Customer Reviews

Classics, Volume 24: Cat Stevens

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great C.D. for any age.I am 36 years old and have sen the movie Harold and Maude several times.I have a son which listens to music with all bass,and at the age of 17 He also loves this C.D.This C.D. makes me want to VISIT a cemetary on a rainy day with My G.T.O.,its a real lift for anyone feeling a little down.If You have chidren,have them listen to it too,I think they will like it too!Ths music will stay with You,and You will find it timeless.

Listen to the lyrics and you will be completely uplifted. I have listened to Cat Stevens for the last 24 years, every album recorded and continue to listen to his music today as if it's my first time. I have introduced his music to my children at their earliest age, even sing to them at bedtime and they love it! I highly recommend "Teaser and the Firecat" and "Tea for the Tillerman" as your first albums.

It's all here (except for maybe "I wish, I wish") - every Cat Stevens song you wanted, all on the same cd. I bought it because it had the majority of the songs from the "Harold and Maude" soundtrack. When you're depressed, nothing beats his music.

This is a great overview of Stevens' work throughout the 1970's. A great collecters item that is out of print. If you can find it, buy it!

    This is the very first CD I bought, nearly 20 years ago now, before I even had a CD player. It was quite a while before I ever got to listen to it, but it was well worth the wait. This isn't just a collection of hits, it's an overview of what Cat's music is all about. There's stuff from a number of his albums, including those, like "Numbers: A Pythagorean Theory Tale", which didn't produce big hits. It's also got a booklet telling you quite a bit about Stevens and his musical career.

    If you want a good introduction to Cat Stevens, this is one of the best, because it shows you a bit of what all his music is like, not just what got played on the radio.

I wasn't sure what I was getting with this since it was so cheap but it turned out to be a real CD with really good music. A very nice surprise.

A pretty good collection, assume leaving out Wild World was some producer's or techie's mind fart.

The first time I heard Cat Stevens, I knew I had found music for me. I was listening to his early work - 1970 - 1972, the Harold and Maude years. Something about the way his voice melds with his guitar and the meditative qualities of the performances made me connect to my own spirit. It is much like the way I felt the first time I heard the music of Alexi Murdoch on his cd Four Songs and later when I first heard Alexi's song "Breathe" on Time Without Consequence. I still get a similar feeling listening to this Cat Stevens cd today.

I rate this cd 5 stars because it has my two favorite Cat Stevens tunes, "If you Want to Sing Out, Sing Out", and "Trouble". However, this cd also has some of his later loud songs that lack that rich meditative quality that first attracted me to his music.

After the long hiatus since his days performing as Cat Stevens, I am glad to see that Yusuf Islam has come back to his guitar. I heard a story that he realized that it was Muslims who introduced the West to Guitar and thus reembraced his instrument. For those of you who thought he was forever lost to us, check out his new cd as Yusuf Islam, "An Other Cup" and I think you will find yourself reconnected to where he left off.

One major reason to buy this album is that is is the closest you can come to owning a "Harold and Maude" soundtrack. But there is so much more of value here than those songs, though they are among the best on the album in my opinion. I feel that this is a worthy introduction to Stevens' music, despite the omission of a few key songs. Unfortunately it also chronicles a shift in Stevens' style from the more folksy, heartfelt tunes of his early years to the more slicky produced, synthsized sounds of his later career. Obviously I belong to the subgroup of Stevens fans who feel that his earlier work was far superior; I regard some of the later songs on this disc as curiosity pieces to show what '70s-style production could do to even the most capable of musicians.

There are many gems worth hearing here, though. The classic "Father and Son", still applicable today; "If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out", an embracing of a Zen-like philosophy too seldom seen today; "On the Road to Find Out", which somehow can make a spiritual seeker like me (or you) realize that being on the path is the best place to be and not to rush toward the end. Cat Stevens may not employ the haunting imagery of a Leonard Cohen or the pervasive atmospherics of a Tom Waits, but he can still write deeply affecting songs with the best of them. The simplicity of his tunes gives them the appeal of modern haikus, and his voice seems to say that he means every word. There are some who prefer to wallow in their miseries and misfortunes, surrounding themselves with dark influences at times when their lives are equally black. If you're one of those, don't purchase this CD. But if you prefer to look up at the stars when you're lying in a gutter, buy this CD (or any others Cat Stevens has made) the next time you're feeling down. Put it in your car and drive to the nearest empty field you know. Bring a bottle of wine or an ice-cream cone. Park in that field, sit on the ground, and let the music play from your open car doors. Loudly. And then you'll know what Cat knows. Everything is going to be all right.

I first started listening to Cat Stevens when it was my assignment to lead some discussions about life and all its challenges with a group of teenagers in the 70's. This artist has done more good for people with his music than he realizes. This cd contains some of his best.