His albums “Mona Bone Jakon”, “Tea For The Tillerman” and “Teaser And The Fire Cat” resounded through the youth rooms of millions of dreamy and shy young people in the early seventies. However, Cat Stevens made his best albums before he mutated into a soft troubadour.
His debut, “Matthew & Son”, is still somewhat well-known for the title track and the hit “Here Comes My Baby”, but the successor was unfortunately completely lost in legal disputes with producer Mike Hurst.
“New Masters” is wonderfully quirky baroque pop with violins, flutes, harmonicas and megalomania. On “Northern Wind” Stevens sounds like a close British relative of Jacques Brel, on “The Laughing Apple” like Syd Barrett’s little brother who is full of life.
The pretty “Blackness Of The Night” and the heartbreaking “The First Cut Is The Deepest”, with which PPArnold had landed a hit a few months earlier, already indicated in which direction Stevens’ song art would develop.