Majikat: Earth Tour 1976

Performer: Cat Stevens
Distributor: Select-O-Hits

Notes: This 1976 concert recording works as both a portrait of Cat Stevens onstage and a live best-of, as it contains versions of many of his biggest hits, such as "Moonshadow," "Wild World," and "Peace Train." While the arrangements of these folk-pop classics are pretty similar here to those of the studio versions, both Stevens and his band lean into the tunes with twice as much intensity. The electricity is palpable as Stevens--a full-on pop idol at the time--feeds off the enthusiastic audience's energy and sends it back out to them with even more emotional firepower. During his popular heyday in the 1970s, Cat Stevens did not release a live album, so it was some surprise that, nearly 30 years later, a live recording turned up on both DVD and CD. The performance captures Stevens on his 1976 American tour, just past his commercial peak. (Numbers, the album he was promoting, broke a string of six consecutive Top Ten albums in the U.S. by peaking at number 13 in Billboard.) Supported by the same musicians who had played on his records, including guitarist Alun Davies and keyboard player Jean Roussel, he had a repertoire of hits and other favorites, and the audience can be heard cheering enthusiastically, not only for the chart singles, but also for tracks from albums like Mona Bone Jakon, Tea for the Tillerman, and Teaser and the Firecat. Stevens performs faithful versions of eight of the 11 hit singles he had scored in the U.S. up to this point (omitting "Morning Has Broken," "Sitting," and "Ready"), interspersing them with equally familiar songs such as "Where Do the Children Play," "Tuesday's Dead," and "Father & Son." ("How Can I Tell You," another audience favorite, is missing from the DVD version of this concert, while the DVD boasts performances of "Miles from Nowhere" and "Ruins" not found on the CD.) For most of the show, Stevens says practically nothing, but toward the end he becomes much more talkative, saying of "Sad Lisa" that he may have been writing about himself rather than the woman of the title; admitting that his recent single "Two Fine People" is musically a rewrite of his earlier hit "Wild World"; and revealing that he actually wrote "Peace Train" on a train, although he was thinking of Alfred Hitchcock (and presumably, of the film Strangers on a Train) at the time. More such revelations would have been welcome, but as it is the album constitutes an excellent Stevens best-of. ~ William Ruhlmann

Cat Stevens's debut single found its way to the U.K. charts while he was still in his teens. He became an international star with 1970's TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN, which showed an evolution in his style. With his distinctive voice, memorable melodies, and sensitive, socially conscious lyrics, Stevens typified the singer-songwriter aesthetic of the early '70s. His records from that period were incredibly successful, familiar to anyone growing up at the time. Over the years, his music grew a little less accessible, and by the end of the '70s he had converted to Islam, changed his name to Yusuf Islam, and retired from pop music. A 2006 comeback album, recorded under his new name, was a lovely return to form.

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