Al Stewart - Year of The Cat...C/D?

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Call me crazy, but I love this song. I think it has to do with the fact that I was jumped by a girl in college to it. Don't bother asking for explanation, she'll tell you that she came.....in the year of the cat.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Thursday, 16 January 2003 17:22 (10 years ago) Permalink

Classic, for inexplicable reasons. I just like it.

― hstencil, Thursday, 16 January 2003 17:23 (10 years ago) Permalink

Classic, as is MODERN TIMES. Both really good listens.

― matt riedl (veal), Thursday, 16 January 2003 19:10 (10 years ago) Permalink

hey you should have listened to AL!
The first three records = CLASSIC!
Bedsitter images!

― Jens (brighter), Thursday, 16 January 2003 20:02 (10 years ago) Permalink

Take Jens' advice.

Bedsitter Images
Zero She Flies
Love Chronicles

is a superb trilogy... Love Chronicles is a masterpiece... with some great guitar work from Jimmy Page..

Al Stewarts early work is seriously under-rated.. probably tainted by a whole heap of bearly listening records in the 80's and 90's...

― Jack Battery-Pack (Jack Battery-Pack), Thursday, 16 January 2003 20:47 (10 years ago) Permalink

9 months pass...

Can anyone tell me what this song is about, exactly?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 14 November 2003 23:41 (9 years ago) Permalink

A cat. With a perm.

Actually I love this song. When the sax become a guitar... OH YEAH!
But, yeah, a cat. With a perm. And a shoe box.

― Speedy Gonzalas (Speedy Gonzalas), Saturday, 15 November 2003 09:01 (9 years ago) Permalink

4 weeks pass...

No, REALLY.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:25 (9 years ago) Permalink

too twee for words. blech.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:29 (9 years ago) Permalink

Every time I hear "On the Border" or "Year of the Cat" I like it more than I care to admit.

― Rockist Scientist, Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:31 (9 years ago) Permalink

Is it twee, though? Isn't there something more than a little...odd about it?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:32 (9 years ago) Permalink

I remember thinking Al Stewart was very edgy when I was in 6th or 7th grade or something.

― Rockist Scientist, Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:32 (9 years ago) Permalink

Yes there is something more than a little odd.

― Rockist Scientist, Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:33 (9 years ago) Permalink

Yeah it's cool. C from me.

― Jole, Monday, 15 December 2003 06:59 (9 years ago) Permalink

One day in about 1990 I was listening to Momus when a friend remarked 'Is that, like, Al fucking Stewart or something?' I went and bought one of his greatest hits things and quite liked it. When by chance Al Stewart played at Norwich a few weeks later, I asked him if he'd ever heard of Momus, but he didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

― Gatinha (rwillmsen), Monday, 15 December 2003 15:16 (9 years ago) Permalink

I love this song. WHen I was small, my dad had the LP of it and I was quite entertained by the cover art.

― Blood and sparkles (bloodandsparkles), Monday, 15 December 2003 20:29 (9 years ago) Permalink

4 years pass...

Great strings.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 3 August 2008 13:16 (4 years ago) Permalink

It is a good song, with great strings, but Time Passages towers over it in every possible way.

― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 3 August 2008 13:35 (4 years ago) Permalink

I'm not sure I've heard it. As long as it's got no lyrics like, "The drum beats strains of the night remain/In the rhythm of the new-born day."

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 3 August 2008 13:37 (4 years ago) Permalink

No, this song's lyrics namecheck Peter Lorre.

― Pleasant Plains, Sunday, 3 August 2008 17:38 (4 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

was this in a soundtrack recently (like last 3-5yrs)? maybe something indie-ish. wes anderson-ish. or like squid and whale?

― jaxon, Thursday, 12 November 2009 20:34 (3 years ago) Permalink

uh, apparently this was in running w/scissors. but i don't remember that movie. nor do i remember liking it.

― jaxon, Thursday, 12 November 2009 20:41 (3 years ago) Permalink

This live version doesn't quite do the song justice:

Alfred, you've never heard this? O.M.G.!

― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 12 November 2009 20:47 (3 years ago) Permalink

Always thought "You know sometime you're bound to leave her" was "Innocent Tanya..." Lyrics to YotK are pretty oblique.

Great production; that Alan Parsons sure know how to make a record.

― Such A Hilbily (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 12 November 2009 21:16 (3 years ago) Permalink

I found my parents' copy of the album, Daniel. Thanks. The song's okay.

― Hell is other people. In an ILE film forum. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 12 November 2009 21:30 (3 years ago) Permalink

Funny timing. I was just searching ILX for a good Al Stewart thread yesterday after listening to Modern Times.

― Durian Durian (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 12 November 2009 21:32 (3 years ago) Permalink

The song's okay.

The warm glow of nostalgia enhances the song for me.

― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 12 November 2009 21:57 (3 years ago) Permalink

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, your parents version of the album.

I am old.

― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 12 November 2009 21:58 (3 years ago) Permalink

How come none of you lot took part in this poll when I ran it a few months ago?

― anagram, Thursday, 12 November 2009 23:06 (3 years ago) Permalink

― wax tadpole, Monday, 16 November 2009 18:38 (3 years ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

I can't seem to google this: are there any songs that use Time Passages for a sample? It seems like there must be...

― dlp9001, Tuesday, 13 July 2010 20:56 (2 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

Daniel is right.

― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 14 April 2012 22:09 (1 year ago) Permalink

What a great enunciator Al Stewart is!

― henry s, Saturday, 14 April 2012 22:26 (1 year ago) Permalink

― the hairy office thing (Eazy), Saturday, 14 April 2012 22:38 (1 year ago) Permalink

These make me want to learn the piano part.

― the hairy office thing (Eazy), Saturday, 14 April 2012 22:44 (1 year ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

sometimes, in the right mood, this feels like the best song ever written.

― Jamie_ATP, Friday, 16 November 2012 21:19 (6 months ago) Permalink

is it wrong to prefer "Time Passages"?

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 16 November 2012 21:20 (6 months ago) Permalink

that's cool, i won't beef if we can all agree Al Stewart is one underrated magical motherfucker

― Jamie_ATP, Friday, 16 November 2012 21:31 (6 months ago) Permalink

Yeah "Time Passages" rules. I love the sound of those records he made with Alan Parsons. Everything after that is hit or miss; everything up to Time Passages is pretty great, though.

― xanthanguar (cwkiii), Friday, 16 November 2012 21:32 (6 months ago) Permalink

i went on a huge binge of these 2 records earlier this year (year of the cat and time passages) and i'm still not tired of them. still in disbelief that this guy's essentially been lost to time popularity-wise, i didn't even know who he was a year or 2 ago.

― ciderpress, Friday, 16 November 2012 21:52 (6 months ago) Permalink

I would figure he's part of the same aging boomer generation on the cusp of thirty that made Gerry Rafferty a hit too.

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 16 November 2012 21:53 (6 months ago) Permalink

Gerry / Al / Boz / Dan / Prefab

basically all you need in life.

― Jamie_ATP, Friday, 16 November 2012 22:00 (6 months ago) Permalink

xxpost Yeah, it's ridiculous that pretty much no one knows him anymore. If you can get your hands on a copy of the box set To Whom It May Concern, I would strongly recommend it. That's got his first three albums plus some early singles, all as good as Year of the Cat and Time Passages, if not better.

Also, he tours non-stop, and is worth seeing at least once.

― xanthanguar (cwkiii), Friday, 16 November 2012 22:01 (6 months ago) Permalink

Year of the Cat is great, Time Passages rather overrated. His best albums are the mid-period ones, Modern Times and Past Present & Future.

― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Friday, 16 November 2012 22:40 (6 months ago) Permalink

Yeah Modern Times is great, it has the same FM production vibe and awesome stuff like 'Sirens Of Titan' and 'Apple Cider Reconstitution'.

― multiple decades of jazz (Jon Lewis), Friday, 16 November 2012 23:07 (6 months ago) Permalink

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/11-15-12-23-17-al-stewart-from-signing-body-parts-to-album-covers/

― xanthanguar (cwkiii), Friday, 16 November 2012 23:16 (6 months ago) Permalink

"People would rather hear the music they grew up listening to because that is the sound of being young and, of course, if you listen to that music, you get to be young forever."

well said...

― henry s, Saturday, 17 November 2012 14:29 (6 months ago) Permalink

His best albums are the mid-period ones, Modern Times and Past Present & Future.

Yeah, that's my impression as well.

Also, the Dark Side bootleg has an unreleased track, "Sailing Into The Future", that sounds exactly like something Grant McLennan might've written.

― doug watson, Saturday, 17 November 2012 19:12 (6 months ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

had never heard of this dude until being mentioned on the destroyer thread but I'm listening to Modern Times and its pretty dece imo

― well if it isn't old 11 cameras simon (gbx), Friday, 21 December 2012 23:14 (4 months ago) Permalink

i put "year of the cat" on the spotify version of mackro's apocalypse mix.

― gimme some reggae! (get bent), Friday, 21 December 2012 23:24 (4 months ago) Permalink

I'M NOT THE KIND TO DWELL IN THE PAAAHST

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 22 December 2012 02:51 (4 months ago) Permalink

THE PICTURE IS CHANGING YOU'RE PART OF A CROWD
THEY'RE LAUGHING AT SOMETHING, THE MUSIC'S LOUD

― your damn bass clarinet (Eazy), Saturday, 22 December 2012 02:52 (4 months ago) Permalink

jergins to thread

― buzza, Saturday, 22 December 2012 02:56 (4 months ago) Permalink

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