Artiste: Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam
Album:Saturnight
Rating: *****
His music is wildly peaceful. Yusuf, the former Cat Stevens, born Steven Demetre Georgiou, has an introspective voice, which is captured in all its flow in an album released more than 50 years after it was originally showcased only in Japan, due to contractual restrictions.
Recorded at Tokyo’s Sun Plaza Hall on June 22, 1974, during his Bamboozle World Tour, Saturnight is Stevens at his creative and commercial peak. This is when he was trying to navigate through belief systems like Zen Buddhism and numerology, a couple of years before he nearly drowned off the coast of Malibu. The recording took place at a critical juncture. After being a pop star, he developed tuberculosis. When he returned to songwriting, he was thoughtful and spiritually curious.
The setlist on the album is brilliant. On the one hand, there is Oh Very Young and A Bad Penny, on the other are hits like Wild World, Lady D’Arbanville, Father & Son and Peace Train. A high point of the album is his rendition of Sam Cooke’s Another Saturday Night, recorded at a Tokyo studio session featuring a local brass section.
During the Tokyo gig, he sounded great, his voice craved transcendence. You can fill the energy in Lady D’Arbanville and Bitterblue.
Saturnight also mirrors the musician’s growing humanitarian efforts. All proceeds from the original Japanese release were donated to UNICEF, following his appointment as a Goodwill Ambassador. That year, he also visited Ethiopia and Kenya, witnessing the effects of famine.
The recording is so good that you can close your eyes and get lost for 40 minutes. It’s a must-have for any fan of Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam.
SiriusXM Presents Counting Crows Live From The Troubadour In Los Angeles
Group: Counting Crows
Album:Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets!
Rating: ***
The bunch of storytellers, who were initially made to feel a part of the grunge scene, have been delivering excellent alternative rock for decades. When Counting Crows are in the studio, you expect excellent instrumentation. There is also vocal depth. But somehow the new record feels incomplete. The storytelling aspect takes a backseat while the music hardly has variations.
There are some great moments, like the uplifting Boxcars and Under The Aurora. The opening number, With Love From A-Z, is promising with its bluesy guitar licks and beautiful piano: I see mountains that stretch from Manhattan to Mars/ And I followed my comet down out of these stars. Frontman Adam Duritz offers some warmth in Spaceman in Tulsa, reminding one of David Bowie. But Virginia Through the Rain is more weary than haunting.
Angel of 14th Street, even with its gospel-tinged backing vocals, doesn’t create magic, but there is redemption via Bobby and the Rat-Kings, the rousing finale. The listener is reminded of Bruce Springsteen: We just buy what the TV sells/ And almost never stop wishing we were somebody else/ But tonight in the dark/ I can be myself.
Blake Shelton
Artiste: Blake Shelton
Album: For Recreational Use Only
Rating: **
You can’t teach an old horse something-something. Considered the sexiest man on the planet a few years ago, Blake Shelton, on his new album, delivers tracks that are less imaginative, while the arrangements are straightforward.
He relies on the deep Southern contours of his voice to deliver a few magical numbers. The pumped-up Life’s Been Comin’ Too Fast has him sing Bouncin’ off the brick walls, swingin’ at the curve balls/ But lately I’m just tryin’ to get out of the way. Whisky-soaked life advice gets offered on Don’t Mississippi: Just tip the whole bottle all thе way back/ A gallon of tears ain’t worth an ounce of Jack. Worthy of an era when Donald Trump wants the world to drink American whisky, but Shelton doesn’t try anything out of the box.
The problem with this country singer is his interest in what makes a good playlist rather than an album. The songs are good enough to play in the background while the singer is grappling with his identity. Good harmonisation skills are clearly heard on Hangin’ On (with his wife Gwen Stefani) but will soon be lost in the clutter of songs on streaming services.
Maren Morris
Artiste: Maren Morris
Album: Dreamsicle
Rating: ****
Listening to the album makes it easy to pretend that it’s Friday any day of the week. Dreamsicle doesn’t make the listener feel she has recently been through a divorce. This is about finding peace.
On Carry Me Through she sings a universal truth: Feels like the worst year is always the one you’re in/ I haven’t heard a hallelujah, but I ain’t been listening. At the same time, she puts across a sherbet-worthy Lemonade, singing about turning “rain into rainbows” and “pain into potential”.
There are all the elements of a sunny day, though hiding under the surface is heartbreak. Cry In The Car has her sing about feeling safe behind the glass while the beats zig-zag: I cry in the car/ With my tinted windows rolled up/ Feels at the wheel/ No witnesses while I blow up.
The 35-year-old steps outside her comfort zone with great songwriting, an example of which is This is How a Woman Leaves: I won’t leave the room for you to wonder what I meant when I said it. And on the casually-cool Bed No Breakfast, she makes a one-night stand leave the door: Sun is coming through the curtains, think I heard a bird chirpin’/ Won’t you sleep better at your place?
Had the arrangements been slightly varied, Dreamsicle would have been a perfect pop album.
