Monday 24 January 2022

"On Track...STATUS QUO: The Frantic Four Years" by RICHARD JAMES - 1968 to 1984 Studio Album and Single Reviews (December 2021 UK Sonicbond Publishing Paperback Book) - A Review by Mark Barry...



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"...Whatever You Want..."
 
The problem with fans is that they're fans. And if you're an old mucksavage like me (soon to be a pensioner with a hairstyle that should know better) - you look back on really great Seventies Rock Bands with such rose-tinted hues that it's hard to separate out the Weetabix from the Crapabites.
 
I've enjoyed the Led Zeppelin and Electric Light Orchestra books in this on-going "On Track..." series from Sonicbond Publishing of the UK precisely because they've been written by people who love and know their chosen poison and can relay that with good writing. These books also dig in where it matters – the actual songs, the albums, the music – even if that critique is not all milk and cookies.
 
Richard James is the same when it comes to the England's Mighty Status Quo. But James' problem is that he's honest about the song-quality of their output after the March 1977 "Live" Double (which defined them like Lizzy's stunning "Live And Dangerous" did in 1978) - it went downhill or even off a cliff edge. Truth is that most of us Punk/New Wave embracers had moved on and would never come back. Also, because this paperback series concentrates on 'studio' sets, the "Live" double of March 1977 that went to No. 3 in the UK LP charts is 'not' reviewed here. That alone kind of negates their impact in their natural arena - a place they were king. With Quo, it was always about how good they were on stage (saw them in Dublin - fabulous stuff) when all that riffage came to life. So the book loses out a little on that. Let's get to what is good...
 
I suspect like most Seventies Quo fans, I'm a "Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon" starter in 1970 with crackers like "Shy Fly", "Junior's Wailing" and the cool chugging boogie single "In My Chair" through to 1976's "Blue For You" with the full length album version of "Mystery Song". What a tune - a rocker that like the best of 1976 and 1977 Thin Lizzy - it could awaken a dead man and make a preacher lay his good book on the pew for a moment and get, well, "Down Down - Deeper And Down".
 
Across the 142 A5-pages of this 31 December 2021 paperback (published 25 February 2022 in the USA) - "On Track... STATUS QUO: The Frantic Four Years" by RICHARD JAMES also supplies 16-pages of colour photos. There are period live shots from each of their decades (including the reunion tour), Album Sleeves, the four principal culprits - Francis Rossi (Lead Guitar), Rick Parfitt (Lead Guitar), Alan Lancaster (Bass) and John Coghlan (Drums) with their two long-time song collaborators and part-time/full-time fifth and sixth band members - Bob Young (Harmonica) and Andy Bown (Keyboards).
 
I loved albums like 1971's "Dog of Two Head" on Pye Records with classics like "Gerdundula" and "Railroad" through to 1972's Vertigo Records debut LP "Piledriver" with that great attacking stance cover and tunes like "Don't Waste My Time", their blistering cover version of The Doors "Roadhouse Blues" and sleepers like "O Baby" and the slow blues of "Unspoken Words". Worst sleeve design in the world didn't stop 1973's "Hello" going to No. 1 - something that 1975's "On The Level" did followed by 1976's Levi-Jeans covered "Blue For You" (were you a Wranglers kid or a Levis one?). In fact if you look in the Guinness Book of Chart Hits - the three-chord wonder boys have clocked up a huge page and half of entries from 1968 to the present day - over 50 years of defying their detractors.
 
James is aware that Status Quo and their same-song rawk elicits ridicule in some circles, but is smart enough to dismiss that as unwarranted snobbery and instead concentrates on the tunes within those confines. He will rightly highlight for instance "Lonely Man" on 1974's "Quo", "Long Legged Linda" on 1978's "If You Can't Stand The Heat" and even find something in "Ol' Rag Blues" on the piddle poor "Back To Back" album of 1983.
 
Changes in musical direction, the relentless grind of touring demands and a copious amount of chemical intake eventually took its toll and they imploded after poor albums like "Never Too Late" and "1.9.8.2." - a record with even worse artwork than "Hello". His track-analysis ends at their workmanlike cover version of that Dion & The Belmonts classic "The Wanderer" in 1984. Quo reformed in 1986 and a variant of that old school sound/band existed until 'The Frantic Four's Final Fling Tour' in 2014. Frontman and all-round handsome guy Richard Parfitt sadly left us Christmas 2016 and Bassist Lancaster passed in 2021 (then living in Australia).
 
Status Quo have sold over 110-million records (probably three times that if truth be told when it comes to used vinyl), been inducted into all manner of Halls of Fame – Rossi and Parfitt were given the Royal OBE nod for Contributions to Music and Charitable Work and the band was the perfect raucous act to open the monumental 'Live Aid' Concert in July 1985 with John Fogerty's "Rockin' All Over The World". That show reminded everybody of what they had missed and gave the group a whole new lease of life.
 
Status Quo are held in affection for a reason and it's nice for old codgers like me to read track-by-track reminiscences of those songs we tapped feet to - those gorgeous Vertigo Records gatefold sleeves we held under our arms with pride. It isn't perfect, but then neither were they!
 
Time for me to get my head down, push aside the Zimmer Frame and give it some boogie with a tennis-racket. God bless ye boys and Rock In Peace...

Friday 21 January 2022

"Blessed Are..." by JOAN BAEZ – August 1971 US and UK 2LP Studio Set on Vanguard Records with a Bonus 45-Single (US Copies Only) – band featuring Norman Blake and Pete Wade on Guitars, Charlie McCoy on Harmonica, Norbert Putnam on Bass and Production, Kenneth Buttrey on Drums with Back Up from The Memphis Horns, The Holladay Singers and The Town And Country Singers (September 2005 UK Ace/Vanguard Masters 2CD Expanded Edition Reissue in the Original Masters Series – Jeff Zaraya Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 



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"...Salt Of The Earth..."
 
Joan Baez needed (in some respects) to re-establish herself with the buying public as not just that 60ts protest singer of old, but a contemporary artist in the emerging singer-songwriter scenery of 1971.
 
And for platter number fourteen on Vanguard Records – her studio double album "Blessed Are..." released in August of that huge year for Rock Music and its adjoining genres, did just that - it went to No. 11 in the US Billboard Rock LP charts- something many Folkies hadn’t been able to do. Amongst the ten cover versions of contemporary Country-Rock and Folk-Rock hipsters like Mickey Newbury, The Band, Kris Kristofferson and Jesse Winchester – were ten new originals and even a free 2-Track 45-single for first callers.
 
This sweet-sounding 2CD Remaster has done that urge-to-splurge proud – even including both sides of that 45-single on a separate CD and throwing in a previously unreleased throwback to 1969 as a Bonus. To the hungry and the broken...
 
UK released September 2005 - "Blessed Are..." by JOAN BAEZ is on Ace/Vanguard Masters VMD2 79760 (Barcode 029667016728). This 'Original Master Series' 2CD Reissue offers the full August 1971 US double-album Remastered onto CD1 with its accompanying 2-Track 7" bonus single remastered onto CD2 as Plus One More, a Previously Unreleased Performance from the 1969 Woodstock Festival as Track 3. It plays out as follows:
 
CD1 "Blessed Are..." (78:06 minutes):
Side 1
1. Blessed Are...
2. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [Band cover]
3. The Salt Of The Earth [Rolling Stones cover]
4. Three Horses
5. The Brand New Tennessee Waltz [Jesse Winchester cover]
Side 2
6. Last, Lonely And Wretched
7. Lincoln Freed Me Today [David Patton cover]
8. Outside The Nashville City Limits
9. San Francisco Mabel Joy [Mickey Newbury cover]
10. When Time Is Stolen
Side 3
11. Heaven Help Us All [Ron Miller cover]
12. Angeline [Mickey Newbury cover]
13. Help Me Make It Through The Night [Kris Kristofferson cover]
14. Let It Be [Beatles cover]
15. Put Your Hand In The Hand [Gene MacLellan cover]
Side 4
16. Gabriel And Me
17. Milanese Waltz/Marie Flore
18. The Hitchhiker's Song
19. The 33rd Of August [Mickey Newbury cover]
20. Fifteen Months
Tracks 1 to 20 are her fourteenth album "Blessed Are..." - released August 1971 in the USA on Vanguard VSD-6570-1 - same catalogue number in the UK but minus the bonus 2-track 7" single that came with original US copies (see CD2). Produced by NORBERT PUTNAM and JACK LOTHROP - all songs written by Joan Baez (except the cover versions noted above). It peaked at No. 11 on the US Billboard Rock Charts (didn't chart UK).
 
CD2 "Blessed Are..." Bonus Tracks (12:56 minutes):
1. Maria Dolores
2. Plane Wreck At Los Gatos (Deportee)
Tracks 1 and 2 were issued as 'Bonus Disc' 7" single with original copies of the US double album
3. Warm And Tender Love (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED performance from the 1969 Woodstock Festival)
 
The 12-page booklet has dense new liner notes (done in 2004) by Grammy-nominated music historian ARTHUR LEVY. Levy explains that a suggestion to relocate sessions to the newly kitted out Quadrafonic Studios in Nashville by Maynard Soloman (a Producer at Vanguard) opened up a whole new level of creativity for her. Perhaps more importantly, it sided Baez's beautiful voice and poise with top session-players like Norman Blake and Pete Wade on Guitars, Charlie McCoy on Harmonica, Norbert Putnam on Bass and Production, Kenneth Buttrey on Drums with Back Up from The Memphis Horns, The Holladay Singers and The Town And Country Singers. Blake had played for Johnny Cash for years while Norbert Putnam and Kenneth Buttrey were in Area Code 615.
 
The Remaster is by JEFF ZARAYA using original analogue tapes and is gorgeous - clean and full - and with much of the music acoustic-based - has a sweet clarity to it.
 
She smartly chooses three Mickey Newbury tunes all from his "Looks Like Rain" album issued in the USA on Mercury Records SR 61236 in September 1969. She taps 1968's "Beggars Banquet" for a cover of The Stones "Salt Of The Earth" and you can so see why her heart would be with the lyrical and musical sophistication of The Beatles' beautiful "Let It Be". Matthews Southern Comfort also saw the beauty in the Country sway of "The Brand New Tennessee Waltz" - probably Jesse Winchester's most popular tune.
 
While I kinda cringe at the overwhelming earnest in the title track "Be Blessed..." and stuff like "Last, Lonely And Wretched", Baez was no slouch on quality with songs of her own like the seven-minutes of "Three Horses" (a stallion on the hill tale), the horse-trot acoustic jaunt in "Outside The Nashville City Limits" (a local with a slow drawl shows her the most beautiful place in Tennessee), the sad and plaintive "When Time Is Stolen" (laughter riddled with tears) and the grey quiet horse that nobody sees except "Gabriel And Me".
 
The Spanish Language "Maria Dolores" 7"-single track over on the short CD2 comes complete with hacienda swaying strings and ladies – while lettuce is rotting in the five-minute Mexican Border deportation tale of woe - "Plane Wreck At Los Gatos" – a Woody Guthrie lyrical gem. But best surprise of all is the pretty love-in vibe of Bobby Robinson's "Warm And Tender" (a song he gave to Percy Sledge on Atlantic Records). Recorded live at Woodstock in August 1969, it's actually a gorgeous Baez and Harmony Vocalist rendition – a slow and heartfelt melody ballad and a clever way of tying-up this themed double.
 
I would be the first to admit that this kind of Folk/Folk-Rock is very much of its time – but the quality of the songs, playing and the CD transfers makes "Blessed Are..." a must-buy for fans...

"The Real Thing" by TAJ MAHAL – June 1971 US 2LP Live Set on Columbia Records (CBS Records in the UK) – band featuring Howard Johnson, Bob Stewart, Joseph Daly, Earle McIntyre, Bill Rich, John Simon, John Hall, Greg Thomas and Kwasi DziDzournu (September 2000 UK Columbia/Legacy Expanded Edition CD Reissue – Vic Anesini Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...



This Review Along With 352 Others Is Available In My
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GET IT ON - 1971
 
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"...Fishin' Blues..."
 
Apart from the largely laid-back Brass 'n' Blues band nature of this live double-album (recorded February 1971 at the famous Fillmore East venue in New York with a backing band that included four Tuba players) - what blows you away here is the gorgeous in-yer-face CD Remaster done in 2000 by Sony/Columbia Tape Engineer Supremo VIC ANESINI.
 
The Vicster has done huge names in the Sony/BMG cannon - Bruce Springsteen, Simon & Garfunkel, Santana, Elvis Presley, Billy Joel, Mott The Hoople, The Jayhawks, Jeff Beck, AerNilsson, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Mountain and so many more. I seek his work out. Well add Taj Mahal to that list because the "Taj Mahal" self-titled Blues Rock debut and this Americana live double are barnstormer transfers - exemplary. To the big kneed tubby tuba details...
 
UK released September 2000 - "The Real Thing" by TAJ MAHAL on Columbia/Legacy 498174 2 (Barcode 5099749817425) offers a 1971 Double-Album Plus One Bonus Track Remastered onto 1CD and plays out as follows (66:56 minutes):
 
1. Fishin' Blues (2:58) [Side 1]
2. Ain't Gwine To Whistle Dixie (Any Mo') (9:11)
3. Sweet Mama Janisse (3:33)
4. Going Up To The Country And Paint My Mailbox Blue (3:24) [Side 2]
5. Big Kneed Gal (5:34)
6. You're Going To Need Somebody On Your Bond (6:14)
7. Tom And Sally Drake (3:39) [Side 3]
8. Diving Duck Blues (3:46)
9. John, Ain't It Hard (5:30)
10. She Caught The Katy And Left Me A Mule To Ride (4:08, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
11. You Ain't No Sweet Walker Mama, Honey But I Do Love The Way You Strut Your Stuff (18:56)
Tracks 1 to 9 and Track 11 are the double-album "The Real Thing" – released June 1971 in the USA on Columbia G 30619 and in the UK on CBS Records S 64385. Produced by DAVID RUBINSON – it peaked at No. 84 in the US Billboard Rock LP charts (didn't chart UK).
 
Part of their 'Columbia High Fidelity "360 Sound" Series' (mimics the '360 Sound' logo that came with all American Columbia records originals) - the 12-page booklet is a tasty affair with period photos of the huge band and new liner notes from STANLEY CROUCH quite rightly praising the 'chances' Taj took with the Blues medium. This was a different sound with Tubas and Brass thrown into the audio mix. Most tracks still had that same Blues and R&B backbeat - but of course not all purists and their one-way-only-taste-buds would have been impressed. But anyone hearing the juxtaposition of the guitar-only opener "Fishin' Blues" and the Canned Heat meets Taj Mahal 19-minute finisher could only be impressed. And that Remaster is fantastic.  
 
I've typed in the playing times for the tracks above because I'd swear that two are considerably extended cuts without saying so - "Ain't Gwine..." up from 8:17 to 9:11 minutes and "Big Kneed Gal" up from 4:45 to 5:34 minutes (some of the others have maybe 10 or 12 more seconds, but not as noticeable as those two).
 
When the four horns come crashing in during "You're Going To Need Somebody On Your Bond" - it has a huge power and that cool mention of Mavis Staples in the lyrics. Taj Mahal on Banjo with Bob Stewart on Tuba for the Side 3 instrumental "Tom And Sally Drake" comes out beautifully - virtually no hiss - but full of that 'live warmth' the recording is famous for. Their cover of the Sleepy John Estes classic "Diving Duck Blues" is turned into a rollicking R&B meets Rock driver.
 
There is almost total audience silence preceding "John, Ain't It Hard" – a stunning National Steel Blues lurch – his lady all dressed up in red and talking trashy. You can feel the crowd loving the vibe and their hollers increase as the Tubas come sailing in – gorgeous audio. And that Previously Unreleased track "She Caught The Katy..." slots in before the near 19-minute Side 4 finisher "You Ain't No Sweet Walker Mama..." like it was always meant to be there - impressive.
 
"The Real Thing" by Taj Mahal is a fab little CD Reissue and one that in January 2022 is increasingly hard to find. Seek it out and enjoy a clap-along yourself...

Thursday 20 January 2022

"Tea For The Tillerman: 2CD Deluxe Edition" by CAT STEVENS – November 1970 UK Fourth Studio Album (And Second) on Island Records (January 1971 USA on A&M Records) – Featuring Alun Davies on Guitar, John Ryan on Double Bass, Harvey Burns on Drums, Jack Rostein on Violin, Paul Samwell-Smith on Backing Vocals and Production with Del Newman String Arrangements (4 December 2020 UK Universal UMC/Cat-O-Log/Island Records 50th Anniversary Reissue 2CD Deluxe Edition with 14 Bonus Tracks – Geoff Pesche Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...






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ALL THINGS MUST PASS
1970

Your All-Genres Guide To
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"...Coming To Win Us..."
 
To date I've purchased two of these 50th Anniversary Reissues - "Mona Bone Jakon" and "Tea For The Tillerman" - both albums originally issued in 1970. 
 
They are part of an ongoing series of reissues entitled The Yusuf / Cat Stevens Cat-O-Log Collection. But in order to get a lay of the land on this new version of "Tea For The Tillerman", we need to backtrack a little. 
 
Not surprisingly and following on from the bare-bones single CD remaster of 2000, Universal subjected both November 1970's "Tea For The Tillerman" and its popular September 1971 follow-up album "Teaser And The Firecat" (UK release dates) to their chunky 2CD DELUXE EDITION Series in November 2008 – another Ted Jensen Remaster with eleven new Previously Unreleased bonus tracks on CD2 of "Tillerman".
 
You would therefore think that they would all turn here in December 2020 on this New 2CD Deluxe Edition Remaster along with more for our audio delectation – but actually – no. Six have survived the transfer - Wild World (Demo Version, Recorded 1969), Miles From Nowhere (Demo Version, Recorded 1969), Longer Boats (Live At The Troubadour, Recorded 1970), Into White (Live At The Troubadour, Recorded 1970), On The Road To Find Out (Live at KCET-TV, Recorded in Los Angeles, 1971) and Tea For The Tillerman (Live At The BBC, Recorded 1970 for BBC Radio 1's "Sounds Of The Seventies" at the Playhouse Theatre). Not even the Super Deluxe Edition 5CD Box Set has the remaining five – one live track recorded in Japan in 1976, two from the Majikat Earth Tour of 1976 and two more recorded 2006 at Yusuf's Café. 
 
So any fan wanting the lot will need to keep that 2008 2CD Deluxe Edition – which frankly seems a bit lax. But given the gorgeous new Audio on this 2020 version, new Unreleased actually worth owning and its rather spiffing presentation, there is still oodles to be gleeful about. Let's deal with what we have...
 
UK released 4 December 2020 - "Tea For The Tillerman: 2CD Deluxe Edition" by CAT STEVENS on Universal UMC/Cat-O-Log/Island Records 0602508395253 (Barcode 602508395253) is a 2CD Reissue and Remaster with 14 Bonus Tracks (on CD2) that plays out as follows: 
 
CD1 "Tea For The Tillerman, 2020 Remaster" (36:51 minutes):
1. Where Do The Children Play? [Side 1]
2. Hard Headed Woman
3. Wild World
4. Sad Lisa
5. Miles From Nowhere
6. But I Might Die Tonight [Side 2]
7. Longer Boats
8. Into White
9. On The Road To Find Out
10. Father And Son
11. Tea For The Tillerman
Tracks 1 to 11 are his fourth studio album "Tea For The Tillerman" - released November 1970 in the UK on Island Records ILPS 9135 and January 1971 in the USA on A&M Records SP-4280. Produced by PAUL SAMWELL-SMITH - it peaked at No. 20 in the UK and No. 8 in the USA.
 
 
CD2 "Tea For The Tillerman, Demos, Alternate Versions, Bonus Tracks, Live Recordings" (45:21 minutes):
1. Wild World (Demo)
2. Miles From Nowhere (Studio Demo)
3. But I Might Die Tonight (Deep End Movie Version)
4. Can This Be Love? (Album Out-Take)
5. Honey Man (Duet with Elton John recorded October 1967, first issued October 2001 on the "On The Road To Find Out" 4CD Long Box Set, Reissued June 2008 in a smaller Digibook Format as "Cat Stevens")
6. If You Want To Sing Out Sing out (Demo)
7. Don’t Be Shy (Demo)
8. Wild World (Live At The Troubadour, December 1970)
9. Longer Boats (Live At The Troubadour, December 1970)
10. Into White (Live At The Troubadour, December 1970)
11. On The Road To Find Out (Live at KCET-TV Studios, Los Angeles USA, 8 June 1971)
12. Where Do The Children Play? (Live at KCET-TV Studios, Los Angeles USA, 8 June 1971)
13. Father And Son (Cat Stevens In Concert, 27 November 1971)
14. Tea For The Tillerman (BBC Live Recording, 16 June 1970)
 
The hardback book with embossed front-cover artwork that precisely mimics the original British LPs that comes with these 2CD Deluxe Editions is gorgeous and of course the same generic artwork will make a row of titled spines stretching right up his last album on Island Records "Back To Earth" in December 1978. To date (January 2022), there have been three (see list below). Unfortunately once the shrink-wrap is torn open, the titled sticker has nowhere to go and worse, the credits page on the rear simply falls off (don't know why they can't simply paste these bloody things on).
 
But once inside, those minor niggles fade. There is a newly laid out 28-page booklet with notes from Yusuf, guitarist Alun Davies and Producer Paul Samwell-Smith that replaces the 12-page inlay of the old 2000 CD version. Anyone who had the original UK and US LPs on Island and A&M Records will remember fondly the Gatefold Sleeve with that cauldron photo on the inside and the lyrics in tiny print on the rear. The looking down photo is now on the inside flaps and the lyrics smartly abutting text that deals with every song.
 
There are some tasty touches – the titled US 45-single sleeve for Where Do The Children Play? On A&M Records AM 1291 siding the text for that Side 1 song opener – a French face-profile picture sleeve for Sad Lisa that was backed with Wild World on Island 6014 042 – a rare Dutch picture sleeve for Father And Son with Moonshadow on the flipside on Island 10 485 AT. There are publicity photos, live shots of Cat with his right-hand man Alun Davies on acoustic guitars, two of the British Mastertape Boxes, the album artwork, sheet music and even a rare Dutch split photo issue 45 for Wild World that shows and tells us Jimmy Cliff sings it, while Cat Stevens wrote it (Island 6014 024). It’s very pretty (see photos provided) and well thought out. Let downs (as it is with all these 2CD sets) – those missing tracks - CD2 merely listing its bonuses in the booklet but with no discussion at all – a lazy approach. Also be careful removing the actual CDs (both entirely Pink in colour to reflect the original famous British label on Island Records) – they are tucked in tight into pouches built into the walls of the hardback sleeves so are too damn easy to rip.
 
Ted Jensen - a long-standing Audio Engineer of WEA catalogue renown – mastered both the 2000 single CD reissue series and the 2CD Deluxe Edition in 2008 – and lovely they were too. Here we get technology advanced by 20 years and GEOFF PESCHE at Abbey Road having another go round in 2020. These '50th Anniversary' Reissues are gorgeous – the liquid watery sound of the piano on "Sad Lisa" (recorded through a Lesley) comes pounding out of your speakers like never before, the acoustic clarity on the opening to "Father And Son" feeling bigger and more spacious. John Ryan and his Double Bass on the flying saucers song "Longer Boats" thumping away like a goodun. All the instruments are in your face and in a clarity-way you would actually want. Impressive...
 
Not surprising that CD2 opens with the Demo of "Wild World" that first appeared in 2008 – it has huge audio presence and even in its purely acoustic state – packs a serious punch. From there we go to piano for "Miles To Nowhere" – his playing just fantastic and featuring different fills to that of the recording version (it also has Acoustic doubled onto it – great). Things dip dramatically with a seriously overwrought "But I Might Die Tonight" done for the "Deep End" movie – a far heavier and uglier version that you can’t help feel has been dubbed from something other than a mastertape.
 
But things kick into the stratosphere with a gorgeous unreleased outtake called "Can This Be Love?" – what a discovery – acoustic, piano and double bass, drums – its fully formed and would have been a stunning B-side to say "Father And Son" in both tone and theme. The duet with Elton John "Honey Man" first showed on the 2001 4CD Box Set "On The Road To Find Out" and is probably best forgotten by both great men. Far better is a 2:59 minute Demo Version of "If You Want To Sing Out Sing Out" – a finished version of which recorded in February 1971 made its way onto the "Harold And Maude" film. Another winner from that film is "Don’t Be Shy" (also recorded proper in February 1971) which again turns up here in crystal clear 2:41 minute Demo form – a beautiful little melody fans will thrill too.
 
Smartly that’s followed by "Wild World" played live at the Troubadour in LA in December 1970 – a month after the album came out in the UK – its audio almost mimicking that of the "Don’t Be Shy" demo. Very well recorded, "Longer Boats" follows which he announces is about spaceships. He carries on with a thing called "Into White" – as pretty and as delicate as the LP version – and again – well recorded for the day. And on it goes...
 
His first album for Island Records "Mona Bone Jakon" issued in April 1970 was a good start - a three-star effort 'getting' to the genuine five-star greatness of "Tea For The Tillerman". In September 1971 when he issued "Teaser And The Firecat" – there would be no doubt – Cat Stevens became a household name and one of the artists carrying the burgeoning singer-songwriter flag of excellence.
 
So, despite a few minor whinges, anywhere beneath or around a British ten-spot for this new 2020 "Tea For The Tillerman" 2CD Deluxe Edition and it quickly becomes an absolute must buy for fans and unconverted alike.
 
Now, if I could only afford that Super Deluxe Box Set, I’d put the kettle on...again...
 
Titles in The Yusuf/Cat Stevens/Cat-O-Log Collection Series
50th Anniversary Reissues - Geoff Pesche Remasters at Abbey Road
 
1. Mona Bone Jakon (April 1970 UK Original LP)
All 50th Anniversary Formats UK/EU released 4 December 2020
On Universal UMC/Cat-O-Log Records/Island Records
Single CD Version is 0602508820298
2CD Deluxe Edition Version is 0602508395260
4CD/LP/12”/BLU RAY Super Deluxe Box Set Version is 0602508395178
VINYL LP Version is 0602508820304
 
2. Tea For The Tillerman (November 1970 UK Original LP)
All 50th Anniversary Formats UK/EU released 4 December 2020
On Universal UMC/Cat-O-Log Records/Island Records
Single CD Version is 06025088203598
2CD Deluxe Edition Version is 0602508395253
5CD/LP/12”/BLU RAY Super Deluxe Box Set Version is 0602508395086
VINYL LP Version is 0602508820311
 
3. Teaser And The Firecat (September 1971 UK Original LP)
All 50th Anniversary Formats UK/EU released 19 November 2021
On Universal UMC/Cat-O-Log Records/Island Records
Single CD Version is 0602435513188
2CD Deluxe Edition Version is 0602435513126
4CD/BLU RAY Super Deluxe Box Set Version is 00602435949628
VINYL LP Version is 0602435513218