With the vastness of the Pierce Archives, it sometimes becomes
\ntough for me to decide just what to listen to on a particular day.
\nI change my mind more often than a politician changes their stand
\non issues just before an election; were it not for reader requests,
\nI think many albums would still be collecting dust, awaiting their
\nturn to be skewered on these pages.<\/p>\n
A few days ago, I happened to catch sight of Al Stewart’s 1976
\nbreakthrough release
\nYear Of The Cat<\/i>, but instead of slapping it on the
\nturntable, I just happened to spend some time looking at the cover
\nand reading the liner notes… then back it went to the shelves.
\nInto the picture enters reader Owen Cory, who no more than 72 hours
\nafterwards asked us to give it a spin on the turntable.<\/p>\n
More than 20 years after Stewart caught people’s attention with
\nthe title track, it sounds as fresh as it ever did. Stewart’s
\nunique vocal delivery style is what helps to seal this one, but the
\nmusical development of the track cannot be overlooked. Some of the
\ncredit has to be given to producer Alan Parsons, who might seem
\nlike the least likely person one would choose to produce a record
\nlike this. After all, the music is much more direct than the
\nlayered styles that the Alan Parsons Project would become known
\nfor.<\/p>\n
In fact, sometimes it doesn’t seem like Parsons is indeed
\nproducing this one, for the magic that one comes to expect from his
\nflawless production work isn’t always there.
\nYear Of The Cat<\/i> opens with a weak effort, “Lord Greenville,”
\nwhich fails to hook the listener in during the most crucial point
\nof the album. If you were expecting an album with songs that all
\nwere in the same vein as “Year Of The Cat,” then “Lord Greenville”
\nis a quick wake-up call to reality.<\/p>\n
While things turn towards the better with the next track “On The
\nBorder,” it isn’t until Stewart comes forth with “Midas Shadow”
\nthat things really seem to fall into place with
\nYear Of The Cat<\/i>. A more up-tempo number with a crisper
\nsound, this is the kind of tune that Stewart knows how to deliver
\nquite well. The remainder of the first half of the album continues
\nin a similar vein; “If It Doesn’t Come Naturally, Leave It” might
\nsound a little disrespectful, but is a hidden gem on this
\nalbum.<\/p>\n
The second half of
\nYear Of The Cat<\/i> is decent enough, but often sounds somewhat
\nuninspired — that is, until you get to the title track which
\ncloses the album. Why this song is stuck so far at the end, I will
\nnever understand. Of the four tracks here, “Broadway Hotel” stands
\nout as being the best of the hidden gems.<\/p>\n
So what caused
\nYear Of The Cat<\/i> to be the album that sent Stewart into his
\n15 minutes of fame? Some say his habit of historical name-dropping
\nwas the key; I wouldn’t have picked up on some of it had I not read
\nthe lyrics. (Then again, I’ve been listening to the song “Year Of
\nThe Cat” for over two decades now, and I just recognized the Peter
\nLorre reference when listening to the record for review.) While the
\nhistorical stories might have been a lark in 1976, the name
\ndropping is common-place these days, and there have been better
\nstory-telling songwriters. My thought is that Stewart was in the
\nright place at the right time, and he was able to capitalize on the
\nmoment. (I do think, however, that the song “Time Passages” is his
\nbest that I remember from my youth.)<\/p>\n
If you are just looking to add one song to your collection, then
\nyou may wish to pass on
\nYear Of The Cat<\/i> and go for a greatest-hits album. If,
\nhowever, you want to break through the surface past the hit song,
\nthen
\nYear Of The Cat<\/i> is a sometimes rewarding, sometimes
\ndifficult experience. Once I get to listening to
\nTime Passages<\/i>, I’ll tell you if the journey is worth
\nextending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5994],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-36025","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-al-stewart","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36025"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36025"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}