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You know, it’s really, really annoying that Cat Stevens is remembered by more
people these days for being of the Islamic faith than he is for his music. It
wasn’t always thus; in fact, for years, it wasn’t even that big a deal.
Stevens converted to Islam in 1978, changed his name to Yusuf Islam, and lived a
pretty quiet life of retirement from the music business. It wasn’t until a
decade later that people started to make a big deal out of it, and it all
started with the press misrepresenting a statement he made in regards to the
fatwah made by the Ayatollah Khomeini against author Salman Rushdie. They
implied that he supported it; he only stated the Islamic ruling on the matter,
later issuing a statement clarifying that, “if we can't get satisfaction within
the present limits of the law, this does not mean that we should step outside of
the law to find redress.” Facts be damned, 10,000 Maniacs – okay, probably just
Natalie Merchant – nonetheless demanded that their cover of Stevens’ “Peace
Train” be removed from all future pressings of their album, In My Tribe. Then,
in 2004, Stevens made headlines again when he was denied entry to the United
States because he somehow ended up on a terrorist watch list.
Well, look, just try to forget all that stuff. If you check out the 2-disc
collection of Stevens’ best work – part of A&M’s ongoing Gold series – you’ll
find 32 good reasons to focus on his music over his faith.
Disc 1 begins with two tracks from Matthew & Son: the title track and “Here
Comes My Baby,” the latter coming to prominence a few years ago courtesy of its
appearance on the “Rushmore” soundtrack. This pair of breezy, catchy pop songs
shows Stevens a fair distance from the folk stylings which would become the
hallmark of his career, but, dammit, they’re fun as hell and may well inspire
folks to investigate this oft-forgotten disc. From there, however, it’s on to
Stevens’ first major hit, “The First Cut Is the Deepest,” which used to be
remembered via Rod Stewart’s interpretation but will now probably always be
thought of as a Sheryl Crow track. (Ugh.) Some of the other highlights worth
particular note are “Where Do the Children Play?” (recently covered by Dolly
Parton, with guest guitar by Stevens), “Father and Son” (Johnny Cash and Fiona
Apple recorded a duet of the song during the sessions for Cash’s American IV),
“Wild World” (wherefore art thou, Maxi Priest?), “Moon Shadow” (done nicely on
Mandy Moore’s underrated Coverage), Stevens’ lovely cover of “Morning Has
Broken,” and, of course, the aforementioned “Peace Train.”
Disc 2 is a bit more sporadic when it comes to actual hits – “Oh Very Young” and
a cover of Sam Cooke’s “Another Saturday Night” are the only two top ten entries
to be found – but it provides a greater education of what Stevens was doing in
the later period of his recording career. The inclusions from 1977’s Izitso
sound a bit dated, particularly the keyboards on “(Remember the Days of the) Old
Schoolyard,” but the melodies hold up. Oddly missing from this disc, however,
are “Ready” and “Two Fine People,” which were both top 40 hits in 1975…but it
seems just a litttttttle suspicious that these tracks both appear on the
pre-existing single-disc best-of, thereby meaning that folks will need to buy
both to have all of his hit singles.
The big selling point of the set for his longtime fans, however, is the
inclusion of a new track. Entitled “Indian Ocean,” the song first emerged early
in 2005 as a digital download for charity, to bring money to Small Kindness,
which benefits children in the region of Aceh, in Sumatra, which was decimated
by the December 2004 tsunami. The track finds Islam sounding pretty much as he
has in the past, even briefly cranking up the guitar about 2/3 of the way
through the song.
Will Cat Stevens…sorry, I mean Yusuf Islam…ever record another full-length album
of proper pop songs? One certainly hopes so. After hearing “Indian Ocean,” it
really whets the appetite for more.
~Will Harris
wharris@bullz-eye.com
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