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Cat Stevens (Plain old pop II)

Reading Stuarts post I was kicked into revisiting my two Cat Stevens CDs. This phase of his life is overlooked and deserves a thread of its own. So I pulled out my CD's and gave them a spin.

The early two Cat Stephens LPs are unjustly panned by Cat Stevens fans for being too shallow (especially lyrically) too poppy and being totally over-produced with its orchestral accompaniments. However if you love 60s music, as most of us here do than it’s reversed in a way. Mike Hurst's orchestration and baroque production values – good. More Harpsichords and strings. Great. Playful lyrics - even better. Sounds "dated" - well that makes it essential.

Matthew and Son (the LP) has a huge variety of styles. I have the CD with the bonus tracks which increase the range even more. You have lots of orchestral pop from the romantic “lady” the dramatic “I love my dog” to the very tight and chirpy accompaniments as in “baby get your head screwed on” Acoustic “portabello Road” Latin “bring another bottle baby” vaudevillian "I See a Road" soul “baby lets dance” and ballads, stringed and unstringed. Most interesting is “bring another bottle baby” which has elements of a loungey type swing to it.

As a whole it is a bit uneven. The latter half of the album falls away after a pretty strong start. And I would almost agree with some of the album detractors inasmuch as some of the production is overkill – “Baby get your head screwed on” is a good tune and could have done with a rather more restraint. There is not much indication of the hipper influences around at the time on this album. I have heard “Matthew and Son called psychedelic, I can’t really agree, probably “when I speak to the flowers” would be the trippiest song here, more due to the lyrics rather than the song itself which is pretty standard.

But as a pop album there are fine moments. “Matthew and Son”, “I love my dog” (and by the way what’s wrong with lyrics about loving your pets- “my pets” would win over “my ex girlfriends” team every time) are really good pop tunes. I gonna get me a gun is pretty good too. And hidden in the album are some moderately good low key tunes that bounce between the styles of McCartney and Donovan, such as “the Tramp” and “hummingbird” and even “granny” Last and not least is “here comes my baby” in a less exuberant form than the version recorded by the Tremaloes. Some would even prefer it.

New Masters is the second LP. According to the literature things were starting to go wrong in Cats life. He had a poorly performing single, relatively speaking, (Bad Night/The Laughing apple –a foray into psych). He was taking up drinking and he was unhappy at the lavish production that his producer Mike Hurst was forcing on him (he actually wanted a more stripped folk rock sound) and this eventually led to him admitting that he purposefully sabotaged his own contract with Hurst by making “outlandishly expensive orchestral demands and threatening legal action” and to quote Andy Neill it was “truly a lawyers' record, in the sense that attorneys were all over the studio during the recording”
It is often grouped together with the first LP as being light and somewhat inferior to his best work. Ironically, in spite of the issues, I feel that it is a definite step forward in quality. In fact I believe the best songs here are as good as his best and way better than most of the stuff he was to do in the 70’s.

There is still a variety of styles, but overall there is no doubt the lyrics and tone of the LP was darker than his debut. The LP starts with his second failure on the singles chart, Kitty. Why? Goodness knows, to my ears the song contains all that is good in his trio of hit singles. It starts off with delicate organ but it explodes –it’s like “I’m gonna get me a gun” on steroids- both musically and lyrically. It is a dark song with Mike Hurst throwing all sorts of sounds into it. A classic Stevens song, yet a flop in the marketplace. Such is life.

After this the album takes a breather with the sleepy “I’m so sleepy” which blends into the start of the “Northern Wind” which builds and builds up from a wind to a storm. Than we get the very interesting “the Laughing apple” This begins like a pure toytown pop sike classic with its lonely vocal and a glockenspiel introduction, than it builds in tempo and with added orchestration to the point that swings much like his uptempo pop hits. Later we get his Soul tinged pop classic “the first cut is the deepest” , a song he had sold for something like 30 or 40 pounds. It is a classic, with a gentle guitar and vulnerable vocal than his characteristic build up starting with the drums than a huge wave of orchestration. A great song.

Than we get into a playground fantasy with I’m gonna be King” with its harpsichords and travels into a land where you marry a princess and than rule a land as king and queen. The album proper ends with a wistful song “I love them all” which is boosted by Hursts orchestration. But wait - theres more. Much much more with the bonus tracks of his overlooked singles -most in mono and stereo versions. Here we catch some of his dabbles into psychedelic soundscapes as well as more stripped down tunes pointing to the future. The psychedelic tunes are represented here by the joyful “it’s a super (dupa) life” and Bad Night with its backwards tapes and phasing. We have his overlooked “here comes my Wife” and best of all “Lovely City (When Do You Laugh)" which is described on Julain Copes Head Heritage site as “ a brilliant "Swinging London" style record that opens with some brightly played acoustic guitar the song then kicks in with a wonderful psychedelic beat group arrangement that includes tasteful horns and strings and even some stinging acid guitar lines.” Certainly one of my nominees for his best ever song.

Of course he was to do other things and write more great songs, but these two LPs really deserve some more credit.

Re: Cat Stevens (Plain old pop II)

Daniel,great post mate,i couldnt put it anywhere as close or as good as you have decsribed both albums,perfect summing up too,i have long been an admirer of both albums and as you so rightly state the extras on the bonus tracks are certainly worthwhile too.I think both albums perfectly catch that swinging london vibe with exhuberant production by Mike Hurst(whose own cd "Home"is well worth tracking down for its baroque like arrangements and released by Angel Air label)i actually enjoy what some would say are an over production of what would be slightly donovanesque folky songs if those things like orchestration were not added,just my thought on that really,imo sometimes an artiste can be wrong and i thought Cat was wrong in this instance....so there...lol!!Anyone into UK 60S pop should investigate both "Matthew and Son"and "Past masters" albums or cds.You will be pleasantly surprised.Both cds can be picked up for about a fiver on Amazon uk,money well spent as you also get informative liners with period photos etc!!

Re: Cat Stevens (Plain old pop II)

i am a big fan of mona bona jakon, teaser and the firecat and tea for the tillerman. i will have to investigate these first two albums.

Re: Cat Stevens (Plain old pop II)

True Stuart

I go along with Mike Hurst on that one. Sure this is Cats music but sometimes the producers know best. When groups started to overide the producer things do not improve. I include great groups like the Beatles in this comment. And once great ones like Wire.

Interested to hear about Mike Hursts CD. I will see if I can't try and track it down.

Re: Cat Stevens (Plain old pop II)

Well, that certainly inspired me to dig out both of these and give them a spin after many a year. And I have to say, I'm enjoying them both quite a bit.
Great writng Sir, thanks for that!

I've been thinking lately about the Pop Sike Life Cycle set you did a few years back, but I can't find the thread that started it off. Was it on the original RZ perhaps? You wouldn't happen to still have the write up you did, would you? I'd like to print it out as liner notes...

Re: Cat Stevens (Plain old pop II)

Daniel the Mike Hurst "Home" album is available on cd released by Angel Air doubled up with another album,its available now on Amazon UK sold by a seller for just over a fiver,i just spun "Home" the other day and it is indeed a nice album with strings and things giving some tracks a baroque pop sound!!Pretty neat album .IMO Well worth a fiver with postage just over 6 quid!!

Re: Cat Stevens (Plain old pop II)

yep im enjoying cats first album and bonus tracks great album

Re: Cat Stevens (Plain old pop II)

Hi Mark

Yes I managed to find this from the dark recesses of my back up drive.

1 Brothers caine Pupil Alexander
2 Chatanooga Cats Children Understand it
3 Neighbrhood Childrn Happy Child

3 The Sugar Shoppe The Candy Children Song
5 Masters Apprentices Living in a Childs Dream.
6 Blair Smith Echos
7 Nuevos Horizontes Mi Churumbel
8 I Nomadi Ed Altre Storie Il vecchio e il bambino

9Nancy priddy Christinas World
10 Kensington Market Looking Glass
11 HON Slightly Delic
12 EMS Sally
Helmeted guineafowl
14 49th Parallel Now that I’m a man
15 Illes amikor en meg kissrac voltam
16 Ars Nova Album in your mind
17 Steve and Stevie I can see it in the moon
18 Rokes Ricordo Quando Ero Bambino
19 Trolly Toyshop
20 Foxx The revolt of Emily Young
21 Chocolate Tunnel The Highly Successful Young Rupert White
22 Bentley Rd Kill the Cobra
23 Underground Sunshine 6 ‘o’ clock
25 le systeme crapoutchik quand je seraise grand

24 Lords Poor Chin Lee
26 swainsons francolin
27 Earth and Fire Song of the marching children
28 Autumn Puzzled



1 Brigade As a Boy
2 Jose y Manuel No podré vivir de recuerdos
3 Children Maypole
4 Lords When I was young
5 Avengers When I was 6 years old
6 Holy Mackerel Time to Remember
7 Tom Northcott Other Times
8 Steve & Stevie Remains to be seen
9 Vaclav Zahradnik / Josef Plíva Adults and children
10 Days in Between penetrating look
11Limeliters Only 18
12 Tommy Faia and the True Blue Facts The boy I left Behind

13 Whitefaced Duck
14 Kathy Gregory Prepared for Killing
15 Rainy Daze Blood of Oblivion
16 Kindred Spirits Peaceful Man
17 Incredible She Died
18 Rebels Definitivni Konec
19 Vaclav Zahradnik/ Josef Plíva The Final end
20 Polnariff que a tue grand maman
21 Tuesday Club A goddess in many ways
22 Les irrisisibles Baxters Last Step
23 Avengers Only last Year
24 Childe Harolde Brink of Death
25 Euphoria No Me Tomorrow
26 Crested Francolin
27 Third Rail No Return
28 Nash Chase

The life cycle of Pop sike starts with Childhood. Some of the best known and popular Sike songs are on this topic, and with good reason. Pop Sike is quintessentially about childhood and about the innocence of that time. When it comes to Lyrical Themes in the popsike world, this is undoubtedly the strongest of them all. There are many variations on that theme, and in this compilation I have stuck to the simplest part of it -the memories about and actions of being a child. (other elements of childhood can be dealt with in future volumes)

The second stage in the life cycle is of the loss of innocence. That time when that “bubble of innocence” is burst. It looks at the parts before during and after the transition where there are still parts of childhood, but it manifests in a different form. Suddenly the world is about more than playing games. The most obvious of these is noticing the other sex, but I won’t dwell on that part here. Its about the growing up. Inexplicably you find yourself in a new world. Sometimes you think “wow I am growing up” and sometimes you think “but I don’t understand” and things are more uncertain. Musically you are at the cusp where the pop sike tune matures and transforms into other forms of music.

Next stage in the life cycle, the most contentious stage, one disputed by many experts – the notorious third stage called the “not pop sike stage” which does not really concern us, but I guess we should be aware that it is there. It’s called “real life,” Bugger it, and it distracts us for far too long. But not here. We will rightfully forget about it. However there are a few songs that probably fit that stage here, and they have been discreetly placed in the surrounding stages.

The fourth stage in the cycle (through some would say third having disputed the previous stages existence) has already been explored by Paul Martin in his The candy shop has closed compilation he sent us a few years ago on the topic of “ looking back”. . I add another Dozen songs which are a necessary part of the cycle here - and it could also be looked on as a sort of post script to Pauls CD. Suddenly we are triumphantly transformed into Sike territory where these old memories become important again. You are doing or have done your stint in the real world and think back on those times. Normally ( but not always) with pleasant memories. It is more of a wistful time, and this is reflected in the nature of the songs. They are still pop sikish, but meander more.

The last part of the life cycle is as important and poignant as the first. It is death. There are many ways of looking at the end and we see a great variety of them here. You can look at it with unsettling glee; with mild humour or in many philosophical ways; in deep sadness or with angst and self pity. It seems odd that something like pop sike that concentrates on unimportant and trite subjects can have this side, but it does. It is a time where the strings come out and you contemplate life, death and the unknown.


I have track by track comments but I am not sure if I posted them out.

Re: Cat Stevens The first 2 albums,early singles,and that swinging sound production/Mike Hurst-Home

Been reading some old posts,and come across this excellent post concerning Cat Stevens 60s recordings,in particular the albums "Matthew and Son" and "Past Masters"plus the early singles and the production by producer Mike Hurst,which i think is tremendous,from the massive orchestration,to the period effects like phasing and backwards guitar etc,that can only date it to this period of UK pop from 67.....this period of Cat Stevens is so under rated,ignored by many in favour of his singer/songwriter albums from the early 70s.....which in truth i dont listen too much...his swinging 60s pop recordings always get spun....i find quite a bit of those early 70s albums in that more introspective,po faced,serious artiste recordings here,much less enjoyable!!

I must mention the 1970 solo album Mike Hurst released titled"Home",it's a cracking album with excellent arrangements,and a strong baroque vibe,it features the like of Rod Argent(The Zombies,Argent),Big Jim Sulivan,Herbie Flowers,Jon Lord(Deep Purple), John Paul Jones(Led Zeppelin)with beautiful string arrrangements by Phil Dennys.It's a topper in my opinion.......

Re: Cat Stevens The first 2 albums,early singles,and that swinging sound production/Mike Hurst-Home

I've always been keen on this period of Cat. "Here Comes My Wife" is a fascinating record. It has a couple of inspired key changes that surprise me every time I hear it. And the orchestrated backing is wonderfully grandiose. https://youtu.be/Nke4JKl8utI