Surprised at the amount of duds here. I just assumed everyone was okay with Cat Stevens. I second the 'he seems to exist independent of any particular scene'. Is that the block? That parents generally like Cat Stevens and he doesn't really have a narrative? But hating the songs? Not sure I get that.
He gets a classic from me, because while I might not actively listen to the guy, I can recall at least half a dozen of his melodies. And if I were drunk, and someone put on a Cat Stevens record, I'd happily sing along.
― Popture, Tuesday, 8 June 2010 00:37 (twelve years ago) link
i'd say neither c nor d. i'm "okay with him", but am real fine w/out
― If you can believe your eyes and ears (outdoor_miner), Tuesday, 8 June 2010 01:42 (twelve years ago) link
classic. he makes me sad and nostalgic in a way that I don't think any other singer consistently does.
― Poliopolice, Monday, 21 January 2013 00:32 (nine years ago) link
just turn up the cat stevens and long for the days before bill gates put so many good polio policemen out of work
― Rihanna Tootysalsafroyo (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 21 January 2013 01:05 (nine years ago) link
The first cut is the deepest is a great song, could've been a motown single.
― Moka, Saturday, 9 February 2013 20:49 (nine years ago) link
A letter from him was published in the Toronto Star the other day. Didn't read the piece that prompted it.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2014/12/01/cats_message_is_still_peace.html
― clemenza, Wednesday, 3 December 2014 00:44 (seven years ago) link
'Matthew & Son' is one of the most unheralded influences on British new wave, I think. The piano lick/chorus (lyrics aside) is something that Gary Numan could have come up with in the late '70s/early '80s. The middle-eight recalls the pre-chorus in Tears For Fears' 'Mad World'!
― You’re being too simplistic and you’re insulting my poor heart (Turrican), Thursday, 8 January 2015 04:12 (seven years ago) link
BABY I KNOW
― brimstead, Thursday, 9 September 2021 22:43 (nine months ago) link
“Sitting” is such an odd song, it almost reaches the intensity of those John Cale songs where he loses his shit a couple minutes in. And yet he ends a bunch of lines with this vague, half-hearted “or so”/“or something.” Weird songwriting choice!
― JoeStork, Thursday, 9 September 2021 23:11 (nine months ago) link