Yusuf Islam
An Other Cup

Everyone was waiting for it, everyone was eager to hear the new work from the man who wrote the most beautiful pages of pop music with "Morning has broken, The First Cut Is The Deepest, Father And Son"; everyone turned up their noses and were disappointed when, after converting to Islam in 1977, he decided to abandon his work as a songwriter (the last album was Back to Earth from 1978). But what you are never leaves you, and when someone has music in their veins, they can't help but shout it out to the world.

So Yusuf Islam, known to everyone as Cat Stevens, returns to release an album, actually a CD; oh yes, now there are CDs, dear Cat, vinyl is no longer used for recording!

The album, titled "An Other Cup" opens with a gem: Midday (rated 8 on the first listen, 10 from the third listen on). When the brass starts, which seems to scream "CAT IS BACK!" one can't help but rejoice, because melody has found one of its fathers again, LISTEN TO BELIEVE. The second track is Heaven (Where True Love Goes) (rated 9) with a less pompous arrangement than the first track at the beginning, only to open into a magic of piano, strings, and choirs. The third track is Maybe There's a World (rated 9): melody is in Cat's veins, just listen to the chorus to realize it. It continues with One day at a time (rated 7), which has the only fault of being too flat in arrangement; When Butterflies Leave is the fifth track, a brief poem (41 seconds) set to music. After this intermezzo, it resumes with In The End, (rated 7.5) a delicate track that opens with a light piano, again the only flaw is the too repetitive arrangement, but the melody remains stunning (the passage of the bridge is very beautiful).

The seventh track is a reinterpretation, very particular and in harmony with the atmosphere created with the previous tracks (hence the choice of a simple arrangement with bass and strings) of a song by the Animals - Don't let me be misunderstood, which many of you will know from various TV spots (rated 7.5). Track eight with I Think I See The Light (rated 8), the longest of the album (5'34") which compared to the previous ones has a fuller and more rock arrangement, but it does not, in our opinion, reach the heights of the first three tracks. Number 9 is Whispers from a spiritual garden (rated 7) that opens with a wind instrument that almost seems like the call of the Muezzin, is another very brief poem (even though the piece lasts 2'34") accompanied by music. The penultimate track is The Beloved (rated 7.5) which starts with an Arabic-sounding accordion, with a beautiful text.

The worthy closure is track number 11 Greenfield, Golden Sands (rated 9) a beautiful melody that only Cat Stevens, pardon, Yusuf Islam could gift us. Let's hope we don't have to wait another 30 years to hear a new album from him!