•
Rating: Go and tell Lord Grenville that the tide is on the turn/ It's time to haul the anchor up and leave the land astern/ We'll be gone before the dawn returns/ Like voices on the wind.
Just a handful of verses from the opening track of this album is enough to be catapulted into the musical universe of Al Stewart, a universe expressed through refined, metaphorical lyrics, sometimes even a bit prolix, finding their roots in the great poet-singers of the 60s (Bob Dylan above all). A musical universe that arises from Anglo-Saxon folk rock and characterized by essentially simple melodic lines, but not for this reason trivial. A universe made of History as well as stories (there was even talk of "historical folk rock" referring to the music of the Scottish singer-guitarist), populated by more or less famous characters against the backdrop of great historical events like the French Revolution, the Spanish Civil War, or the German invasion of the Soviet Union. And Lord Grenville is one of these characters, an English navy commander of the 16th century, trapped by the Spanish fleet and killed after a long fight, an emblematic figure of many soldiers on the eve of hopeless battles, from which they know there will be no chance of return.
The album "Year Of The Cat" began to take shape in 1975 (the cat's year in Vietnamese astrology), two years after Past, Present and Future, which had unexpected, albeit limited, success in the USA, and as Stewart transitioned from CBS to RCA. There was certainly a desire to "make a splash" with this album, considering that the production involved Alan Parsons (along with Stuart Elliot on drums and Phil Kenzie on sax, who would later accompany him on his Project albums), the recording took place at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London, and the album cover was entrusted to the renowned artistic agency Hipgnosis (the one, to be clear, responsible for almost every Pink Floyd album cover).
Compared to previous works, it is not surprising to see greater attention to immediacy, with musical solutions that wink at pop (yet without giving too much away, as in the subsequent "Time Passages"), but still maintaining high the lyricism of the texts. Besides the already mentioned "Lord Grenville", deserve a mention (and a listen): the captivating "On The Border", with notable inserts of Spanish guitar and an introduction where piano, keyboards, strings, bass, and castanets create a musical gear moving with the perfection of a Swiss watch; the acerbic "Midas Shadow", a modern re-imagining of the curse inflicted on the mythical Greek king, a melancholy portrait of the cult of success and money, made of overnight suitcases, sterile hotel rooms, and airplane seats turned into traveling offices; the airy "Flying Sorcery", light and carefree, dedicated to Amy Johnson, the first woman to solo fly from England to Australia; the mysterious "Broadway Hotel", where on the obsessively repeated theme of the song, the digressions of violin and mandolin chase and intertwine admirably;
On a morning from a Bogart movie/ in a country where they turn back time/ you go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre/ contemplating a crime
Remarkable songs, in line with his previous productions, but to make a splash something more and different was needed and Al Stewart worked long on what would become the title track of the album. Initially, the song was supposed to be called "At The Foot Of The Stage" and narrate the tragic decline of comedian Tony Hancock, but it's not hard to imagine that an old fox like Parsons had much to object to on the subject... Thus began the long and arduous birth, lasting about ten months, of the single Year Of The Cat: from the very first verses, a more enticing setting was chosen (the references to Bogart and Lorre evidently evoke the film Casablanca), some vague references to the east (the year of the cat, indeed, but also the mysterious female figure who runs wrapped in a "silk dress like a watercolor in the rain") up to the fragrant echoes of hippy culture (the incense and the essence of patchouli). It also seems certain that Parsons strongly wanted the inclusion of Phil Kenzie's sax in the central section, a kind of relay solo, articulating like a perfectly oiled mechanism, alternating on the scene the acoustic guitar, the electric one, and finally the sax.
The slow and captivating melody, as well as the exotic setting as a backdrop to the romantic story between a tourist and a charming local girl, made this track one of the most famous love songs in musical history. However, I would like to point out a curiosity, a sort of small inconsistency, I'm not sure how much wanted by the author (perhaps to "take revenge" for that rejection of the initial idea?): the verse on "Peter Lorre contemplating a crime" does indeed evoke to the more discerning cinephiles the unforgettable "M - Il Mostro Di Dusseldorf" by Fritz Lang, and Lorre's gaze in that film evokes anything but easy romanticism, casting a very different and much darker light on the supposed "love story"... In any case, beyond any possible hidden meanings, the release in 1976 saw a clamorous success of the single and, subsequently, of the entire album, which over the years sold over a million copies.
In conclusion, a particular album, to be listened to but also to be read (and possibly with a good dictionary at hand), which for those of my generation will not fail to evoke distant memories (and not only musical ones!). Perhaps the best compromise that this modern troubadour has managed to express between music and words.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Lord Grenville (05:02)
Go and tell Lord Grenville that the tide is on the turn
It's time to haul the anchor up and leave the land astern
We'll be gone before the dawn returns
Like voices on the wind.
Go and tell Lord Grenville that our dreams have run aground
There's nothing here to keep us in this shanty town
None of us are caring where we're bound
Like voices on the wind
And come the day you'll hear them saying
"They're throwing it all away"
Nothing more to say
Just throwing it all away
Go and fetch the captain's log and tear the pages out
We're on our way to nowhere now, can't bring the helm about
None of us are left in any doubt
We won't be back again
Send a message to the fleet, they'll search for us in vain
We won't be there among the reaches of the Spanish Main
Tell the ones we left home not to wait
We won't be back again.
(Won't be back again...)
And come the day you'll hear them saying
"They're throwing it all away"
Nothing more to say
Just throwing it all away
Our time is just a point along a line
That runs forever with no end
I never thought that we would come to find
Ourselves upon these rocks again
Oh no...
Go and tell Lord Grenville that the tide is on the turn
02 On the Border (03:20)
The fishing boats go out across the evening water
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border
The wind whips up the waves so loud
The ghost moon sails among the clouds
Turns the rifles into silver on the border
On my wall the colours of the maps are running
From Africa the winds they talk of changes coming
The torches flare up in the night
The hand that sets the farms alight
Has spread the word to those who're waiting on the border
In the village where I grew up
Nothing seems the same
Still you never see the change from day to day
And no-one notices the customs slip away
Late last night the rain was knocking at my window
I moved across the darkened room and in the lampglow
I thought I saw down in the street
The spirit of the century
Telling us that we're all standing on the border
In the islands where I grew up
Nothing seems the same
It's just the patterns that remain
An empty shell
But there's a strangeness in the air you feel too well
The fishing boats go out across the evening water
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border
The wind whips up the waves so loud
The ghost moon sails among the clouds
Turns the rifles into silver on the border
On the border
On the border
On the border
03 Midas Shadow (03:10)
You got your ticket and your hotel keys
And your overnight bag at your feet
You're looking down on the tropical trees
While the Spanish maids pick up the sheets
Conquistador in search of gold
For all the jackdaw reasons
The Midas shadow that's so hard to please
And follows wherever you go
Nothing ventured, nothing gained they said
So you played for the winner takes all
And tossed the dice high up and craned your head
To see how the numbers would fall
You stole the game so easily
Your luck ran with the seasons
But still the shadow that the night won't free
Just follows wherever you go
Another day, another boarding card
As you wait for your seat on the 'plane
The movie runs but you're still working hard
And you don't touch your food or champagne
I know that when your well runs dry
You'll want to know the reason
The empty night will bring you no reply
As it follows wherever you go
04 Sand in Your Shoes (03:03)
You always were a city kid
Though you were country raised
And back in some forgotten time
We shared the cold north days
But the simple life was not your style,
And you just had to escape
So it's goodbye to my lady of the islands
On Remembrance Day the bands all played,
The bells pealed through the park
And you lay there by the "Do Not" signs,
And shamed them with your spark
Now winter moans in old men's bones
As the day falls into dark
And it's goodbye to my lady of the islands
It was just like this
Behind the kisses you so soon swept away
Oh I always knew
That some day you'd
Be bound to just get pulled away
The summer sun beats on and on,
The shops swim in the heat
And you're standing by the traffic signs
With taxis at your feet
Oh I know that in your city skin
You're feeling more complete
So it's goodbye to my lady of the islands
No I never got the letters
That you said you'd send me
So it's goodbye to my lady of the islands
05 If It Doesn't Come Naturally, Leave It (04:29)
Nothing that's forced can ever be right
If it doesn't come naturally, leave it
That's what she said as she turned out the light
And we bent our backs as slaves of the night
Then she lowered her guard and showed me the scars
She got from trying to fight
Saying oh, you'd better believe it.
Well I'm up to my neck in the crumbling wreckage
Of all that I wanted from life
When I looked for respect all I got was neglect
Though I swallowed the line as a sign of the times
But dealing a jack from the back of the pack
They said-"You lose again"
Oh, I said, who needs it?
Well don't get me wrong now I tried to get on
With the jokers that got in my way
And I put on a smile and I tried all the while to be straight
But they just wanted more all the time and I'm sure
That you know what I mean when I say
That I'm sick of the touch and there's only so much you can take.
Well nothing that's real is ever for free
And you just have to pay for it sometime
She said it before, she said it to me
I suppose she believed there was nothing to see
But the same old four imaginary walls
She built for living inside
I said oh, you just can't mean it
Well there was never a doubt that she had to get out
she was just looking around for a way
In the pit of the night there was nowhere to hide any more
She was out on a limb, she was reaching for things
That she wanted, but just couldn't say
And she had to be sure that she wouldn't get caught like before.
Well nothing that's forced can ever be right
If it doesn't come naturally, leave it
That's what she said as she turned out the light
And she may have been wrong, and she may have been right
But I woke with the frost, and noticed she'd lost
The veil that covered her eyes
I said oh, you can leave it.
06 Flying Sorcery (04:22)
With your photographs of Kitty Hawk
And the biplanes on your wall
You were always Amy Johnson
From the time that you were small.
No schoolroom kept you grounded
While your thoughts could get away
You were taking off in Tiger Moths
Your wings against the brush-strokes of the day
Are you there?
On the tarmac with the winter in your hair
By the empty hangar doors you stop and stare
Leave the oil-drums behind you, they won't care
Oh, are you there?
Oh, you wrapped me up in a leather coat
And you took me for a ride
We were drifting with the tail-wind
When the runway came in sight
The clouds came up to gather us
And the cockpit turned to white
When I looked the sky was empty
I suppose you never saw the landing-lights
Are you there?
In your jacket with the grease-stain and the tear
Caught up in the slipstream of the dare
The compass rose will guide you anywhere,
Oh, are you there?
The sun comes up on Icarus as the night-birds sail away
And lights the maps and diagrams
That Leonardo makes
You can see Faith, Hope and Charity
As they bank above the fields
You can join the flying circus
You can touch the morning air against your wheels
Are you there?
Do you have a thought for me that you can share?
Oh I never thought you'd take me unawares
Just call me if you ever need repairs
Oh, are you there?
07 Broadway Hotel (03:56)
You told the man in the Broadway Hotel
Nothing was stranger than being yourself
And he replied, with a tear in his eye
Love was a rollaway
Just a cajole away
Mist on a summer's day
Nothing was clear
Love was a smile away
Just a defile away
I sought it every way
No-one came near
You asked the man for a room with a view
Nothing was said as he stared at his shoe
Then he replied as he gave you the key
Love was a rollaway
Just an unfold away
That's all there is to say
No-one came near
Alone in your room you hide
As the night rolls by
In the street outside
And you feel over the words he said
Till they turn to rain all around your head
You're seeking a hideaway
Where the light of day
Doesn't touch your face
And a door-sign keeps the world away
Behind the shades
Of your silent day.
You made your home in the Broadway Hotel
Room service came at the push of a bell
And the man said as he put down the tray
Love was a stealaway
Just a reveal away
I tried to find a way
Nothing was clear
Then as he turned away
You asked the man to stay
He was there all the day
No-one came near
09 Year of the Cat (06:37)
On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolour in the rain
Don't bother asking for explanations
She'll just tell you that she came
In the year of the cat
She doesn't give you time for questions
As she locks up your arm in hers
And you follow 'till your sense of which direction
Completely disappears
By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls
There's a hidden door she leads you to
These days, she says, I feel my life
Just like a river running through
The year of the cat
Well, she looks at you so cooly
And her eyes shine like the moon in the sea
She comes in incense and patchouli
So you take her, to find what's waiting inside
The year of the cat
Well, morning comes and you're still with her
And the bus and the tourists are gone
And you've thrown away your choice and lost your ticket
So you have to stay on
But the drum-beat strains of the night remain
In the rhythm of the new-born day
You know sometimes you're bound to leave her
But for now you're going to stay
In the year of the cat
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By Danny The Kid
"Year Of The Cat is a perfect album, practically devoid of any formal defects; a refined, cultured, and captivating product."
"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."
