Al Stewart
Year Of The Cat

THE REVIEW

1967-1976: Almost a decade has passed since Al Stewart's recording debut, and he finally sees his constant and meticulous search rewarded with great commercial success, which coincides with one of his artistic peaks. An album that represents a perfect synthesis of what the songwriter expressed in his previous releases, particularly combining the best features of his two previous albums, "Past, Present And Future" and "Modern Times". "Year Of The Cat" is a perfect album, practically devoid of any formal defects; a refined, cultured, and captivating product from the very graphic design with which it is presented, where high-class singer-songwriter pop, sometimes with almost crooner-like tones, blends with folk with various more or less rock nuances already well established in previous years. This is the most evident stylistic novelty of "Year Of The Cat", and it's just the beginning of a gradual modernization in Al Stewart's sound, destined to further develop in the two releases immediately following.

The compositional freshness, enthusiasm, inspiration, and melodic momentum of "Year Of The Cat" are immediately evident even in the less ambitious episodes of the album, "Sand In Your Shoes" and "If It Doesn't Come Naturally Leave It", exquisite and lively American-style country-rock enriched with straightforward and philosophical lyrics, which represent a clear discontinuity from the suffering and reflective atmospheres that permeated the previous album "Modern Times". After the splendor of "Past, Present And Future", the historical component is revisited in the airy and dreamy Beatles-flavored ballad "Lord Greenville", characterized by a wonderful alchemy between Alan Parsons' orchestral arrangement and the guitar phrases of loyal Tim Renwick and the lighter and softer touch of the almost ethereal melody of "Flying Sorcery". These two songs are respectively dedicated to the 16th-century explorer Richard Greenville and aviator Amy Johnson, tributes to pioneers of the sea and sky quite recurrent in Al Stewart's songwriting, in addition to the emotional tension of the dramatic folk rock with flamenco nuances of "On The Border", which sounds like a tribute to all popular liberation movements, to those who chose to fight regimes and abuses, to fight for their rights, citing the rebels who ended the apartheid regime in Rhodesia and the Basque separatists.

"Year Of The Cat" certainly does not forget the more melancholic component that was typical of "Modern Times", but presents it in a renewed musical guise; the use of a more varied stylistic range and instrumentation, including synthesizers, strings, and winds, proves crucial for the perfect outcome of bittersweet melodic singer-songwriter gems like "Midas Shadow", so light and elusive in its subtle hypnotic charm, a "Broadway Hotel", which embodies a subtle malaise framed by a plaintive violin, and "One Stage Before", a descendant of some folk ballads from "Orange" like "I'm Falling" and "Songs Out Of Clay", just restyled in the arrangement. And then there's that unmistakable piano riff introducing a cinematic and captivating melody, halfway between dawn and sunset, a musical journey that in just over six minutes transports the listener into a daydream; what more can be said about "Year Of The Cat"? An inimitable masterpiece of arrangement? One of the most beautiful pop songs ever written? In these cases, there's little to express in words and much to listen to, preferably with a dreamer's spirit.

After "Bedsitter Images", after "Zero She Flies" and "Past, Present And Future", "Year Of The Cat" is yet another demonstration of the artistic depth of this unique artist: deeper than Donovan, more captivating and versatile than Bob Dylan, more enduring and visionary than Jackson Browne, endowed with a sensitivity and exquisite melodic taste that Bruce Springsteen can only dream of, always cultured but never pretentious for the mere sake of being so: Al Stewart is all of this, and "Year Of The Cat", with its typically feline grace and elegance, is a record that perfectly represents him; beware of making the gross mistake of identifying the artist with this single work, but YOTC is a must-pass, fundamental not only for the admirers of this artist but for all lovers of high-class singer-songwriter pop.