Stevens, Cat

Personnel: Cat Stevens (vocals, electric guitar, guitar, Spanish guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, bass); The McCrarys, Luther Vandross (vocals); Alun Davies (spoken vocals, acoustic guitar); Eric Johnson (electric guitar); Brian Cole (steel guitar); John Marson (harp); Graham Smith (harmonica); Don Weller (saxophone); Jean Roussel (piano, Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards); Bruce Lynch, Will Lee (bass); Dave Mattacks, Steve Jordon (drums); Gerry Conway (drums, congas); Paul Samwell-Smith (background vocals). Producers: Paul Samwill-Smith, Cat Stevens. Reissue producer: Bill Levenson. Engineers include: Declan O'Doherty, Nick Blagona, Freddy Hansson. All tracks have been digitally remastered. Cat Stevens' final album as a pop performer (before his conversion to Islam and subsequent rejection of most of the wicked ways of the material world) is something of a return to his early '70s form. It reunites him with TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN producer Paul Samwell-Smith, and like that early classic it's gorgeously arranged, with discreet strings and a terrific command of dynamics (as in the whisper-to-a-scream "Randy"). Other highlights include the uncharacteristic "Bad Brakes," a blues-rocker that sounds like Phil Collins fronting Bad Company, the classically influenced instrumental "the Artist," and "Just Another Night," a folkie rejection song that most explicitly harkens back to Steven's classic period.

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