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

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

jergins to thread

every time i have this song playing in my head, it turns into ABC's 'look of love' halfway through

YOTC is obv classic

I first heard Al when HBO used to play the "Time Passages" video all the time to fill in space between movies.

glancing at my player, peter white gets writing credits for both yotc and time passages.

Still at it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMZ9gEPgI9o

saw him live circa '83-84 (not my idea, but i didn't mind)

Booked my ticket for his Past Present & Future/Year of the Cat show in London this morning.

Year of the Cat is a small miracle of a record

why is this guy so underappreciated?

I love his historical songs - all of "Past, Present and Future" is brilliant.

for some reason that album doesn't seem to be on spotify but I'll check it out!

Year of the Cat sounds kinda like something John Lennon could have made if he was very ambitious

He's great, such a delicious fm rock sound and that voiiice

"Terminal Eyes" off of PP&F is very reminiscent of "I Am The Walrus", but other than that I can't say I detect any similarities between Al and Lennon. But Al is great nonetheless, so literate and wistful.

there's a great moment in the Beatles Anthology doc where George Martin goes through the A Day in the Life tracks, and after some studio talk where iirc it's all pretty advanced and more about the conceptual side of things, he gets to John's vocal track and can't say much more than: and then there's that voice

Lennon's voice is indeed beautifully unique, and I'd never mistake him for Al Stewart - but all the same there's something in the phrasing (I'd do an imitation if this were not a msg board), kinda like he's singing from the bottom of his mouth with slightly pursed lips, and also the guitar work reminds me of Harrison or early solo Lennon - have not done extensive listening, but that's what comes to mind in the first 60 seconds of opener:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu_z0xK6qYY

also sounds informed by Bowie, and other parts of the record channel Dylan for me

I saw it recommended on the Kaputt thread so that was my way into it

Year of the Cat is a nice record and all, but as Gerald says Past Present & Future is his masterpiece, closely followed by the follow-up Modern Times. After that he got signed to RCA, put out YotC and it was soft rock FM-land from then on, a few later killer tracks notwithstanding.

A few years ago I ran an Al Stewart albums poll here which garnered all of one vote, my own.

listening to PP&F now does indeed sound great

do love that FM land of soft rock though...

I considered posting to your poll thread but ultimately found it too sad

past present & future, modern times, year of the cat, time passages are all underappreciated classics imo. haven't really ventured further forward than that in his catalog though

Russians & Americans is probably the strongest one after that, but they all have a mixture of killer and filler on them. There's a v strong compilation to be made from those later records.

Go backwards!

Seriously, all of the albums before Past, Present & Future are so good.

i've heard all the early ones already they're good too

I know what you mean, niels i.e. Lennon's voice. It's the aspect that makes you want to stick out your chin a little if you try an impersonation.

If someone wants to cherry pick the best tracks, I'd love a list!

I'd say the strongest albums that followed Time Passages were 24 Carrots and Last Days of the Century. The latter has a late-80s sheen but the songs are great, esp the title cut, Fields of France, Where Are They Now and Antarctica. Russians & Americans was disappointing to me after 24C.

My father-in-law is a hardcore Al Stewart fan. Has seen him live dozens of times, brings him up in conversation regularly, and would not hesitate to say he never made a less-than-great album. I will try to hit him up for a post-Time Passages playlist.

Or, you know, you could just ask me, what with me also being a hardcore Al Stewart fan who has seen him live dozens of times.

My post-Time Passages playlist would be:

From 24 P/Carrots:

Murmansk Run/Ellis Island
Running Man
Merlin's Time
Rocks in the Ocean

From Russians & Americans:

Accident on 3rd Street
Russians & Americans

From Last Days of the Century:

Fields of France
Antarctica

From Famous Last Words:

Trains
Feel Like

From Between the Wars:

Three Mules
League of Notions

From Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time:

Coldest Winter in Memory (one of his greatest songs ever, yet it languishes on an outtakes compilation)

From Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time:

Coldest Winter in Memory (one of his greatest songs ever, yet it languishes on an outtakes compilation)

No arguments here. This one is fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR4-CvASpkI

I already recommended this song upthread but with the recent requests for suggestions, it bears repeating.

Or, you know, you could just ask me, what with me also being a hardcore Al Stewart fan who has seen him live dozens of times.

Cool! I think there will be a lot of overlap between his playlist and yours (asked him about it tonight before I saw your post), but I'll post it anyway when he gets it to me.

I remember really enjoying A Beach Full of Shells when it first came out but haven't listened to it in years.

1) I have heard "Year of the Cat" on my favorite radio station (87.7 MeTV radio!) and have enjoyed it but never knew who was singing because they rarely say (I know you can check the website but I don't look at the internet in the shower or while I am driving and I always forget to look it up)
2) Thanks to this thread I knew it is Al Stewart
3) The radio also tells me that Al Stewart is touring with the band America

here's what i don't know -- is there some connection between Al Stewart and the band America?

Al Stewart is English, which wouldn't necessarily preclude him from being somehow associate with America, but, no, I don't think they have any sort of history with each other.

Oof, my bad. He's actually a Scotsman.

he sounds kinda like robyn hitchcock

even if i watched this on mute i would have bet for sure he was from somewhere in the UK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckthyI3UQbI

here he is in 2014 -- he still sounds good imo!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMZ9gEPgI9o

I know what you mean, niels i.e. Lennon's voice. It's the aspect that makes you want to stick out your chin a little if you try an impersonation.
hehe, exactly

America and Al Stewart have the soft rock FM radio thing in common?

he's also playing the... Moody Blues Cruise aka Moodies Cruise http://moodiescruise.com/

had no idea how deep this dude's catalog is. been listening on spotify all afternoon.

i saw al stewart live last year, he's wonderful

Every time I've seen him he has been great, but it's almost always in a duo with this dude Dave Nachmanoff who probably Googles himself so I won't say anything else about him. He's been sporadically getting together with a backing band called The Empty Pockets and playing Year of the Cat in its entirety. I just found out last night that they're finally coming within driving distance in October, so I'm extremely excited for that.

this dude Dave Nachmanoff

that dude is extremely endearingly lame

oh wait lol i am definitely thinking of someone else

(sorry dave if you googled yourself)

xp are you sure? endearingly lame is super otm.

(also sorry dave)

someone praised him in the comments to the 2014 video! called him "fabulous"

America and Al Stewart have the soft rock FM radio thing in common?
i already know this, wondered if there was something else i was missing

Uh, who are musicians from the UK who later relocated to California?

Artists with animals in the title of their biggest hit?

Artists filed under "A" by record store clerks of less than average intelligence?

An Al Stewart listening thread might be esoteric but could also be fun someday.