Al Stewart - The Year Of The Cat
Well i haven't listened to Al Stewart for ages, i've owned this disc since the early nineties, and before that i used to have an LP of it in the eighties, i even had a mini Al Stewart period in my life, i bought the LP Love Chronicles too, though i couldn't really get into it, this disc hasn't received a great amount of playing, and it's far from a classic treasured disc, and yet when i play it, memories come flooding back from those earlier years.
Al Stewart was born in Scotland in 1945, and yet he was brought up in England, he's in many ways a Folk Rock singer, i suppose really an acoustic Singer~Songwriter, he's now 65 and still going strong, and has roughly 20 albums under his belt.
The tracks that i enjoyed were 1-2, 6 & 9, track 2 'On The Border' has those lovely flamenco guitar rhythms [being somewhat about Spain], but Al Stewart's real 'hit' is track 9 'Year Of The Cat', it made him famous, got lots of airplay, but still only got to No31 on the British charts, but got to No8 in America, it's really a long track, something that uncommercial Al was quite famous for, lasting 6:40, the British single had the intro cut out, the middle verse removed, and the ending shortened [yeah i even bought the vinyl 45 single of it in the mid seventies!], in many ways it's an art song, the lyrics being really meaningful, it starts,
On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turned back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime
Al Stewart's a real 'mood painter', and he draws you into his world like an expert novelist, the start of the third verse is very well done after an excellent transition bridge, there's even an Alto Sax solo near the end [4:11+], and for the outro too [5:33+], very 'Baker Street / Gerry Rafferty', a very accomplished track, i haven't really explored Al Stewart further than this, maybe if i see a cheap album going on Ebay, i might make a bid.
Here's Al Stewart playing The Year Of The Cat on YouTube, live from The Old Grey Whistle Test.
