Posted on 03/05/2020 8:25:58 AM PST by simpson96
(Stewart in 1976, and still performing in 2019...)
Year of the Cat is the seventh studio album by Al Stewart, released in 1976 and was produced and engineered by Alan Parsons; it is considered his masterpiece, its sales helped by the hit single "Year of the Cat", "one of those 'mysterious woman' songs," co-written by Peter Wood.
Stewart had all of the music and orchestration written and completely recorded before he even had a title of any of the songs. In a Canadian radio interview he stated that he has done this for 6 of his albums, and he often writes four different sets of lyrics for each song. The title track derives from a song Stewart wrote in 1966 called "Foot of the Stage" with prescient lyrics about Tony Hancock, one of Britain's favourite comedians who tragically committed suicide two years later. When Stewart discovered that Hancock was not well known in the United States, he went back to his original title "Year of the Cat".
Al Stewart - "Year Of The Cat" 1976
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
*music ping*
Laxative rock. I can dig it.
2020 is “Year of the Bat”.
My favorite high school record album.
The extended piano into (edited out of the radio airplay version) is tremendous.
Stewart is a big history buff. This album was an attempt at combining history lore with music.
The great Andrew Powell did the orchestration.
Any Alan Parsons fan would know of Powell’s greatness.
Thanks so much. One of my favorites...lyrics, instruments, arrangement, love song.
Play it again, Sam. WOW.
I like Time Passages.
Priorities.
I HAVE THAT ALBUM!.................
I love the lyrics in this song.
Peach
My favorites are "Lying Eyes" by the Eagles and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot.
Or Harry Chapin’s “Taxi”.
It seems to be a lost art these days.
An album I enjoyed in college. I also like “Past, Present and Future”.
Al Stewart looks good for his age (74), and more importantly, he looks happy. Al was brave enough to cut his formerly long curly hair. Not all musicians from that era can let go of their long hair, even when they probably should.
I’m thinking of Brian May, the lead guitarist for Queen.
Brian still has that exact same ‘Freedom Wig’ curly do that he sported in 1974. The difference now is his dark brown hair is now grey and white. It gives him the appearance of an
English Barrister with the requisite horse hair wig.
One of my favorite tunes!
Alan Parsons had his hands in a lot of projects, and always turned out well.
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