the AAA album tracks are the longest? Well, after trawling through our collection meticulously, you won’t be at all surprised to learn that we have a top five full of Pink Floyd and Neil Young recordings. So, as a result, we’ve cut down this list so that only an artist’s longest songs would be counted, we’ve discounted spin-off solo projects if we’ve already quoted an artists’ parent band (otherwise Pink Floyd would be second followed by Roger Waters in 3rd and David Gilmour slugging it out for 5th place), we’ve not counted live versions (The Who’s 14-minute ‘Live at Leeds’ version of ‘My Generation’ would be in the list somewhere if we did) and finally we’ve also discounted remixes or extended versions of songs (otherwise there’s a fair few Paul McCartney songs that would have found their way onto this list) Oh and we’ve also missed out AAA-associates but not artists proper from this list (or Jethro Tull would have walked away with the competition, being possessors of a 42-minute track called ‘Thick As A Brick’). So who came out top?



1) Amsterdam (25: 10) (John Lennon and Yoko Ono, from the LP ‘Wedding Album’ 1969). Well, technically, this piece of audio verite doesn’t count as a song, but as there’s nothing else like it in the world I couldn’t exactly leave it out of the list either. Most people forget about it too, with even the biggest Beatlemaniacs afraid to stomach it after hearing the 22 minute opus ‘John: Yoko’ on the other side (all together now: ‘John…Yoko…John!... Yoko!...John?...Yoko?...John!!%&E$&*%(^()!!!...Yoko!!££&^%*(&)*(!!!...’ yes, that really is it folks, for 22 whole minutes!) ‘Amsterdam’ was taped at the couple’s honeymoon bedside after the couple flew to the Netherlands following their marriage in Gibraltar. And what a weird honeymoon it was: three whole days of lying in bed, growing your hair and talking about peace to amused reporters. This side-long track captures the feel of the period quite well, with John and Yoko’s frequently hilarious rebuttals to reporters one of the pair’s more listenable avent garde efforts (alas, though, much of this track is poorly recorded and is tantalisingly out of earshot). Like the photograph of the wedding cake, included with original vinyl pressings of the record, the trick is to make the listener feel part of the action whilst giving them something to laugh at too. This was the third and last audio verite record from the Ono Lennons – personally I prefer the darker and edgy ‘Life With The Lyons’, but it’s a huge improvement on the nmess that is ‘Two Virgins’.



2) Echoes (23:31) (Pink Floyd, from the album ‘Meddle’ 1971). Well, that wasn’t really surprising was it? Pink Floyd are masters of the long tonal symphony, making the most of their spaces and moments of silence and stringing whole pieces together out of bits of nothing. We’ve already dealt with ‘Echoes’ elsewhere on this site (its parent album is number 50 on the list) – so let’s just underline again briefly how unusual this track was for the 1970s. The Floyd were, I think, the first group ever to stick one traditional sounding ‘song’ on one whole side of a record, albeit they did it with the inferior ‘Atom Heart Mother’ in 1970 before striking gold here. The way this track builds up through ‘ripples’ - several obviously related but not at all similar pieces of music - is very very unusual, even now, and the closing 10 minutes when the track keeps chipping away at the song’s central riff until it finally explodes and gets back to base is one of the best moments in the Floyd’s canon. A masterpiece, from it’s first sonar ‘pings’ to it’s closing reflective lyrics about the connections between people.



3) Change Your Mind (14:39) (Neil Young, from the album ‘Sleeps With Angels’ 1993). A late-period addition to this list (all the other examples come from the 1970s), this is the longest of several long songs Neil has recorded over the years. Although to be fair Neil’s tried just about everything in his career, he does seem to have a special affinity with songs like this one that are based on a simple hook and chorus but leave lots of space for guitar improvisation. This song has hardly any lyrics (or at least it has no more than the four and five minute songs throughout the rest of the album), but what lyrics it does have suit it well, with the theme of stubbornness and refusing to change your stance on something because of habits learnt over time. Like the rest of ‘Sleeps With Angels’, this song is dark and unsettling, even though the listener can never quite put their finger on why – the lyrics are nothing like as menacing as challenging as this spooky song makes them sound. Like the best Crazy horse epics, there’s very little going on in this song and yet it oversteps the mark or seem to go too long.



4) Weather Report Suite (12:42) (Grateful Dead, ‘Wake Of the Flood’ 1973). This song too has already been discussed (see review no 59) – let’s just add that there had to be a Grateful Dead song here given how long their average track is (an average that I’m betting would be higher than even the average Neil Young or Pink Floyd song even). This epic gets away with its length via three important factors. The first and most helpful is that it is very very beautiful – so much so that you’dn willingly let this song run another 10 minutes if you could. The second is that it’s divided into slow and fast sections – the first a lovely lilting folk-like ballad, the second a strident paranoiac horn-drenched rocker titled ‘Let It Grow’. The third is that, tying this disparate sections together are some lovely ruminations about mother nature and how long our planet has been around, with some excellent lyrics that make full use of their length, showing us the planet’s past and possible future. Bob Weir’s finest moment with the Dead and one of the best long songs around.



5) Feel The Benefit (11:28) (10cc, ‘Desperate Bends’ 1976). What do you do when half of your successful quartet up and leave just four albums into a career so full of invention that it seemed to be able to run forever? You record an 11-minute magnum opus of course, loosely based on the structure for ‘A Day In the Life’ (the fabs’ third longest song, incidentally, after ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ and ‘Revolution Number Nine’). Eric Stewart’s warm and passionate tones tell us to go out with our coat on otherwise we won’t ‘feel the benefit’, using his parents’ advice to his younger self as a metaphor for how we have to learn from our experiences throughout our lives otherwise we won’t feel the benefit’ and instead we’ll just get wet and look silly. Graham Gouldmann chimes in with a middle eight about drinking a lot of coffee in Brazil (‘but the bill’s a gonna make a you ill!’) that shouldn’t fit but somehow does – perhaps by showing up the frivolities that distract us in everyday life (it’s no accident that this song fades down to nothing to let the rest of the song – the longer bit that runs throughout our lives – be heard once more). Fan reaction to this song has always been mixed but I’ve always been quite impressed by it – the dreamy orchestral accompaniment and the ever-perfect 10cc band performance more than compensate for anything lacking in the song. Not quite 10 out of 10 for 10cc but near enough.



So there you have it. For the completists among you (let’s face it, what is there better to be than a completist? No, don’t answer that!) just bubbling under the top five were The Beach Boys’ disco version of ‘Here Comes The Night’ (10:58, from the ‘LA Light Album’ 1979) and Paul McCartney’s ode to his ‘Secret Friend’ (10:30, B-side to the ‘Temporary Secretary’ single, 1980). That’s all for this week, see you next time for some more album archiving!        



A NOW COMPLETE List Of Top Five/Top Ten/TOP TWENTY  Entries 2008-2019
1) Chronic Fatigue songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/news-views-and-music-issue-1-top-five.html

2) Songs For The Face Of Bo http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-2-top-five.html

3) Credit Crunch Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-3-top-five.html

4) Songs For The Autumn http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-4-top-five.html

5) National Wombat Week http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-top-five-national.html

6) AAA Box Sets http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-6-top-five.html

7) Virus Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-7-top-five.html

8) Worst AAA-Related DVDs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issu-8-top-five.html

9) Self-Punctuating Superstar Classics http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-9-top-five.html

10) Ways To Know You Have Turned Into A Collector http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-9-top-five.html

11) Political Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/news-views-and-music-issue-11-top-five.html

12) Totally Bonkers Concept Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/news-views-and-music-top-five-totally.html

13) Celebrating 40 Years Of The Beatles' White Album http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/top-five-issue-13-40-years-of-beatles.html

14) Still Celebrating 40 Years Of The Beatles' White Album http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-14-top-five.html

15) AAA Existential Questions http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-15-top-five.html

16) Releases Of The Year 2008 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-16-top-five.html

17) Top AAA Xmas Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-17-top-five.html

18) Notable AAA Gigs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/news-views-and-music-issue-19-top-five.html

19) All things '20' related for our 20th issue http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-20-aaa-songs.html

20) Romantic odes for Valentine's Day http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-22-top-five.html

21) Hollies B sides http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-23-top-five.html

22) 'Other' BBC Session Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-24-top-five.html

23) Beach Boys Rarities Still Not Available On CD http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-25-top-five.html

24) Songs John, Paul and George wrote for Ringo's solo albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-26-top-five.html

25) 5 of the Best Rock 'n' Roll Tracks From The Pre-Beatles Era http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-27-top-five.html

26) AAA Autobiographies http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-28-top-five.html

27) Rolling Stones B-sides http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-29-top-five.html

28) Beatles B-Sides http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-30-top-five.html

29) The lllloooonnngggeesssttt AAA songs of all time http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-31-top-five.html

30) Kinks B-Sides http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-32-top-five.html

31) Abandoned CSNY projects 'wasted on the way' http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-33-top-five.html

32) Best AAA Rarities and Outtakes Sets http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/news-views-and-music-issue-34-top-five.html

33) News We've Missed While We've Been Away http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-35-top-five.html

34) Birthday Songs for our 1st Anniversary http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-37-top-five.html

35) Brightest Album Covers http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-37-top-five.html

36) Biggest Recorded Arguments http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-38-top-five.html

37) Songs About Superheroes http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-39-top-five.html

38) AAA TV Networks That Should Exist http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-40-top-five.html

39) AAA Woodtsock Moments http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-41-top-five.html

40) Top Moments Of The Past Year As Voted For By Readers http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-42-top-five.html

41) Music Segues http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/news-views-and-music-issue-43-top-five.html

42) AAA Foreign Language Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/news-views-and-music-issue-44-top-five.html

43) 'Other' Groups In Need Of Re-Mastering http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/news-views-and-music-issue-45-top-five.html

44) The Kinks Preservation Rock Opera - Was It Really About The Forthcoming UK General Election? http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-46-top-five.html

45) Mono and Stereo Mixes - Biggest Differences http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-47-top-five.html

46) Weirdest Things To Do When A Band Member Leaves http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/nerws-views-and-music-issue-48-top-five.html

47) Video Clips Exclusive To Youtube (#1) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-49-top-five.html

48) Top AAA Releases Of 2009 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/news-views-and-music-issue-50-top-five.html

49) Songs About Trains http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-51-top-five.html

50) Songs about Winter http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-52-top-five.html

51) Songs about astrology plus horoscopes for selected AAA members http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-53-top-five.html

52) The Worst Five Groups Ever! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-54-top-five.html

53) The Most Over-Rated AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/news-views-and-music-issue-56-top-five.html

54) Top AAA Rarities Exclusive To EPs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/news-views-and-music-issue-57-top-five.html

55) Random Recent Purchases (#1) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/news-views-and-music-issue-58-top-five.html

56) AAA Party Political Slogans http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-60-top-five.html

57) Songs To Celebrate 'Rock Sunday' http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-top-five_21.html

58) Strange But True (?) AAA Ghost Stories http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-top-five.html

59) AAA Artists In Song http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-63-top-five.html

60) Songs About Dogs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-65-top-five.html

61) Sunshiney Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-67-top-five.html

62) The AAA Staff Play Their Own Version Of Monoploy/Mornington Crescent! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-68-top-forty.html

63) What 'Other' British Invasion DVDs We'd Like To See http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-69-top-five.html

64) What We Want To Place In Our AAA Time Capsule http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-issue-70-top-five.html

65) AAA Conspiracy Theroies http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-issue-72-top-ten.html

66) Weirdest Things To Do Before - And After - Becoming A Star http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-top-ten-aaa-stars.html

67) Songs To Tweet To http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-74-top-five.html

68) Greatest Ever AAA Solos http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-75-top-ten.html

69) John Lennon Musical Tributes http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/news-views-and-music-issue-77-top-five.html

70) Songs For Halloween http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/news-views-and-music-issue-78-top-five.html

71) Earliest Examples Of Psychedelia http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-79-top-five.html

72) Purely Instrumental Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-81-top-five.html

73) AAA Utopias

74) AAA Imaginary Bands http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-82-top-five.html

75) Unexpected AAA Cover Versions http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-83-top-five.html

76) Top Releases of 2010 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-84-top-five.html

77) Songs About Snow http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-85-top-five.html

78) Predictions For 2011 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_01_02_archive.html

79) AAA Fugitives

80) AAA Home Towns http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-88-home.html

81) The Biggest Non-Musical Influences On The 1960s http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-89-top-five.html

82) AAA Groups Covering Other AAA Groups http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-90-top.html

83) Strange Censorship Decisions http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-91-top-ten.html

84) AAA Albums Still Unreleased on CD http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-92-top-five.html

85) Random Recent Purchases (#2) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/news-views-and-music-issue-93-top-ten.html

86) Top AAA Music Videos http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-94-top-ten.html

87) 30 Day Facebook Music Challenge http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-95-top.html

88) AAA Documentaries http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-top-five-aaa.html

89) Unfinished and 'Lost' AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-97-top-ten.html

90) Strangest AAA Album Covers http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/newsa-views-and-music-issue-98-top-ten.html

91) AAA Performers Live From Mars (!) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-99-top-ten.html

92) Songs Including The Number '100' for our 100th Issue http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-100-top-five.html

93) Most Songs Recorded In A Single Day http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-101-top-five.html

94) Most Revealing AAA Interviews http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/news-views-and-music-issue-102-top-five.html

95) Top 10 Pre-Fame Recordings http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/news-views-and-music-issue-103-top-ten.html

96) The Shortest And Longest AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-104-top-ten.html


97) The AAA Allstars Ultimate Band Line-Up http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-105-top.html

98) Top Songs About Sports http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-106-top-ten.html

99) AAA Conversations With God http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-107-top-ten.html

100) AAA Managers: The Good, The Bad and the Financially Ugly http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-108-top-ten.html

101) Unexpected AAA Cameos http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-109-top-ten.html

102) AAA Words You can Type Into A Caluclator http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-110-top-five.html

103) AAA Court Cases http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-111-top-five.html

104) Postmodern Songs About Songwriting http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-112-top-five.html

105) Biggest Stylistic Leaps Between Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-113-top-ten.html

106) 20 Reasons Why Cameron Should Go! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-114-top.html

107) The AAA Pun-Filled Cookbook http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-115-top-five.html

108) Classic Debut Releases http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-116-top-five.html

109) Five Uses Of Bird Sound Effects http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-118-top-five.html

110) AAA Classic Youtube Clips Part #1 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-119-top.html

111) Part #2 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-120-top.html

112) Part #3 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-121-top.html

113) AAA Facts You Might Not Know http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-122-top-ten.html

114) The 20 Rarest AAA Records http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-123-top.html

115) AAA Instrumental Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_04_archive.html

116) Musical Tarot http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/news-views-and-music-issue-125-top-23-i.html

117) Christmas Carols http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_18_archive.html

118) Top AAA Releases Of 2011 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_25_archive.html

119) AAA Bands In The Beano/The Dandy http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-128-top-five.html

120) Top 20 Guitarists #1 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-129-top-ten.html

121) #2 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_15_archive.html

122) 'Shorty' Nomination Award Questionairre http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_22_archive.html

123) Top Best-Selling AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_29_archive.html

124) AAA Songs Featuring Bagpipes

125) A (Hopefully) Complete List Of AAA Musicians On Twitter http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_02_19_archive.html

126) Beatles Albums That Might Have Been 1970-74 and 1980 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_02_26_archive.html

127) DVD/Computer Games We've Just Invented http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_11_archive.html

128) The AAA Albums With The Most Weeks At #1 in the UK http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_18_archive.html

129) The AAA Singles With The Most Weeks At #1 in the UK http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_25_archive.html

130) Lyric Competition (Questions) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_15_archive.html

131) Top Crooning Classics http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_22_archive.html

132) Funeral Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/news-views-and-music-issue-142-top-five.html

133) AAA Songs For When Your Phone Is On Hold http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-143-top-five.html

134) Random Recent Purchases (#3) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-144-top-five.html

135) Lyric Competition (Answers) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-146-top.html http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-145-top-five.html

136) Bee Gees Songs/AAA Goes Disco! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-issue-147-top-five.html

137) The Best AAA Sleevenotes (And Worst) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-issue-148-top-ten.html

138) A Short Precise Of The Years 1962-70 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-149-top-eight.html

139) More Wacky AAA-Related Films And Their Soundtracks http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/top-five-for-news-views-and-music-150.html

140) AAA Appearances On Desert Island Discs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/top-eight-aaa-desert-island-discs.html

141) Songs Exclusive To Live Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/news-views-and-music-issue-153-top-10.html

142) More AAA Songs About Armageddon http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/aaa-armageddon-songsalbums-top-5-for.html

What difference does a name make? Arguably not much if you’re already a collector of a certain group, for whom the names on the album sleeves just...

This week’s top ten honours the humble motor car. The death trap on wheels, the metaphor for freedom, the put-down of capitalism, a source of...

This week we’re going to have a look at the 10 AAA singles that spent the most weeks at number on the American chart ‘Billboard’ – and it makes for...

Following on from last issue’s study of the American Billboard charts, here’s a look at which AAA albums spent the most weeks on the chart. The...

There are many dying arts in our modern world: incorruptible politicians, faith that things are going to get better and the ability to make decent...

This week we’ve decided to dedicate our top ten to those unsung heroes of music, the session musicians, whose playing often brings AAA artists (and...

Naturally we hold our AAA bands in high esteem in these articles: after all, without their good taste, intelligence and humanity we’d have nothing to...

What do you do when you’ve left a multi-million selling band and yet you still feel the pull of the road and the tours and the playing to audiences...

‘The ATOS Song’ (You’re Not Fit To Live)’ (Mini-Review) Dear readers, we don’t often feature reviews of singles over albums or musicians who aren’t...

In honour of this week’s review of an album released to cash in on a movie soundtrack (only one of these songs actually appears in ‘Easy Rider’...and...

Hic! Everyone raise a glass to the rock stars of the past and to this week’s feature...songs about alcolholic beverages! Yes that’s right, everything...

154) The human singing voice carries with it a vast array of emotions, thoughts that cannot be expressed in any other way except opening the lungs and...

Everyone has a spiritual home, even if they don’t actually live there. Mine is in a windy, rainy city where the weather is always awful but the...

Having a family does funny things to some musicians, as we’ve already seen in this week’s review (surely the only AAA album actually written around...

Some artists just have no idea what their best work really is. One thing that amazes me as a collector is how consistently excellent many of the...

159) A (Not That) Short Guide To The 15 Best Non-AAA Bands http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/a-not-that-short-guide-to-15-of-best.html%20%0d160
160) The Greatest AAA Drum Solos (Or Near Solos!) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-greatest-aaa-drum-solos-or-near.html%20%0d161
161) AAA Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame Acceptance Speeches http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/aaa-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame.html%20%0d162
162) AAA Re-Recordings Of Past Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-re-recordings-of-past-songs-news.html%20%0d163
163) A Coalition Christmas (A Fairy Tale) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/a-coalition-christmas-news-views-and.html%20%0d164
164) AAA Songs About Islands http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-songs-about-islands-news-views-and.html%20%0d165
165) The AAA Review Of The Year 2012 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2012-news-views.html



166) The Best AAA Concerts I Attended http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-best-aaa-concerts-i-attended-news.html
167) Tributes To The 10 AAA Stars Who Died The Youngest http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/tributes-to-10-aaa-stars-who-died.html



168) The First 10 AAA Songs Listed Alphabetically http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-first-10-aaa-songs-if-listed.html


171) The 10 Best Songs From The Psychedelia Box-Sets ‘Nuggets’ and ‘Nuggets Two’ http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-best-of-two-nuggets-psychedelia.html%20%0d172

172) The 20 Most Common Girl’s Names In AAA Song Titles (With Definitions) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/girls-names-in-aaa-song-titles-from.html 








180) First Recordings By Future AAA Stars http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/first-





185) A Tribute To Storm Thorgerson Via The Five AAA Bands He Worked With http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/a-tribute-to-hipgnosis-via-five-aaa.html



188) Surprise! Celebrating 300 Album Reviews With The Biggest 'Surprises' Of The Past Five Years Of Alan's Album Archives! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/celebrating-300-album-reviews-10.html


190) Comparatively Obscure First Compositions By AAA Stars http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/comparatively-obscure-debut.html



193) Evolution Of A Band: Comparing First Lyric With Last Lyric: http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/evolution-of-band-comparing-1st-lyric.html







200) The Monkees In Relation To Postmodernism (University Dissertation) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/university-dissertation-monkees-in.html


202) Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain': Was It About One Of The AAA Crew? http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/carly-simons-youre-so-vain-was-it-about.html















217) AAA 'Christmas Presents' we'd most like to have next year http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/aaa-christmas-presents-wed-most-like-to.html




221) Dr Who and the AAA (Five Musical Links) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/dr-who-and-five-musical-links-to-alans.html

222) Five Random Recent Purchases http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/five-random-recent-purchases-news-views.html

223) AAA Grammy Nominees http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/aaa-grammy-nominees-top-twelve-news.html

224) Ten AAA songs that are better heard unedited and in full http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/ten-aaa-songs-that-are-better-unedited.html

225) The shortest gaps between AAA albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-shortest-gaps-between-aaa-albums.html

226) The longest gaps between AAA albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-longest-gaps-between-aaa-albums.html

227) Top ten AAA drummers http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/03/top-ten-aaa-drummers-news-views-and.html

228) Top Ten AAA Singles (In Terms of 'A' and 'B' Sides) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/top-ten-aaa-singles-and-b-sides-news.html

229) The Stories Behind Six AAA Logos http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-stories-behind-six-aaa-logos.html

230) AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! The Best Ten AAA Screams http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-best-aaa-screams-top-ten-news-views.html

231) An AAA Pack Of Horses http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-songs-about-horses-top-ten-news.html

232) AAA Granamas - Sorry, Anagrams! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-anagrams-news-views-and-music-issue.html

233) AAA Surnames and Their Meanings http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-surnames-and-their-meanings-news.html

234) 20 Erroneous AAA Album Titles http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/twenty-erroneous-aaa-album-titles-news.html

235) The Best AAA Orchestral Arrangements http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/fifteen-great-aaa-string-parts-news.html

236) Top 30 Hilariously Misheard Album Titles/Lyrics http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/top-thirty-hilariously-misheard-aaa.html

237) Ten controversial AAA sackings - and whether they were right http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/ten-controversial-aaa-sackings-news.html

238) A Critique On Critiquing - In Response To Brian Wilson http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/a-critique-on-critiquing-in-response-to.html

239) The Ten MusicianS Who've Played On The Most AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/the-ten-musicians-whove-played-on-most.html

240) Thoughts on #CameronMustGo http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/thoughts-on-cameronmustgo.html

241) Random Recent Purchases (Kinks/Grateful Dead/Nils Lofgren/Rolling Stones/Hollies) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/six-random-recent-purchases-kinksg.html 

242) AAA Christmas Number Ones http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aaa-christmas-number-ones.html 

243) AAA Review Of The Year 2014 (Top Releases/Re-issues/Documentaries/DVDs/Books/Songs/ Articles  plus worst releases of the year) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aaa-review-of-year-2014.html

244) Me/CFS Awareness Week 2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/mecfs-awareness-week-at-alans-album.html

245) Why The Tory 2015 Victory Seems A Little...Suspicious http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/why-tory-victory-seems-deeply.html

246) A Plea For Peace and Tolerance After The Attacks on Paris - and Syria http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/a-plea-for-peace-and-toleration.html

247) AAA Review Of The Year 2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2015.html

248) The Fifty Most Read AAA Articles (as of December 31st 2015) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-fifty-most-read-aaa-posts-2008-2015.html

249) The Revised AAA Crossword! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016_07_10_archive.html


251) Half-A-Dozen Berries Plus One (An AAA Tribute To Chuck Berry) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/an-aaa-covers-tribute-to-chuck-berry.html

252) Guest Post: ‘The Skids – Joy’ (1981) by Kenny Brown  https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/guest-post-skids-joy-1981.html


254) Guest Post: ‘Supertramp – Some Things Never Change’ by Kenny Brown https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/06/guest-review-supertramp-some-things.html

255) AAA Review Of The Year 2018 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2018.html

256) AAA Review Of The Year 2019 plus Review Of The Decade 2010-2019 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-alans-album-archives-review-of-year.html



257) Tiermaker https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2019/06/alans-album-archives-on-tiermaker.html

258) #Coronastock https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2020/04/coronastock.html

259) #Coronadocstock https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2020/05/coronadocstock.html


Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Yusuf aka Cat Stevens "Roadsinger" (2009) (News, Views and Music 31)



You can now buy 'One Day At A Time - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of Cat Stevens' in e-book form by clicking here!












Welcome Home/Thinkin' 'Bout You/Everytime I Dream/The Rain/World O' Darkness/Be What You Must/This Glass World/Roadsinger/All Kinds Of Roses/Dream On (Until...)/Shamsia


Yusuf “Roadsinger” (2009)


When I heard that a new album by Yusuf, the artist who will always be known to millions of people as Cat Stevens, was being released I must admit I was worried. His first album to break a 38-year silence, ‘An Other Cup’ (2006) had plenty of Cat-like moments, full of feline grace and beauty and two out-and-out classics in ‘Maybe There’s  a World’ and ‘One Day At A Time’, but it was an inconsistent mis-mash, with far too much filler and lots of the typical singer-songwriter prog rocky mystical ‘traps’ that everyone assumes Cat’s music to be full of – but aren’t (spoken word monologues, wacky instrumentals, old standard blues songs covered in strings – you name the gimmick, ‘Another Cup’ over-boiled it). Even granted the fact that Yusuf spent most of his time away from music not thinking about it at all (unlike, say, John Lennon, who spent all but the first year of his ‘house-husband’ phase half-heartedly planning his two ‘comeback’ albums), the sheer amount of mistakes and the whole hurried feel of the ‘cup’ project suggested that this comeback was going to be as short-lived as the length of time a teabag stays in the cup. Would this comeback slide further into parody and travesty and hurt the reputation of an artist who - in his first career - made the odd lacklustre album but had never yet made a 'bad' album?

As things turned out I was worrying needlessly. Follow-up album 'Roadsinger' trounces the first in so many ways it’s hard to believe it’s by the same performer. Consistent, multi-textured and similar enough to the old records without copying them religiously, ‘Roadsinger’ is the best Cat Stevens in such an awful long time – ‘Buddha and the Chocolate Box’ perhaps, or even ‘Tillerman’ (yes it really is that good!) Yusuf seems to have found his voice again on ‘Roadsinger’, both literally (his voice sounds confident and assured again here, unlike ‘Another Cup’ where too often he just sounds like a pale shadow of his former self) and metaphorically (while the first record was released to 'see' if the world needed a Cat Stevens-style record, this album is sure of it). Best of all, Cat’s returned to the bluesy flavour of his mid-70s records (notably ‘Catch-Bull at Four’ and ‘Foreigner’), a sound that didn’t always work the first time around but really suits this maturer, deeper voices, less troubled but nevertheless still searching incarnation of our favourite feline. Oh and we also get two old AAA friends among the cast list, both missing for far too many years: Hollies harmony singer Terry Sylvester, whose silky harmonies really enhance three of the tracks here and Stephen Stills’ bassist and collaborator Kenny Passarelli, whose fascinating counterpointed bass rumblings sound as great as they ever did. 'Roadsinger' might not be quite the best thing Cat has ever done, but it's the first time music has taken up so much of his time and attention in decades and is already easily the best 'new' album we've reviewed here at the AAA released within our lifespan (note: this might not be quite as impressive as it sounds today when we've covered 500+ albums; at this point our website was still merely months old and  the nearest 'competitors' are the last disappointing Oasis album and a patchy live CSNY record!)

'An Other Cup' was the sound of a man who wasn't at all sure whether music was what he ought to be doing after so many years away and so much debate over what the Qu'ran really says about musicians (for years Yusuf thought it 'banned' a career in music, but all it really bans is making money from music that isn't about God or spiritual yearning - basically everything he'd already laughed at in the lyrics to 'Pop Star' on 'Mona Bone Jakon'). The best thing about this album is that Yusuf feels in a position to use his influence and  creative gifts for 'good' again and there are many similarities to 'Mona', not least the return to the social conscience in Cat's lyrics that hadn't been heard since the 'Catch Bull' days 45-odd years earlier. 'An Other Cup' lives in its own bubble, full of references to religion and a troubled past that could have been released in any era. 'Roadsinger', by contrast, is very much a 'now' record: there are lots of references to the credit crunch and the Western world not having all the answers here, which are far more subtle ways of letting Yusuf preach about his new-found faith, the spiritual references back to being vague and enticing again, instead of being dull and shoved down our throats once more). Above all Cat is using his music not to preach but to comfort: with so many wars and suffering the 2009 version of the world needs a 'peace train' as much as it ever did in the 1970s and Cat is right there, updating his old message in the form of both a re-recording of that very song ('Peace Train Blues', released as a digital 'bonus' track) and the wonderful central image of Cat in a campervan travelling the world offering 'peace'. Yes it's a daft idea: the van is beaten up and weatherworn (perhaps like the singer himself) and doesn't seem likely to make it to the end of the road never mind the world, but it's a lovely image and allows Cat to make the point that he's not just preaching to 'them' any more - he's talking directly to 'us'. 'An Other Cup' was promoted via one rather odd concert (featuring zulu re-recordings of old friends and rather too many new songs) plus some hesitant and defensive interviews, all conducted largely in Britain; fittingly 'Roadsinger' was a much more international affair with Yusuf as warm and engaging as he'd ever been. The difference between the two comeback records is huge: 'An Other Cup' was a pulpit sermon; 'Roadsinger' is a travelling troubadour 'on the road to find out' just like the old days.

What Yusuf finds on his journey is interesting in that once again his characters and narrators tend to be lost and questioning, rather than committed and sure - and while the narrator thinks he knows more about what 'answers' they need he's staying quieter this time around, there to comfort not to preach. In this world 'everybody's thinking about the rain', their eyes closed to everything except the intense deluge and wondering whether 'the sun will shine again'. Two different songs paints Earth as a 'world of darkness' where 'no one cares for anyone else' and another more hopefully portrays a 'Glass World' where people will find all they need if only they can learn to look up; they don't even need to leave home on 'the road to find out' anymore: 'going nowhere, we've got everything'. The later 'Dream On...' then has Yusuf repeated the idea, urging us all to 'dream on' until we 'awake' in the next world.   For the first time since the 1970s even Yusuf doesn't have all the answers, sounding as lost and human as he ever used to. 'Everytime I Dream' finds him waking from a night's vision of one of his own girlfriends he last met a lifetime ago (possibly even 'Lady D'arbanville' or the groupie in 'Sun/C79'), wondering whether he's taken the right path in life after all. (Another, 'waking' song has Yusuf 'Thinking About You' - a more 'normal' love song that suggests he did find the right path after all). Elsewhere Yusuf hints at better times for us all, perhaps in the next world, perhaps in this if we can only discover it for ourselves before we die and for once this isn't just a world accessed only by believers: all kinds of roses grow in 'His' garden, making their own paths towards the 'sun'; another song adds that 'to be what you must, just reach pout for what you are' - that spiritual enlightenment is a path open to us all (even The Spice Girls). While religion and God are mentioned, they tend to be in passing - Yusuf's wife's eyes remind him of God's beauty. Only twice does Yusuf sound like a pillar of the Muslim community, headmaster of a school and key talker round the world: on 'The Rain' imagines himself as a modern-day 'Noah' wondering if it's up to 'him' to save everybody from a drowning world (presumably metaphorical, although it was quite a rainy Winter back then I seem to remember...); if this was 'An Other Cup' the answer would probably have been a resounding 'yes', but on 'Roadsinger' Yusuf never gets an answer. The other is 'All Kinds Of Roses' where Yusuf only has room for 'one God' in his 'heart'. Otherwise religion is a backdrop to these songs, not centre-stage like it had been on 'An Othe Cup', a device that works so much better (if you're a George Harrison fan this is 'Cat's 'All Things Must Pass', not his God-heavy 'Living In The Material World').

So what's filled the place of religion in Cat's work? Well that social consciousness beats heavier in these lyrics than before, with Cat clearly worried about what's happened to the world while he's been away. The idea of bankers and politicians colluding to make money and threaten peace and security from within while Cat's own religion's extremists threaten it from the outside is a scary scenario even the 'Foreigner' wouldn't have dared dream up. Other AAA stars commenting on these themes have been angry (mainly CSNY), occasionally betrayed (Ray Davies) and often nostalgic for better times (Oasis/Beady Eye). Yusuf simply sounds sad: he knew that capitalism and money were no alternatives to religion and spirituality for a fulfilled life and so it has proved. However there's no 'I told you so' or 'tut-tutting', just a big warm aural hug for those caught in the 'rain', while Yusuf tries to hold a large 'spiritual umbrella' over everyone caught up in it. At times Yusuf wonders how on earth people can carry on with such sadness; at other times he wonders when mankind will finally 'learn' that there is more to life than the security that's always being taken away from them. In short, the wheels have come off the wagon, but Yusuf knows 'someone' who can fix it - but he's waiting for the world to ask rather than offering his 'services' this time around.

 Just like the old days, most of this album is taking up with two themes, both of which have been raised before (giving this record a nice 'Cat Stevensy' feel). We've already touched on the one about dreaming. Traditionally many prophets of every religion have been given the 'truth' in a vision that's come to them in their sleep. Here the image is both more personal (as on 'Everytime I Dream'), urging the narrator on to make a 'personal' realisation, or more universal, as the lyrics reflect a 'sleeping world' Yusuf longs to 'wake up' but know have to come round to his way of thinking in their 'own time', unaware that they're in a 'spiritual garden' until, like him, they've been 'plucked'. That's quite a neat theme, reflecting both Cat's struggles with TB that left him sleeping a lot and his pre-illness song 'I'm So Sleepy'  and 'A Bad Night', finally making good on a theme raised as long ago as 1967!
The other is one of travel. of intending to end up at certain destinations only to find you got side-tracked along the way. Life is a series of road service stations, Cat seems to be saying, with the stops along the way so distracting and comforting that we forget about the life-long journey we should be going on (no wonder so many songs seem to be about the ‘credit crunch’ – expect lots more albums along these lines to follow). That makes it sound like it should be an album-long version of ’Peace Train’, but actually what we get is like an album long version of ’Wild Wood’, with modern society painted as a place where you can be happy as long as you learn to stay clear of trouble and temptation. Cat even re-casts himself as a singing travelling gypsy a la Ronnie lane on the title track, a medieval minstrel in a modern camper van travelling across the world and reminding people of truths they don’t want to be reminded of. Yusuf is the 'Roadsinger', travelling no by foot but by a low budget economically-fuelled camper van (lovingly re-created for the album cover, complete with 'making of' on the 'deluxe' DVD version: how very Cat to tell us how he 'made' the front cover but not the record itself!) Traditionally Muslim seers travelled the world by foot, passing on their tales of the Qu'ran and spreading the word: Yusuf feels his journey is the same, although it's also a neat mirror of his own past: of being 'On The Road To Find Out', of journeying through a 'Wild Wood', of navigating with the 'Tillerman'. After setting out in the early 1970s, a switch in ideas finds Cat trying to find his way 'home', Prodigal Son style, something he finds only in death ('Home In The Sky') or in his yearning imagination ('Home' itself).  Nicely this record starts not with the Roadsinger van making its journey but 'Welcome Home' - as uplifting and unwinding as a hot bath, as Cat returns to old familiar places in his return to music. Yusuf seems to be hinting that he's now found 'home' - it's where he's been living all this time he's been 'away' from us - but now we need him out there in the community, spreading the word of peace, and that's why he's travelling. It's a lovely image, very in keeping with the Cat Stevens tradition, but this time round the road isn't destination-less or filled with horrors (as per 'Wild World'): it's a place Yusuf knows well by now and wants us to travel on with him.

Not that 'Roadsinger' is perfect. The record does make mistakes here and there – ‘Be What You Must’ is a terrible recording, all children’s choirs and clichéd melodies, while a few lyrics here and there are clunky ('Ooh, things are looking bad' must be the under-statement of the decade given that Cat is singing about the credit crunch, more like something George Osbourne would say than someone whose already lived through at least five in his lifetime).  The record is also arguably a couple of classics short of perfect: while all the songs are good this is a ridiculously short album in the CD age (barely 31 minutes) and while it's kind of in keeping with the 'return' to earlier albums ('Tillerman' is virtually the same length) it's not as if every track sounds remarkably different (instead this is a mood piece that doesn't often try anything new or radical - fair enough, given that this is one of the ways the eclectic 'An Other Cup' fell down, but a pain if you've forked out full money for an album that sounds largely the same - especially on an album partly about the hardship of the 'credit crunch' years). But that shows the huge gaping chasm of difference between these two ‘comeback’ projects – ‘Another Cup’ was built for show and to test the waters, with far too much poor material to sustain a 50 minute running time; ‘Roadsinger’ has instead been 'pruned' back to a more sustainable length, with less peaks perhaps but far less troughs along the way.

While we’re on about timings, though, why wasn’t the Dolly Parton/Paul McCartney collaboration 'Boots and Sand'  included on the album, seeing as it’s all so short anyway? For those who don't know this was the 'headline-grabbing' track that everyone was taking about (and so was a surprise absentee from the album): a comic piece about Yusuf travelling to America to talk about peace and then being booted off a USA-bound aeroplane for being on a list of 'terror suspects' he should never have been on in the first place? While not the greatest thing Yusuf's ever written (or even the best thing on this album) it deserved a wider audience. Yusuf responded to the incident and wrote the song with a raised eyebrow rather than the angry put-downs other writers would have delivered in protest, but the irony of being told you're a 'bad influence' while feeling morally obliged to make your comeback as a 'good influence' isn't lost on Cat, whose on great self-deprecating form. What's more, against all Yusuf's 'not much publicity' motto, a video was shot for this song and included on the deluxe DVD version - making it all the odder it isn't here.

Apart from the running time and the odd glitch here and there, however, 'Roadsinger' is an excellent return to form that proves wholeheartedly that there is a place for Yusuf's music in this fragmented world of ours and that Yusuf still has much to say and come to terms with. We even nominated this record as one of our top town 21st century AAA releases in a 'News, Views and Music' newsletter not long ago: admittedly it's not been a classic period, but that's a picture of how highly we regard this quiet, pleasant, understated folkie album. There are an awful lot of autobiographical or at least autobiographical-sounding songs here, with Yusuf expressing his doubts about his own fallacies and wanderings away from the true path. Interestingly, they seem to be the ones taken from the forthcoming Cat Stevens musical ‘Moonshadow’ (thank God - whichever one you happen to subscribe to - that Yusuf’s not doing another ‘Mamma Mia’) – just as in the days of old, Cat appears to reveal his truest self when standing behind a character (editor's note: what happened to this musical? It never did seem to appear at the West End although it was apparently 'imminent' when this record came out. mentioned by Yusuf in a lot of the surrounding interviews). It's lovely to hear Yusuf going back to his folk-rock roots on a largely acoustic record surrounded by old friends and to hear him at one with his musical past again, re-awakened to just how powerful and helpful music can be in troubled times. We needed a Cat Stevens again when this album came out and Yusuf seems to know that too, sounding like he has something to tell us on this album and for the most part tells his stories well. Who'd have thought, though, that the next time the 'Roadsinger' came to town we'd be another five turbulent Coalition-destroyed years down the line...

The Songs:

‘Welcome Home’ is a back-to-my-roots acoustic song that sounds very similar to ‘Teaser’ or ‘Tillerman’ without actually quoting any specific song. The lyrics are very similar to the cat Stevens classic ‘On The Road To Find Out’, with the narrator peering back down a path where ‘seekers’ are known to travel’ and still trying to work out what path he should take at the next crossroads. The lyrical references to ‘time rolling on’ and ‘a new dawn welcoming me’ suggest the twin reasons Yusuf decided to re-enter the record business – to give it another go from his new-found ‘elder statesman’ status and to record his side of the story before it’s too late. The tune is less memorable than the words, but still contains elegant praise-worthy phrases and an interesting chorus hook that seems to come out of nowhere (‘time rolls on’), as if catching the narrator by surprise. The only part of this song that doesn’t work is the lyrical reference to a ‘sacred stone’; if this is a religious reference then it seems at odd with the rest of the song - which is about spirituality in general rather than religion specifically – and if it means something else, then it seems too obscure for this straightforward metaphorical song.

‘Thinking About You’ is a better song than it is a performance – had Yusuf approached it like the growling ‘Mona Bone Jakon’ rather than the fluffy and light ‘Back To Earth’ it might have fared better. But scratch the surface and this simple love song isn’t quite so simple as it seems: ‘climbing a mountain in the dark’ is a very clever line, taking us back to the ‘travelling’ theme. This is obviously a song about ‘God’ – ‘every burning comet that zooms thinks about you’ indeed – but it’s like an early 1970s Cat Stevens song about religion; the references are vague and simply meant to show the strengths of the narrator’s devotion – they aren’t actually about any specific religion or deity. Like the best of George Harrison’s work, this is a song whose vagueness allows it to be all things to all men whilst being specific enough for its clues to be obvious for fellow devotees.

‘Everytime I Dream’ is my own favourite on the album. The gentle use of horns and impressive acoustic strumming is just so cat Stevens-like that its hard to believe just how unusual in his canon this song really is (very few of his songs use overlapping acoustic guitars in the way this song does – and none of his songs use horns that I can think of). This is a terrific slab of heartfelt melancholy, half-blues, half singer songwriter confessional, with the narrator half-dreading half nervously anticipating his night of sleep, unsure whether he’s about to fall into a nightmare of his own making or a romantic dream of bliss that could have been his in some alternate reality. As explained, this song seems to be an older, wiser re-cap of Cat Stevens classic ‘Sun/C79’, with the narrator longing for something that he seemed to be promised once but now knows he can never have. The lyrics to this song actually run the original close; they are so poetic and yet so immediate and accessible that they make what should be a tired and overdone theme sound positively spell-binding (if you don’t believe me have a look at the ‘key lyrics’ quoted above – most of them come from this song). 
  
‘The Rain’ appears at first glance to be a straightforward song about the credit crunch and how badly it seems to have affected us all (if you read the Daily Mail, that is, where it’s been hyped out of all believability). But finally, thankfully, here is a reminder to everyone that we’ve been through recessions before far worse than this one (all that hoo-hah about this one being worse than the ‘Great Depression’ is ridiculous – it’s only now beginning to look like it might be as bad as the early 1990s recession, never mind the lot before it, whatever the media want to tell you). This song was written in the early 1970s as a companion song to ‘the Wind’ the sweet little song that opened ‘Teaser and the Firecat’. It’s a typical Cat Stevens-like song of the period – laidback acoustic strumming hitting a ferocious ever-changing orchestral arrangement head on. These lyrics show the best and worst of Cat Stevens/Yusuf over the years – the trite and the profound exist side by side, often on the same line. But taken together with the menacing orchestral accompaniment, it’s sterling stuff. The religious references are nicely vague once again (we get the story of Noah and the ark, with Cat Stevens dreaming he could build a metaphorical boat big enough to keep all humans and animals free from harm) and the glorious middle eight (wow another of my beloved middle eights! Nobody seems to write them anymore – this is just like old times!) ends with the troubled line ‘will there be enough believers with me?’ As current interviews with Yusuf have made clear, the singer still feels that troubled times bring out the best in the human spirit and by making people fight that much harder for what they want brings them a new idea of what they should be gaining from life. But will we still end up in this endless capitalist cycle, Yusuf seems to be saying? Or shall we escape it this time? 

 Whatever the answer, this is a haunting and thought-provoking song, in true Cat Stevens tradition.
‘World Of Darkness’ is the first of the tracks from the ‘Moonshadow’ musical and sounds like it too – it has the same haunting sing-songy tune as most of Cat’s ‘Numbers’ concept album, a frustrated musical if ever there was one (I even thought the backing vocals were singing ‘Jzero’ in honour of the album’s main character the first time I heard this song – it’s actually ‘Shamsia’). The 80s synthesiser/panpipe hybrid is a painful touch (and makes us grateful yet again for the fact that Cat retired before that awful musical period could ruin his production skills), but the rest of the song’s arrangement is nicely spooky – rumbling bass, glittering bluesy electric guitar and Cat tripling his voices for the backing for the first time in three decades! Lyrically, this is another of those Cat Stevens songs that look at the struggle between good and evil, with yet more lyrical references to travelling down the wrong path and ending up in a place where ‘nobody cares for anybody else’.
‘Be What You Must’ is the closest this albums comes to disaster-level, but even this song’s not too bad (certainly, it’s better than a good half of ‘Another Cup’). The opening musical snippet of Cat Stevens classic ‘Sitting’ is annoying rather than clever (just as on ‘Another Cup’ where Cat ‘stole’ lots of his own ideas in order to save himself writing a complete song) and the children’s choir is yet another example of how Cat seems to have lost much of his ascetic taste since leaving music. But as a song it’s OK, even quite moving with it’s lyrical references to having ‘journeyed endless miles’ and ‘arriving on a wind of hope’ in true Cat-like tradition. The message inside this song (‘to be what you must you must give up who you are’) may be the best overall message in cat’s work for 40 years too – Yusuf’s career has been full of changes and contradictions, with the singer giving up everything he’s told he must have when he discovers for himself that that isn’t true. So it’s a shame that such a promising track is given such a throwaway arrangement – just look at how much energy is drained out of the track when Cat starts singing (his weakest vocal yet, I think, unlike his sterling work across the rest of the album) and how much returns when the track turns instrumental, with a relentless orchestral beast pounding down against a piano lick that rolls this way and that, trying to find the light.

‘This Glass World’ is much more like it and my second favourite song on here at the time of writing. Lyrically, it’s nothing special – the idea that we all live in a ‘glass bubble’, eyeing everybody elses’ home and wondering how we can step inside, oblivious to how great our own is fantastic in its own right but not developed all that well. Instead it’s the tune and the playing that make this song standout. The song fades in on some typically Cat-like (or at least Alun Davies-like) playing, gentle and soft, before Yusuf kicks in with one of his best ever vocals, stretching from a cautious rumble to a nicely confident falsetto just as in the days of old. The song just builds and builds from there, adding new elements every other line or so until this song finally peaks and ends, journeying from introspective ballad into classic rousing overcoming obstacles torchwaver status. The tune is gorgeous, rising and falling in tandem with the lyrics (falling away when Yusuf sings ‘going nowhere, we’ve got everything’ and striding forth on ‘no troubles here – that’s on the outside’) and a reminder that just because Cat chose to leave music behind, it didn’t necessarily leave him behind.
‘Roadsinger’ itself is another of those acoustic-songs-with-rumbling-bass that are obviously meant to remind us of ‘Tillerman’. But lyrically this song is more like ‘I Never Wanted To Be A Star’, the false ending given us on cat’s near-farewell album ‘Izitso’. That song recounted Cat’s life in all its many stages, with verse after verse mentioning particular breakthrough records in Yusuf’s life and the way that, despite his success and the way he could spread his message to millions, he was still trapped, alone, in the tour bus after each gig (this song is a real rarity in the Cat Stevens canon, ignored by pretty much everybody when it came out, but Yusuf’s been playing it a lot recently judging by this month’s Mojo interview). ‘Roadsinger’ is a lighter and fluffier song but still casts Cat as the road-weary traveller, unsure of whether his songs and messages will be welcomed or not in the changing world he doesn’t quite understand. So far so depressing, but as Brian Wilson and David Crosby will tell you, ‘the children know the way’ and the narrator is re-assured by the children who peep out from behind their barred doors and safety locks to hear his song. Interestingly, although this song very much comes down on the side of grumpiness when you study the lyrics (it sounds like one of those ‘the world isn’t what it was in my day’ rants usually relegated to Roger Waters solo albums), the music is uplifting and Yusuf’s vocal is almost cheerful.

‘All Kinds of Roses’ is up next, even though it’s first in the lyrics booklet included with the CD (why was this album put together in such a hurry?) It’s a simple repetitive acoustic singalong song that should be irritating but somehow isn’t – even though cat tells us several times about the mixed horticulture in his garden and the children playing nicely (most songwriters in the modern world would have the children breaking into the garden after doffing up Tillerman and teaser’s Firecat, so good on cat for sticking with his instincts given us on ‘Where Do the Children Play’ and reminding us again that its not the children’s fault but the adult’s fixation with children becoming like them that causes problems). This track has a pretty tune; nothing remarkable but similar enough to all those traditional folk songs played by Pentangle et al to add a nice new texture to this album.

‘Dream On (Until…)’ appears to be another of Yusuf’s ‘Moonshadow’ songs, given the segue with instrumental ‘Shamsia’ right at the end. It’s the third of the album’s true highlights, despite the lack of lyrics, thanks to a lazy hazy melody and one of the greatest sax arrangements on record. Thematically, we’re back to dreaming again, with fantasy and hope shown as a way to overcome obstacles in true Cat Stevens/Ray Davies mode (in fact, is it just me or do the arrangements on this album sound very similar to ray’s ‘Other People’s Lives’ albums of a couple of years back?) Unlike the other wordy and worthy songs on the album, this one is all about atmosphere, with a simple acoustic guitar lick embedded in a sea of saxophone, cymbal swashes and classy backing vocals. Hope has never sounded better than it does in this song, which is a classy and unusual way of ending the album, barring the short instrumental that follows.

So, overall, this is a classic album, one that might well have ended up on this list proper had it come out before I’d written all my other reviews (along with that Ray Davies album, interestingly enough). It successfully reminds us of all the things that Cat Stevens stood for in the first place whilst extending Yusuf’s abilities and ideas, revisiting many past ideas with an older and wiser head without taking too much of the fun and games of those early albums away. Cat Stevens has been on quite a journey during his 42 years in the public eye and he has a pretty much unique knack of being able to put that experience directly into his songs, or at least it’s a gift he’s re-discovered again after losing it along the way (interestingly, he shares that gift with the AAA list’s other famous cancerian, Ray Davies). Brooding but moving, sweet but sinister, hopeful yet realistic, this is everything I hoped that ‘Another Cup’ would be – and I was so disappointed that it wasn’t. If only this album was a proper length, it would be pretty much perfect. Welcome back Cat/Yusuf/Steven Georgeou/Roadsinger - whatveer name you travel under oh how we’ve missed you!



A NOW COMPLETE LIST OF CAT STEVENS ARTICLES TO READ AT ALAN’S ALBUM ARCHIVES:


'Matthew and Son' (1967) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/cat-stevens-matthew-and-son-1967.html

'New Masters' (1968) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-114-cat.html

'Mona Bone Jakon' (1970) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-35-cat-stevens-mona-bone-jakon.html

'Tea For The Tillerman' (1970) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-41-cat-stevens-tea-for-tillerman.html


‘Teaser and the Firecat’ (1971) https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/cat-stevens-teaser-and-firecat-1971.html




'Back To Earth' (1978) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/cat-stevens-back-to-earth-1978.html


'An Other Cup' (2006) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016/05/yusufcat-stevens-other-cup-2006.html

'Roadsinger' (2009) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-31-yusuf-aka.html

'Tell 'Em I'm Gone' (2014) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/yusuf-cat-stevens-tell-em-im-gone-2014.html


‘The Laughing Apple’ (2017)  https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/cat-stevens-laughing-apple-2017.html


Surviving TV Appearances 1967-2015 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/cat-stevensyusuf-surviving-tv.html


The Best Unreleased Recordings 1969-2009 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/cat-stevensyusuf-best-unreleased.html


Non-Album Recordings 1966-2014 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/cat-stevensyusuf-non-album-recordings.html


Compilations, Box sets and Alun Davies LPs Part One 1963-1990
https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/cat-stevens-compilationslive-lps-part.html


Compilations, Box Sets and Religious Works Part Two 1995-2012 




Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)