Cat (Limited Edition) [Import]

Product Description
Japanese limited edition Verve label jazz reissue featuring 24 bit remastering & the original artwork reproduced as a miniature gatefold LP sleeve. 2000 release.

Cat (Limited Edition),Jimmy Smith,Verve

Jazz

Music

jazz

music

Average customer rating: Why can't we just enjoy the music for what it is? Just music. Best of Cat Stevens The Very Best of Cat Stevens THE VERY BEST Take the bad with the good

The Very Best of Cat Stevens Cat Stevens Manufacturer: A&M ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Britain | British Isles | Europe | International | Styles | Music General | Pop | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Soft Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music Pop | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Classic Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music International | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music All Blowout Music | Blowout Music | Stores | Music More Titles at Least 25% Off | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: An Other Cup Tea for the Tillerman Gordon Lightfoot - Complete Greatest Hits The Best of James Taylor The Best of Simon & Garfunkel ASIN: B00004S51Y Release Date: 2000-03-28

Tracks:

1. Matthew & Son
2. The First Cut is the Deepest
3. Lady D'Arbanville
4. I've Got a Thing About Seeing My Grandson Grow Old (previously unreleased)
5. Wild World
6. Where Do the Children Play?
7. Hard Headed Woman
8. Father and Son
9. The Wind
10. Morning Has Broken
11. Moonshadow
12. Peace Train
13. Sitting
14. Can't Keep It In
15. Foreigner Suite (excpert)
16. Oh Very young
17. Another Saturday Night
18. Majik of Majiks
19. (Remember the Days of the) Old Schoolyard
20. Just Another Night

Amazon.com essential recording

Kicking off A&M's ambitious Cat Stevens reissue program is this 20-song introduction. The set surveys all of Stevens's stages, from the orchestrated late-1960s sides through his early-'70s peak to his more eclectic late-1970s experiments. Following the progression makes for an interesting endeavor as Stevens learns to harness his ambitious ideas with arrangements that don't obscure his rhapsodic messages. Few artists of his generation were more gifted when it came to plucking timeless melodies out of thin air, and his sumptuous voice was always able to movingly convey his bittersweet lyrics. As a career overview (including one previously unreleased cut) this set achieves its goal, hitting all of the chart successes along the way and basically defining his role as a sensitive '70s singer-songwriter, but some fans may opt for the classic early-'70s studio records, which find Stevens at his most consistently touching. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews:

Why can't we just enjoy the music for what it is? Just music........2007-07-05

I really enjoyed the music on this cd and consider it one of my favorite cds. This collection needs Sad Lisa and a couple of other songs maybe. It is disturbing to see some of the reviews that focus on the political/religious side of the artist. Do you really aggree with the politics or religion of everyone you listen to?

Best of Cat Stevens.......2007-06-08

After year of harboring a foolish grudge regarding his change of religion & some untoward comments by him over the
Iranian hostages, I finally relented. This is good stuff!

The Very Best of Cat Stevens.......2007-05-14

I still remember the impact Cat Stevens' music, and especially lyrics, had on me in my college days. I still enjoy those early performances, not just for the nostalgia, but because they still have much to say and they still move me. If you have just one CD by this ageless performer, this is the one to have.

THE VERY BEST.......2007-05-12

HAD LOOK IN EVERY STORE AND NEVER COULD FINE IT.
IT,S BY FARE THE VERY BEST OF THE CAT.
THANK'S AGAIN

Take the bad with the good.......2007-05-07

This emphasizes that Cat Stevens' career didn't genrate all that much hit-worthy material. There's some really good stuff here, but only half the material is listenable. I'd have been better off just to have bought "Teaser and the Firecat".

Average customer rating: Tea For Cat Cat Stevens at his best cold tea, needs sugar A Fav! Revenge of the Persians!

Tea for the Tillerman Cat Stevens Manufacturer: A&M ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Britain | British Isles | Europe | International | Styles | Music General | Pop | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Soft Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music Pop | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Classic Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music International | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music All Blowout Music | Blowout Music | Stores | Music More Titles at Least 25% Off | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Teaser and the Firecat Mona Bone Jakon Catch Bull at Four An Other Cup Buddha and the Chocolate Box ASIN: B00004T9VY Release Date: 2000-05-23

Tracks:

1. Where Do The Children Play?
2. Hard Headed Woman
3. Wild World
4. Sad Lisa
5. Miles From Nowhere
6. But I Might Die Tonight
7. Longer Boats
8. Into White
9. On The Road To Find Out
10. Father And Son
11. Tea For The Tillerman

Amazon.com essential recording

Cat Stevens tends to be lumped in with the early-'70s singer-songwriter school led by James Taylor and Carole King, but he actually fits in rather neatly with such wistful English contemporaries as Nick Drake, Syd Barrett, and Donovan. Tea for the Tillerman's "Wild World," "Into White," and "Longer Boats" indicate that he may have been a more gifted tunesmith than the lot of them. As with the best of the Brit folk-rockers, Stevens mixed melancholy with whimsy. Yes, he was prone to airy platitudes, but when he harnessed his eccentricities, as he did throughout this 1970 masterwork, you had something truly distinctive. A natural cult artist, à la Tim Buckley and Leonard Cohen, Stevens connected with record-buyers to the tune of 25 million units sold before he changed his name to Yusuf Islam, established an Islamic school, and raised a ruckus by supporting Ayatollah Khomeini's death decree against author Salman Rushdie. This remastered 2000 version of the 1970 recording, which was overseen by the artist, is a vast improvement over the earlier CD reissue. --Steve Stolder

Customer Reviews:

Tea For Cat.......2007-07-04

This is such a great album.
Mona Bone Jakon, Tea For The Tillerman, and Teaser and the Firecat are all perfect LP's, just get them all. You can't go wrong with Cat Stevens!
Where Do the Children Play is my favorite Cat song
Wild World is probably his most listenable song
Miles From Nowhere, Longer Boats, and On The Road to Findout are some of his best as well
I think this is one of the coolest albums to be a fan of, everyone should give it a chance

Cat Stevens at his best.......2007-07-03

If I had to choose one of Cat Stevens' albums, this would be it. I prefer the mostly acoustic, piano and percussion emphasis in this one. Whereas some of his later musical ventures lacked the depth of character and sound space that these songs provided to listeners. I first hear Cat Steven's voice as the soundtrack to the film Harold and Maude - one of my all-time favorites. Once I heard his voice, I was hooked. I looked for a soundtrack, but at the time it was not available,. Now I think there is one out. The songs from that film are still my favorite of his works. Amongst them, Wild World stands out. My favorite songs from Harold and Maudeare If you want to Sing Out, Sing Out, and Trouble, which can now be found on the soundtrack to the film. Does anyone know where to get a copy of the soundtrack these days? If not, pick up Tea for the Tillerman and one of his greatest hits CDs.

cold tea, needs sugar.......2007-05-14

When compared to the original vinyl version, this CD is disappointing. I have come to realize that the claim "re-mastered" is not an indication of quality. I own several original master recordings of several artists that are truly spectacular. But, the quality standard is specific to the organization that produced the work. Apparently, re-mastered and original masters are not the same. Live and learn.

A Fav!.......2007-04-01

I just saw HAROLD AND MAUDE again this week (ie: the movie) and remembered how much I had loved TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN.

I had owned this as a vinyl album many yrs ago, and had played it all the time.So of course after seeing the movie, I just had to re-order this album in CD format.

No disappointments here. It's as good as ever.

I ordered this album as a Re-mastered CD version and it sounded GREAT! Worth the extra few dollars!

Revenge of the Persians!.......2007-03-21

First off.. I spent years trying to hate Cat Stevens for becoming a radical Muslim...that's becoming a "radical" Muslim people..He was already a Muslim. I mean advocating the death of a writer (Simon Ruski) for a perceived insult, that must make him an enemy of the U.S right? I grumbled and mumbled doesn't that bastard realize he's a writer too! I put away his records (that's a large round disc of poly-vinyl used in ancient times to reproduce music) and refused to listen to him...then a funny thing happened...I started hearing litle bits and pieces of his music here and there like the outtro on Extras... then I noticed on Amazon that they had remastered his catalog...hmm... interesting... one listen and hooked again. I think this was his sophomore effort and if you only buy one of his albums buy this one, I don't think you can get the spirit of the man or the time's from a "best of" disc. The pleading timbre in his voice and baritone delivery when others of that era were doing the falsetto...genius...Where do the children play , Wild World , Sad Lisa , Miles from Nowhere..These are "thinking mans" lyrics somewhat dark and introspective...does anybody get it stuff! The remastering is perfect ,acoustic guitars are separated in the sound stream from each other just enough , the keyboards move in and out from supporting to lead roles ,the percussion and occasional brass or orchestra instrumentation seem to put the Cat squarely in the middle of the soundstage..Very nice! Buy this disc..You probably won't be supporting terrorist if you do..Just damn good music!!

Average customer rating: The Cat thanks Yusuf/Cat Stevens for coming back for us! Wonderful Music, Wonderful Memories His Best Album Cat Stevens-Teaser and the Firecat

Teaser and the Firecat Cat Stevens Manufacturer: A&M ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Britain | British Isles | Europe | International | Styles | Music General | Pop | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Soft Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music Pop | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Classic Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music International | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music All Blowout Music | Blowout Music | Stores | Music More Titles at Least 25% Off | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Tea for the Tillerman Catch Bull at Four Mona Bone Jakon Buddha and the Chocolate Box An Other Cup ASIN: B00004T9W4 Release Date: 2000-05-23

Tracks:

1. The Wind
2. Rubylove
3. If I Laugh
4. Changes IV
5. How Can I Tell You
6. Tuesday's Dead
7. Morning Has Broken
8. Bitterblue
9. Moonshadow
10. Peace Train

Amazon.com essential recording

The third album Cat Stevens put out in a 15-month burst that began in the summer of 1970 with Mona Bone Jakon, Teaser and the Firecat is where the enigmatic folk-pop idol crested commercially, if not artistically. Its immediate predecessor, Tea for the Tillerman, possesses an air of mystery and unforced whimsy that proved impossible for Stevens to replicate. That said, the singer-songwriter had it in him to pull together a captivating collection that boasted two of the biggest hits of his meteoric, if self-inhibited, career--"Peace Train" and the sublime hymn "Morning Has Broken." "The Wind," "If I Laugh," and "Moonshadow" are every bit as tuneful and appealing as the hits, while "Rubylove," "How Can I Tell You," and "Bitterblue" would be standouts on Stevens's less accomplished later albums. In fact, only the bellicose social statements "Changes IV" and "Tuesday's Dead" ring hollow. --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews:

The Cat.......2007-05-14

I think the Cd digitally remastered was done very good. Thank you!
Sincerely John M. Casias

thanks Yusuf/Cat Stevens for coming back for us!.......2007-01-13

Recently I purchased Yusuf's new CD and after listening to this, I needed to purchase the CD versions of Cat Stevens' Teaser and the Firecat plus Tea for the Tillerman. I had the albums from 70s and just had to have the CDs now. People are quite happy that Yusuf/Cat Stevens decided to come back into the music business. Such an extraordinary voice that we have missed for 20+ years. I cannot thank Yusuf/Cat Stevens enough for once again sharing his talen with the world. Everybody should own one of his CDs if not more.

Wonderful Music, Wonderful Memories.......2007-01-05

The music of Cat Stevens inspired my college days and I find his compositions still inspirational today. Songs of love, loss and spirituality are sung with emotion and the unique, sensual, voice of this British singer/songwriter.

His Best Album.......2006-11-16

Tea For the Tillerman gets all the hype, but I think this album is stronger song for song. It is a masterpiece and I highly recommend it.

Here is a song by song breakdown:

1) The Wind - 9/10

It is short, simple and beautiful. It is inspiring and uplifting to hear

2) RubyLove - 8/10

This is a very catchy love song.

3) If I Laugh - 8.5/10

A very sad song, but we can all identify with tthe pain of losing someone you love. Beautiful guitar work on this

4) Changes IV - 8.5/10

This song is very upbeat and has a very positive message of hope. It is very strong lyrically and musically.

5)How Can I Tell You - 8/10

It is a bit repetitive and I feel a bit long, but still a pleasant love song

6) Tuesday's Dead - 8/10

This song is strong, upbeat and a bit off the wall, but it is still quite good.

7) Morning Has Broken - 9/10

Cat Stevens reworks an old hymn and turns it into a beautiful version. He didn't write the words, but the music he did is breathtaking.

8) Bitterblue - 6.5/10

I really don't care for this song. It comes off sounding harsh & not very enjoyable to listen to.

9) Moonshadow - 10/10

This is a classic song. It is perfection

10) Peace Train - 10/10

After Father & Son, I rate this as Cat's 2nd best song. It is up there with Lennon's Imagine. The production is top notch and so is the arrangement of it. Perfect

Get this album. I rarely like 90% of an album. This is a masterpiece.

Cat Stevens-Teaser and the Firecat.......2006-07-09

I love Amazon and the selection of CD'S that they have. The speed in which I received it was GREAT!

Average customer rating: fun brass sounds Refreshing and fun Protons, Neutrons, and electrifying sounds! Love the originality An amazing mix of many influences

Two Shoes The Cat Empire Manufacturer: Velour Recordings ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Ska General | Ska | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Reggae | International | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Adult Alternative | Pop | Styles | Music Similar Items: The Cat Empire Not Too Late These Streets Costello Music Back to Black ASIN: B000LPS4F2 Release Date: 2007-02-06

Tracks:

1. Sly
2. In My Pocket
3. Lullaby
4. The Car Song
5. Two Shoes
6. The Chariot
7. Sol Y Sombra
8. Party Started
9. Protons, Neutrons, Electrons
10. Saltwater
11. The Night That Never End

Amazon.com

For six guys from Melbourne, Australia, to travel half the world to record their second record indicates titanic success for their first. And that's what led the jazzed-up, funked-out popsters Cat Empire to a studio in Havana, Cuba, to follow up that million-selling debut. Here, the band takes its Latin leanings a step farther, creating room for what is billed as the Empire Horns--trombone, trumpet, and sax--in its driving, thriving beat. Lead vocalist Felix Riebl's witty intellect and dripping Aussie twang are the Cat's most distinguishing merits (see the Bob Marley love-fest of a title track and the first line of the offbeat "Sly": "If frizzy hair was a metaphor for festival time/Then this woman is a goddess of that festival shrine"). Yet compatriot Harry James Angus demands equal billing here, with contributions like the ska rave "Saltwater," the punkish memoir "The Car Song," and "Protons, Neutrons, Electrons"--an uproarious showtune of a song complete with delightful piano break and "zip-a-dee-doo" chorus. Still, co-stars aside, this is a complementary sextet that's seemingly comfortable with nearly any style of music--and willing to circle the globe to prove it. --Scott Holter

Album Description

The Cat Empire's Two Shoes -- their second consecutive double platinum LP in their native Australia -- brings Australia's most dynamic musical export to the the US. Live music fans (and anyone at Bonnaroo this year) may already have had the opportunity to catch one of the band's legendary shows -- but until now recorded material was as hard to find as Vegemite. Looking for inspiration beyond the beaches of Melbourne, TCE journeyed to Havana, Cuba to record Two Shoes with producer/engineer Jerry Boys (R.E.M., Rolling Stones) in the studio where the Ry Cooder's Buena Vista Social Club LP was recorded. The result was a record that captures all the energy of a live band at its peak, but also sacrifices nothing in the way of songcraft. Compared to everything from Cake to Madness to Sublime, The Cat Empire's genre-bending is a trademark of the music scene in Melbourne. The band was founded in 1999 by vocalist/percussionist Felix Riebl and bassist Ryan Monro and quickly built up a massive following down under with its incendiary live shows, leading within two years to two double platinum releases on Virgin/EMI. Fueled by the internet word-of-mouth, the band has already sold out venues from Irving Plaza to the Troubadour. The band will headline an 11 date US tour in support of this LP at 500 -1000 cap venues.

Customer Reviews:

fun brass sounds.......2007-06-27

I enjoy the CD, but not as much as I thought I might based on the first song from it (the only one that got radio airplay around here). That one is very funky and a lot of fun. I often get tired of the Cd and switch to another style of music half-way through the recording. But it is fun, and provides some interesting combinations of styles.

Refreshing and fun.......2007-06-04

I got hooked on The Cat Empire several years ago while in Australia. They're something different than what you would usually hear here in America. Their music is fun and exciting and you'll find yourself dancing and singing along in no time! I'm going to see them in concert at The Roxy in Atlanta in June and can't wait!

Protons, Neutrons, and electrifying sounds!.......2007-06-04

Only 18 reviews, are you kidding me? This band is the best new thing I've heard in a long time, and that's saying something.

I bought the Two Shoes album right here on Amazon a couple of months ago in search of some new and exciting sounds. Actually it was in the recommendations pile. After one sample of it I knew it was something I had to have. These guys are just so damn good and nobody knows about them. How can this be? A huge hit in their native Australia, they appeared on The David Letterman Show some time ago and have since toured in the U.S. I would love to hear these guys in concert, but until then I'll just listen to Two Shoes for the 35th time.

Where do I begin? The album explodes with the first track "Sly" as sung by co-lead singer Felix Rheble. A good beginning, but its followed up by "In My Pocket" which is better. Rheble shares lead vocal duties with the flamboyant voice of Harry James Angus, who can do no wrong when it comes to music. I can't definitely say which songs are better than others because this whole thing is a hit, but along with track 2, my other favorites are "The Car Song", "Two Shoes", and "Protons, Neutrons and Electrons" which is sure to bring a smile to your face. "The Car Song" stands out in particular as probably the most fun track I've ever heard. You just have to hear it. Listen to it at the beach, or turn it up loud on your stereo and let the good times roll.

What makes this album so unique is the Australian accents paired with pure Havana Flare and back up brass. These guys obviously belong in the big time, and yet they still retain that blind eagerness and confidence of a high school garage band. If you've ever heard anything like it please tell me because I can't get enough of it. As for their next album I have no idea but I'm sure it will be excellent like this. Keep me posted. In the mean time, party in Havana style!

Love the originality.......2007-05-28

I seen The Cat Empire on David Letterman. I liked the song they sang, Sly, so I bought the CD.
Their style is original, you can actually dance to it. It's a little jazzy, and a little big band era, some comedy, and much more.
They have one other CD and I will be getting that one.

An amazing mix of many influences.......2007-05-15

This is an amazing album that mixes the best of ska, latin, jazz and rock for an album that you can't help but dance to. I'm in a bit of a unique position because I have small children but music tastes that are often inappropriate for them, this is an album that, for the most part, is fun for the whole family. A perfect album for summer fun and windows down drives in the car.

Average customer rating: Cat lovers Genuinely his greatest hits.... THE VERY BEST OF CAT STEVENS !!! great compilation The power of Cat

Cat Stevens - Greatest Hits Cat Stevens Manufacturer: A&M ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Britain | British Isles | Europe | International | Styles | Music General | Pop | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Soft Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music CDs $7 - $10 | British Isles | Europe | International | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | British Isles | Europe | International | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music CDs $7 - $10 | Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music CDs $7 - $10 | Soft Rock | Pop | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Soft Rock | Pop | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music CDs $7 - $10 | Folk Rock | Rock | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Folk Rock | Rock | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music $7.99 and Under | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Pop | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Classic Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music International | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music All Blowout Music | Blowout Music | Stores | Music $7.99 and Under | Prices | Blowout Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Classic Rock | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 International | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Pop | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Rock | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Footsteps in the Dark: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 Simon & Garfunkel - Greatest Hits Tea for the Tillerman The Very Best of Cat Stevens Tapestry ASIN: B00004YNGK Release Date: 2000-09-26

Tracks:

1. Wild World
2. Oh Very Young
3. Can't Keep It In
4. Hard Headed Woman
5. Moonshadow
6. Two Fine People
7. Peace Train
8. Ready
9. Father & Son
10. Sitting
11. Morning Has Broken
12. Another Saturday Night

Amazon.com

Before Cat Stevens changed his name to Yusef Islam, he had a slew of hits built around his soft, yet sometimes coarse, vocals. Stevens utilized a variety of instrumentation and rhythms in his predominantly acoustic arrangements, and songs like "Peace Train," and "Another Saturday Night" had a multi-cultural feel to them. Greatest Hits provides a decent overview of his more popular work, including the poignant "Oh Very Young" and "Father & Son." Unfortunately, the delightful yet brief "Tea for the Tillerman" is not present. The lovely "Morning Has Broken" has elements of Stevens's growing concern with religion, philosophy, and the relationship between the cerebral and the spiritual. In the early 1980s, Stevens, now Yusef, "retired" from the music profession because of his new beliefs. --Steve Gdula

Customer Reviews:

Cat lovers.......2007-06-08

If you are a Cat Stevens fan you will love this old CD. Shows a nice range of songs and styles.

Genuinely his greatest hits...........2007-05-18

Unlike many other albums using the often over-used 'Greatest Hits' tag, this offering from Cat Stevens genuinely manages to live up to its title, without the usual mixing in of weaker material. Stevens is perhaps one of the most interesting singer songwriters of our time, and this collection neatly encapsulates his mid-term pre Yusef Islam recording career. The slightly rawer sounding 1960s hits are deleted from the playlist and we're left with a very consistently good acoustic, gentle sound. One feels like Stevens writes directly from his soul and bares all of it through his music: politically, spiritually and philosophically. Not available on any other collection and released as a single from this album, 'Two Fine People' is one of the strongest tracks, with very light use of synthesizers, giving a more modern contrast to the rest of the music. The cover art is also very beautiful too - I adore the flag motif.

THE VERY BEST OF CAT STEVENS !!!.......2007-05-13

IF YOU ARE A FAN OF CAT STEVENS--THIS IS A MUST FOR YOUR CD COLLECTION !!!
ALL THE GREATEST HITS !!!

great compilation.......2007-03-03

While there are several options available if you're looking for a CD with a good collection of Cat Stevens songs, this one may be the best bargain. In fairness though, Cat Stevens Gold, and The Very Best of Cat Stevens do give you a lot more songs for not a whole lot more money. Others have mentioned a track on this CD that is not present on other compilations, which is great. For someone like me though, who is just looking for a good sampling of some of the Cat Steven's songs I know best, the clencher is that Cat Stevens Greatest Hits is a solid collection at an excellent price.

The power of Cat .......2007-02-19

Cat Stevens will never be forgotten. He sang so beautifully and employed the guitar so well in the arrangements of his songs that just one listen to his music thrills you. This CD makes you crave more of his fine artistry; his voice on this CD is strong, masculine yet sensitive and passionate.

The CD opens with a very popular song which will forever be associated with Cat Stevens entitled "Wild World." The lyrics show just how much Cat mourns the loss of his woman and the guitar changes chords at all the right moments in order to enhance the melancholy feel of this ballad. The overall effect strikes you with its beauty and beckons you instantly to listen to the rest of the CD.

"Can't Keep It In" allows Cat the opportunity to explore the topic of feeling a love for someone who can't quite relax in order to experience her true love for him. The musical arrangement stays strong with the band and a chorus in the background. Excellent!

"Hard Headed Woman" possesses great strength as well; Cat sings of his desire to find his one true love. His voice is passionate and the arrangement for the guitar moves me deeply.

Other beautiful songs on this CD include Cat's declaration of true love for his woman in "Two Fine People;" "Peace Train" with a rock feel that also sounds vaguely like a country ballad and "Father & Son" which deals with the predictable but honest disagreements between a father and son about how best to live life.

The CD ends with two memorable ballads. "Morning Has Broken" features lyrics by Eleanor Farjeon and Cat's musical arrangement leaves nothing to be desired. The piano and the guitar sound wonderful; and the choir in the background bolsters the song even further. "Another Saturday Night," written by Sam Cooke, closes the album on a playful note even if Cat feels frustrated that he cannot find a woman to have fun with now that he "just got paid."

The liner notes include the lyrics and some of the album credits are there, too. The CD artwork shines and reflects a great deal of forethought.

Cat Stevens is still one of the few artists who could turn out songs that appealed to very broad audiences. His melodies strike you instantly as being infectiously catchy and very admirable. If you like this CD I recommend other CDs by Cat Stevens including Tea For The Tillerman and Footsteps in the Dark: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2. Fans of classic rock and pop will also enjoy this CD.

Average customer rating: Best yet The Greatest Cat Power- The Greatest overall worth it decisions decisions...

The Greatest Cat Power Manufacturer: Matador Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music CDs $7 - $10 | Alternative General | Alternative Rock | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Alternative General | Alternative Rock | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music 4-for-3 Alternative Rock | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Pop | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Rock | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood Comfort of Strangers Blue Alert The Crane Wife Corinne Bailey Rae ASIN: B000HKCUI8 Release Date: 2006-09-12

Tracks:

1. The Greatest
2. Living Proof
3. Lived In Bars
4. Could We
5. Empty Shell
6. Willie
7. Where Is My Love
8. The Moon
9. Islands
10. After It All
11. Hate
12. Love & Communication

Amazon.com

If you are an artist at a crossroads/ "maturing point" in your career, it's a great idea to seek out the original musicians who played on music you adore and that inspire you greatly-it's the opposite of what Rick Rubin does with the old folks. The results, however, are often lackluster; it can just be too hard to forge a connection in a short period of time with studio dudes twenty to thirty years older than you. Chan Marshall, who took just three years between albums this time, returned to Memphis to record with many of the architects of Southern soul music at Ardent Studios on The Greatest. And from the first and titular tune, a mournful and gorgeous ballad with swelling strings, backing singer and shimmery guitar accompaniment that tells the tale of a boy who wants to become a great boxer, it's clear that the results of this experiment are uniformly awesome. The sultry-voiced artiste sounds fully at home within these songs, these lovely analog Southern sounds that bridge black and white musics. It's not like she's on a trip of trying to be Aretha or anything; besides, the arrangements on all the songs are different. The loping, fiddle-accented "Empty Shell" sounds like the Unholy Modal Rounders backing Bobbie Gentry. All the songs are pretty, slow and melancholy; there's nothing like "He War" on here. We are not in the habit of quoting press releases, but it's hard to beat this line from the Matador one-sheet: "If Alex Chilton were today a beautiful young woman, he'd sound like this." Amen, or something. -Mike McGonigal

Album Description

This is not a greatest hits album, despite the title. It contains all-original songs written by Chan Marshal (professionally known as Cat Power), and features the great Memphis session musicians Teenie Hodges on guitar, Leroy Hodges on bass (Al Green, Hi Rhythm Section), drummer Steve Potts, and more. The combination of Marshall's superbly evocative and flexible voice plus some of the greatest Southern soul players, has produced a masterpiece. These songs explore themes of Southern loss, longing, and marginality. The limited first digipak pressing and regular single vinyl contain a bonus track. After the first pressing sells out, the regular jewelcase version will not contain a bonus track.

Customer Reviews:

Best yet.......2007-06-15

Teaming Cat Power with the Hi team who recorded behind Ann Peebles and Al Green was an unexpected and brilliant idea. A special alchemy took place at Ardent Studios in Memphis which enhanced both Cat Power's gorgeous smoky voice and the soulful groove the band has laid down. I would say that that it was worth the price of the album just for the majestic opening song, The Greatest, were it not that it is also available as a single, but that would be to unfairly demean the rest of the record. Of course Cat Power does not need embellishment, as is demonstrated on the unadorned song Hate. Cat's most accomplished album to date.

The Greatest.......2007-06-08

Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) is by now well known for her inconsistent live performances. See her on Friday and she'll croon for hours. See her on Saturday and she'll hunch over the piano with a bottle of Jack, muttering diatribes under her breath before running offstage in tears. Taken with her tortured lyricism and sprawling full-lengths, these actions painted Cat Power as simultaneously brazen and insecure, and as such, she helped redefine the notion of the independent musician by living out the discomfort that came from composing exactly what she felt she needed to compose.

So what would Cat Power think upon hearing that she'd receive a hefty recording budget and play with Al Green's hit-makers at the same studio as Dave Matthews and R.E.M.? If you said, "She would run screaming into the night," you're wrong. Abandoning the oblique, quietly angsty indie rock of You Are Free, Cat Power cuts her teeth on Southern soul for her seventh LP, The Greatest. She recorded the album in Memphis at the world-famous Ardent Studios with veteran soul musicians Mabon Hodges, Leroy Hodges and Steve Potts, for a detour into a singer-songwriter's take on Memphis blues-lite.

This is indeed an impressive setup, but The Greatest still falls a bit short. Yes, Potts and the Hodges brothers are supposed to ballast Marshall, not upstage her, but they're not given nearly enough to do--a twang here, a lazy drum fill there, and all performed with a disappointing lack of élan. Fault the studio, too, for rendering the album's second half somewhat limp and same-sounding, and for some of the album's biggest blunders: in roughly half the songs, for example, Marshall's voice appears as a ghosted backing vocal, like a gospel singer from beyond the grave. It's sillier than it sounds.

Cat Power hardly lets these flaws derail the entire album, however, since the strength of her records has always been in the arrangements, vocals and lyrics--not the studio techniques or the backing band. Marshall's voice has never sounded better than it does here; coarsened by whiskey and time, her vocals take on a torchy, sultry tone that fits the music like a glove.

The album's first half also features some of Cat Power's loveliest songs to date. If the gently swinging ditty "Could We" is perfect for playing over the barroom juke as young couples sway on the dance floor, "Lived in Bars" is the moonlit slow-dance after the barroom has closed down for the night. The title track is the album's crown jewel, beginning as an archetypal Cat Power piano arrangement and adding guitars, strings, and a slowly loping drumbeat like ripples in a pond. Far from being a song of fist-pumping glory, "The Greatest" is actually a saddening white flag; Marshall begins, "Once I wanted to be the greatest / No wind or waterfall could stop me." Anyone who knows Cat Power can easily conjecture what becomes of our narrator from here.

Yet what's missing from The Greatest are those gripping moments found on You Are Free and earlier, more overtly tense albums like Myra Lee. There's more drama in a song like "Names" (from You Are Free) than in anything The Greatest has to offer, and it's not because Marshall holds back lyrically; she doesn't, if bald-faced confessions like "I hate myself and I want to die" are any indication. It's because she allowed the Memphis soul theme drive the work to its final destination, and somewhere along the way it became more important to sound pretty than to create something meaningful. The Greatest is Cat Power's most listenable record thus far, but for an artist this willfully difficult, is that really a success?

Cat Power- The Greatest.......2007-05-20

Awesome CD, great to just relax and listen to while drinking some wine!

overall worth it.......2007-05-19

It's not her best career work, but similar to her live performances there are some magic moments that make the CD worth it. She puts out such heartfelt work it's hard not to support it.

decisions decisions..........2007-03-25

you can divide cat power into two parts it seems. if you did, you would get PJ Harvey and the other would be Dido. The album the greatest seems to be the dido side of cat power, which isn't such a bad thing. Cat is an idiosynchratic artist, but she does have a straightforward voice more suited to the new R&B style that she has latched on to. Don't be dismayed, Cat has not given up on the haunt and sultry-ness of her act. That much still remains.

Average customer rating: Steely Dan fan disappointed again Fagen fan Third of Trilogy for Donald Fagan--Grand Slam Homer!! Morph the Cat. A Fagen masterpiece with a big M. The true " Donald" continues the cycle.

Morph the Cat Donald Fagen Manufacturer: Reprise / Wea ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Pop | Styles | Music Soft Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Similar Items: On An Island The Nightfly Kamakiriad Pay the Devil Everything Must Go ASIN: B000E5N62U Release Date: 2006-03-14

Tracks:

1. Morph the Cat
2. H Gang
3. What I Do
4. Brite Nitegown
5. The Great Pagoda of Funn
6. Security Joan
7. The Night Belongs To Mona
8. Mary Shut the Garden Door
9. Morph the Cat (Reprise)

Amazon.com

For all the delight their fans take in parsing their wry and obstinately obscure lyrics, Steely Dan wouldn't command the kind of following they have if they weren't such consummate craftsmen in shaping melodies, layering keyboard and guitar effects and applying sophisticated doses of jazz, funk and soul. On his own albums, of which Morph the Cat is only the third--and the first since 1993's Kamakiriad--the group's sardonic co-mastermind Donald Fagen avails himself to more socially observant and personally revealing themes. But here, too, it's the music's dark shimmer and bumptious grooves that get under your skin, carrying his serious intentions with them. The grandly allusive "Morph," named after what Fagen describes as a "vast, ghostly cat-thing" that hovers in the Manhattan sky (not unlike Woody Allen's catty mother in "New York Stories"), reflects with no loss of irony or oblique meaning on the angst and sense of loss felt in the post-9/11 world. There are visions of death--including his own--and political oppression. There's a comic romantic encounter with a female airport security guard and a reverent faceoff with the ghost of Ray Charles, whose essence is nailed: "Well, you bring some church but you leave no doubt/As to what kind of love you love to shout about." Even when Fagen's hipster sensibility flirts with preciousness, the music is so richly, radiantly alive, the collective power of the songs can't be denied. --Lloyd Sachs

Album Description

The first solo album in 13 years from Donald Fagen, Morph The Cat is another contemporary classic from half of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame duo Steely Dan. With Fagan's adventurous musical depth, uniquely layered lyrics and entertaining subject matter (from a conversation with the ghost of Ray Charles to a romantic liaison with an airport security guard named Joan), Morph the Cat is the newest chapter chronicling the most sophisticated music in rock.

Customer Reviews:

Steely Dan fan disappointed again.......2007-07-12

I don't understand it. I LOVE Steely Dan. Own the box set. Play it a lot. Had all the albums and GOLD and PRETZEL LOGIC on CD before I bought the box. Like just about everything on the box set (which of course has the FULL Dan catalogue up until GAUCHO on it)

So how come the only Fagen solo project I even like is THE NIGHTFLY?

I think the answer is simple: hooks. Steely Dan's got `em but Fagen usually skips them.

The one decent tune here, "Security Joan", is a come-on to a woman who makes her living vetting possible airport troublemakers.

I can't live by music alone, Don...you gotta find a way to pair it with catchier words next time out.

Fagen fan.......2007-05-21

I think I'm pretty much like most Steely Dan fans; loyal. And just like most fans, I wait patiently for the next piece of work to be developed and released. And like most fans, I'm almost never disappointed. 'Morph the Cat,' is yet another piece of work by Donald Fagen that flirts with genius. It's smooth, jazzie, hip, funkie and thought provoking. The more you listen to it, the more you like it.

Third of Trilogy for Donald Fagan--Grand Slam Homer!!.......2007-03-24

This album's title track refers to a ghostly cat-like entity that floats above the big apple bringing good cheer, and making everyone feel good. The album itself reflects upon the later days of one's life. Death was chiefly on Fagan's mind, or at least the contemplation of it. The tragic events in that city, nearly six years ago already, figured heavily in the mindset of Morph the Cat. Darkly humorous as only Fagan could do it, it is of course a must-have for any Steely Dan Fan. And they are back on tour this spring on the East Coast. The song 'Mary Shut the Garden Door is a point-blank reference to the current administration. It is as circumspect a commentary on current times as much as "Sign in Stranger" was to the supposed presence of Alien life forms visiting our planet, and, if Chris Bell knows anything about it, he tells us as much in his short story from "Bumper Crop of Lies. Food for thought: just how does anyone take a yo-yo for a ride? And, by the Way, just how did Jeff "Skunk" Baxter get the nickname, and what does he do now? Far from jamming riffs, he is a political scientist of some note, with expertise in foriegn affairs....extraterrestrial anyone? As with anything Fagan/Becker do, this one is like an onion, with many layers of fun and meaning to the initiated. Try, you'll like!

Morph the Cat. A Fagen masterpiece with a big M........2007-03-12

Donald Fagen Morph the Cat is as good as it get`s.So smooooth that your`e listening experience brings you nearly in a mood of sensitive glimmers of "musikal soultouches" that sparkle in your`e mind. That Fagen urban "nightfeel" is still intact. Track 1 Morph the Cat, is the funky track with not so much"earfriendly" melody, but with a funky feel that realy sparks your`e "innerself".As a "teaser" it set`s the standard troughout. Track 2 H.Gang, has everything, and is the ultimate "hit song" on the CD. A sensitive introduction, which soon
brings all the musical elements into a whole "melodic extragavanza". It sounds so cool, with the right "urban nightlife touches"that makes you want to dance all night long to the beat. Track 3 What i do, is a relaxable, "summerbreeze" touchy song . It glimmers and has the right feel trough out. Track 4. Brite Nitegown bring`s you back to the funky feel with enough "nightfeever"to touch you`re soul in the right direction. Track 5
The Great pagoda of fun is "open wide" and "painted" with the right musical colour on every beat.
Track 6 Security John is more simple, but nevertheless quite effektive. The mood is more" rock&roll" in a way. Track 7 The night belongs to Mona, is a "moody sleeper song" that develop`s quality slow with style and
soul. Track 8 Mary shut the garden door, is the "weak spot" on the cd, but weak in Fagen"quality" is way above much of other "try to be "arty",but ends up as a "slack farty muiscal spoof"type of music. Track 9 Morph the cat(Reprise)is the title track once again. Nuff said. Allready. A masterpiece with a big M. Morph the Cat is a "must" on your`e
hifi, because this is hi-fidelty music.

The true " Donald" continues the cycle. .......2007-03-05

Forget Donald Trump; Donald Fagen, with his wry voice and uncanny ability to combine farcical metaphor with jazz inflected pop melodies, is the towering " Donald". Everything Mr. Fagen touches turns to gold. The only thing preventing this CD from entering perfection range is a little camp, but that never hurt anyone, right?

" Morph the Cat". What does that mean? Is it an imaginary blanket of protection hovering over New York, reassuring everyone after the jolt of 9/11? Does it mean that "protection" can morph into strange alter egos, created by zealots? The rest of the CD would bear this explanation out.

After the title track, Fagen briefly turns his attention to one of his offbeat character studies in " H Gang". Great beat, sounds like Steely Dan. " What I Do" is a fantastic imagined conversation between Fagen and legendary Ray Charles, presumably held at the beginning of young Don's adulthood. " Brite Nightgown", probably the best song ever about cheating death , is amazing, save a marathon closing.

" Mona" is another wandering spirit fabled to be depressed, to say the least. " Mary Shut the Garden Door" is a stab at the administration. They snuck in.... lock yourself away.

This is a living legend performer who never runs out of fresh material. Shame on this year's Grammy panel for so little recognition!

Average customer rating: Best yet The Greatest Cat Power- The Greatest overall worth it decisions decisions...

The Greatest Cat Power Manufacturer: Matador Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Folk | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Similar Items: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood Comfort of Strangers Blue Alert The Crane Wife Corinne Bailey Rae ASIN: B000C0X3ZC Release Date: 2007-03-20

Tracks:

1. The Greatest
2. Living Proof
3. Lived In Bars
4. Could We
5. Empty Shell
6. Willie
7. Where Is My Love
8. The Moon
9. Islands
10. After It All
11. Hate
12. Love And Communication

Amazon.com

If you are an artist at a crossroads/ "maturing point" in your career, it's a great idea to seek out the original musicians who played on music you adore and that inspire you greatly-it's the opposite of what Rick Rubin does with the old folks. The results, however, are often lackluster; it can just be too hard to forge a connection in a short period of time with studio dudes twenty to thirty years older than you. Chan Marshall, who took just three years between albums this time, returned to Memphis to record with many of the architects of Southern soul music at Ardent Studios on The Greatest. And from the first and titular tune, a mournful and gorgeous ballad with swelling strings, backing singer and shimmery guitar accompaniment that tells the tale of a boy who wants to become a great boxer, it's clear that the results of this experiment are uniformly awesome. The sultry-voiced artiste sounds fully at home within these songs, these lovely analog Southern sounds that bridge black and white musics. It's not like she's on a trip of trying to be Aretha or anything; besides, the arrangements on all the songs are different. The loping, fiddle-accented "Empty Shell" sounds like the Unholy Modal Rounders backing Bobbie Gentry. All the songs are pretty, slow and melancholy; there's nothing like "He War" on here. We are not in the habit of quoting press releases, but it's hard to beat this line from the Matador one-sheet: "If Alex Chilton were today a beautiful young woman, he'd sound like this." Amen, or something. -Mike McGonigal

Album Description

This is not a greatest hits album, despite the title. It contains all-original songs written by Chan Marshal (professionally known as Cat Power), and features the great Memphis session musicians Teenie Hodges on guitar, Leroy Hodges on bass (Al Green, Hi Rhythm Section), drummer Steve Potts, and more. The combination of Marshall's superbly evocative and flexible voice plus some of the greatest Southern soul players, has produced a masterpiece. These songs explore themes of Southern loss, longing, and marginality. The limited first digipak pressing and regular single vinyl contain a bonus track. After the first pressing sells out, the regular jewelcase version will not contain a bonus track.

Customer Reviews:

Best yet.......2007-06-15

Teaming Cat Power with the Hi team who recorded behind Ann Peebles and Al Green was an unexpected and brilliant idea. A special alchemy took place at Ardent Studios in Memphis which enhanced both Cat Power's gorgeous smoky voice and the soulful groove the band has laid down. I would say that that it was worth the price of the album just for the majestic opening song, The Greatest, were it not that it is also available as a single, but that would be to unfairly demean the rest of the record. Of course Cat Power does not need embellishment, as is demonstrated on the unadorned song Hate. Cat's most accomplished album to date.

The Greatest.......2007-06-08

Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) is by now well known for her inconsistent live performances. See her on Friday and she'll croon for hours. See her on Saturday and she'll hunch over the piano with a bottle of Jack, muttering diatribes under her breath before running offstage in tears. Taken with her tortured lyricism and sprawling full-lengths, these actions painted Cat Power as simultaneously brazen and insecure, and as such, she helped redefine the notion of the independent musician by living out the discomfort that came from composing exactly what she felt she needed to compose.

So what would Cat Power think upon hearing that she'd receive a hefty recording budget and play with Al Green's hit-makers at the same studio as Dave Matthews and R.E.M.? If you said, "She would run screaming into the night," you're wrong. Abandoning the oblique, quietly angsty indie rock of You Are Free, Cat Power cuts her teeth on Southern soul for her seventh LP, The Greatest. She recorded the album in Memphis at the world-famous Ardent Studios with veteran soul musicians Mabon Hodges, Leroy Hodges and Steve Potts, for a detour into a singer-songwriter's take on Memphis blues-lite.

This is indeed an impressive setup, but The Greatest still falls a bit short. Yes, Potts and the Hodges brothers are supposed to ballast Marshall, not upstage her, but they're not given nearly enough to do--a twang here, a lazy drum fill there, and all performed with a disappointing lack of élan. Fault the studio, too, for rendering the album's second half somewhat limp and same-sounding, and for some of the album's biggest blunders: in roughly half the songs, for example, Marshall's voice appears as a ghosted backing vocal, like a gospel singer from beyond the grave. It's sillier than it sounds.

Cat Power hardly lets these flaws derail the entire album, however, since the strength of her records has always been in the arrangements, vocals and lyrics--not the studio techniques or the backing band. Marshall's voice has never sounded better than it does here; coarsened by whiskey and time, her vocals take on a torchy, sultry tone that fits the music like a glove.

The album's first half also features some of Cat Power's loveliest songs to date. If the gently swinging ditty "Could We" is perfect for playing over the barroom juke as young couples sway on the dance floor, "Lived in Bars" is the moonlit slow-dance after the barroom has closed down for the night. The title track is the album's crown jewel, beginning as an archetypal Cat Power piano arrangement and adding guitars, strings, and a slowly loping drumbeat like ripples in a pond. Far from being a song of fist-pumping glory, "The Greatest" is actually a saddening white flag; Marshall begins, "Once I wanted to be the greatest / No wind or waterfall could stop me." Anyone who knows Cat Power can easily conjecture what becomes of our narrator from here.

Yet what's missing from The Greatest are those gripping moments found on You Are Free and earlier, more overtly tense albums like Myra Lee. There's more drama in a song like "Names" (from You Are Free) than in anything The Greatest has to offer, and it's not because Marshall holds back lyrically; she doesn't, if bald-faced confessions like "I hate myself and I want to die" are any indication. It's because she allowed the Memphis soul theme drive the work to its final destination, and somewhere along the way it became more important to sound pretty than to create something meaningful. The Greatest is Cat Power's most listenable record thus far, but for an artist this willfully difficult, is that really a success?

Cat Power- The Greatest.......2007-05-20

Awesome CD, great to just relax and listen to while drinking some wine!

overall worth it.......2007-05-19

It's not her best career work, but similar to her live performances there are some magic moments that make the CD worth it. She puts out such heartfelt work it's hard not to support it.

decisions decisions..........2007-03-25

you can divide cat power into two parts it seems. if you did, you would get PJ Harvey and the other would be Dido. The album the greatest seems to be the dido side of cat power, which isn't such a bad thing. Cat is an idiosynchratic artist, but she does have a straightforward voice more suited to the new R&B style that she has latched on to. Don't be dismayed, Cat has not given up on the haunt and sultry-ness of her act. That much still remains.

Average customer rating: cat's got the cream with this album Excellent service and product! Cat's Early Seventies' Transition Undoubtedly one of the Cat's classic albums Like all of Cat Stevens' albums - about 2/3 superb

Catch Bull at Four Cat Stevens Manufacturer: A&M ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Britain | British Isles | Europe | International | Styles | Music General | Pop | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Soft Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music CDs $7 - $10 | British Isles | Europe | International | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | British Isles | Europe | International | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music CDs $7 - $10 | Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music CDs $7 - $10 | Soft Rock | Pop | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Soft Rock | Pop | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music CDs $7 - $10 | Folk Rock | Rock | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Folk Rock | Rock | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music $7.99 and Under | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Pop | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Classic Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music International | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music All Blowout Music | Blowout Music | Stores | Music $7.99 and Under | Prices | Blowout Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Classic Rock | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 International | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Pop | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Rock | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Teaser and the Firecat Tea for the Tillerman Buddha and the Chocolate Box Mona Bone Jakon Foreigner ASIN: B00004VW0S Release Date: 2000-07-25

Tracks:

1. Sitting
2. The Boy with a Moon & Star on His Head
3. Angelsea
4. Silent Sunlight
5. Can't Keep It In
6. 18th Avenue
7. Freezing Steel
8. O Caritas
9. Sweet Scarlet
10. Ruins

Amazon.com

Celebrated and adored for his sanguine lyrics and irresistible hooks, Cat Stevens was one of the rare singer-songwriters capable of composing genuinely optimistic songs that didn't leave a sappy residue in listeners' ears. However, even a cursory listen to 1972's Catch Bull at Four proves that the Cat had seen darkness, too, and that those darker elements had become more pronounced than they'd been in the past. His vocal style shifts from the cool croon that made Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat top sellers to a harsher, almost growling delivery. The album's standouts--the wistful reverie "Sitting" and the delightfully infectious "Can't Keep It In"--are resolute in lyric and melody. Rambling, mystical odes such as "The Boy with a Moon & Star on His Head," "Angelsea," and "Sweet Scarlet" offer quaintly romantic imagery and lavishly undulating melodies. But it's the mercurial dynamics and driving melody of "18th Avenue (Kansas City Nightmare)" and the bitter conviction of "Ruins" that give the album a backbone and a sense of balance. --Sally Weinbach

Customer Reviews:

cat's got the cream with this album .......2005-11-28

a beautiful album of folk rock ditty's which send you in a daze of happiness
from the opening track "sittin" you know you're in for something special then comes
"the boy with the moon and stars on his head"
a beautiful song i can see myself in a poppy field watching the sunset whenever i play this song..hell i think i'm gonna do that
angelsea beautiful tear jerking
silent sunlight another class song from the cat
18th avenue [kansas city nightmare] my second favorite track on this album
freezing steel good just not great still the steven's
o'caritas another one of my favorites
sweet scarlet my favorite a beauty
ruins no way this is great

catch bull at four 10/5 steven's and his many highs
god bless you cat stevens

Excellent service and product!.......2005-10-25

Thanks for the great memories every time I play this CD. Delivered promptly and packed well.

Cat's Early Seventies' Transition.......2005-01-28

Cat Stevens' fourth album for A&M records is a definite treat. The first Cat Stevens LP to feature a promotional label: (2 different labels on one record), and I believe the first of those 4 albums to feature electrical instruments. This album contains the top 20 hit "Sitting" as well as the acoustic masterpiece "Boy with a moon and star on his head". Cat's first big rocker was "Freezing Steel" from side 2. Also included are "Angelsea" and "Silent Sunlight" which i think are the best ones on the album. The remastered CD has brilliant sound, just like the LP right out of the shrink wrap. If you are just discovering the sound of Cat Stevens, "Catch Bull At Four" is an excellent first choice. The musical energy will fill you up.

Undoubtedly one of the Cat's classic albums.......2004-10-23

It is unfortunate that many reviewers of `Catch bull at four' have tended to regard it as a poorer quality album than its two predecessors `Tea for the tillerman' and `Teaser and the Firecat'. I feel that this does the album a great injustice; no artist should be expected to remain unchanging in style, and if he had simply stayed with a winning formula after the success of `Teaser' Cat Stevens could rightly have been criticized. However, Stevens demonstrated integrity and vision throughout the early years of the 1970s, with each of his first five Island Records albums showing a clear progression and artistic development, even if on occasions (perhaps most notably `Foreigner') this was not always commercially successful.

After achieving a very focused and concise style on `Teaser', Cat Stevens understandably wanted to experiment with more unusual song structures and ambitious arrangements, and the result is a somewhat more stylistically diverse album than its predecessors. As a result it is, if anything, a stronger, more musically satisfying album, and includes new elements such as electric guitar, synthesizer, female backing vocalists and the accomplished keyboard work of Jean Roussel. At the same time, the album retains much of what made Cat's earlier work appealing, and also includes the welcome re-appearance of the bouzouki to add its distinctive sound to `O Caritas'.

The mood of the album is at times somber, reflecting Stevens' continuing spiritual pilgrimage at this time, and his deep feelings perhaps show through most in the opening track `Sitting' and the bleak closing song `Ruins'. Though there are a couple of weaker tracks (such as `Boy...' which has a pleasant arrangements but a rather tedious, over-long lyric, and `Angelsea' which is perhaps too dominated by synthesizer sounds), these can be appreciated as valid musical experiments, and are more than compensated for by other very appealing up-tempo tracks (such as `Sitting', `Can't keep it in' and `O Caritas'). The album contains several lovely ballads, such as `Sweet scarlet' and the madrigal-like `Silent sunlight', whilst the more complex song structure of `18th avenue', with its orchestral interlude and changing rhythms, hints at the direction Cat would take with his next album `Foreigner'. The whole package is enhanced by the crystal clear remastering, and restoration of the stylish original album artwork. Altogether, `Catch bull at four' can be regarded as a very satisfying album which, along with `Tillerman' and `Teaser' ranks among Cat Stevens' best work.

Like all of Cat Stevens' albums - about 2/3 superb .......2004-09-25

This seems to be a trend and applies to at least his first six A&M releases, except FOREIGNER, which was maybe 1/3 superb. Although "Silent Sunlight" and "Sweet Scarlet" are two of the most beautiful songs Cat Stevens ever recorded, I would recommend CATCH BULL AT FOUR on the strength of "18th Avenue" alone. That song is his studio masterpiece, in my opinion. And listen to the chanted chorus in "Angelsea". Supposedly the voices repeatedly chant "Oh, Carly Simon says, oh, Carly, why?". After all, she did have a romance with Cat Stevens shortly before meeting James Taylor. Could Cat Stevens be the subject of "You're So Vain"? Nahhh. The #1 candidate for that dubious honor is still Warren Beatty. Anyway, buy CATCH BULL.

Average customer rating: The Andrew Lloyd Weber Collection Andrew Lloyd Webber The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection The Best You'll See from Sarah The Angel of Music

The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection Manufacturer: Decca Broadway ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Requiems | Forms & Genres | Early Music | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Requiems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Brightman, Sarah | A to B | Featured Performers, A-Z | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music General | Adult Contemporary | Pop | Styles | Music General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music The Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music Pop | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Classical | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music All Blowout Music | Blowout Music | Stores | Music More Titles at Least 25% Off | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Love Changes Everything: The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, Vol. 2 Sarah Brightman Classics Time to Say Goodbye La Luna Harem ASIN: B00000I0XW Release Date: 1999-06-01

Tracks:

1. The Phantom Of The Opera: The Phantom Of The Opera
2. Song & Dance: Unexpected Song
3. Aspects Of Love: Chanson D'enfance
4. The Phantom Of The Opera: All I Ask Of You
5. Evita: Don't Cry For Me Argentina
6. Evita: Another Suitcase In Another Hall
7. Aspects Of Love: Love Changes Everything
8. Friends For Life
9. Cats: Memory
10. Cats: Gus: The Theatre Cat
11. Aspects Of Love: Anything But Lonely
12. Cats: Macavity: The Mystery Cat
13. Tell Me On A Sunday/Song & Dance: Tell Me On A Sunday
14. The Phantom Of The Opera: Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again
15. Requiem: Pie Jesu
16. The Phantom Of The Opera: The Music Of The Night

Amazon.com essential recording

Sarah Brightman's career was launched by her success in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, so it's no surprise to hear the soprano paying homage to the composer on this disc. Really a Brightman best-of, the album includes the Phantom theme (a duet with Michael Crawford), the light-opera fare of "Chanson D'enfance" from Aspects of Love, "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" from Evita, and numerous other Lloyd Webber classics. Throughout, Brightman's diminutive voice lends a fragility to these musical theater tunes that you'll either love or despise. On Evita's "Another Suitcase, Another Hall" and Cats' "Memory," she literally chirps through the vocal lines. No matter. The growing legion of Brightman fans wouldn't have it any other way. --Jason Verlinde

Album Details

Another Compilation of Stage Favourites - Some Tracks Are Hard to Find Elsewhere.

Customer Reviews:

The Andrew Lloyd Weber Collection.......2007-05-12

Sarah Brightman sings in good form classic songs and does a great job!!

Andrew Lloyd Webber .......2007-02-12

Excellent Broadway music--a true master. Sing along or just listen. First heard her on PBS.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection.......2007-01-05

Sarah Brightman has always been a favorite of mine, and this CD is outstanding. The duet with Jose Carreras (Friends for Life) is especially good--worth buying the CD for that song alone.

The Best You'll See from Sarah.......2006-09-09

This CD is - wow! I have so much to say about it and so little time! This album features three pieces from "The Phantom of the Opera" - Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, The Music of the Night, and The Phantom of the Opera theme. They're all beautiful. The second piece on the album is "Unexpected Song". It has beautiful octaves and orchastrations. Chanson d'Efance is an amazing French piece with vibrato - and then some. I forgot to mention that there is another piece from The Phantom of the Opera - All I Ask of You - except that the song is not sung by the original cast from the musical. The next few pieces are fairly decent, until you get to Memory from Cats. WOW - is it spectacular! Then we get to two other pieces from Cats - Gus: The Theater Cat and Macavity: The Mystery Cat. Gus is a song that just tells about a cat and his history. A man speaks the lines that Gus would say in the actual musical - and it makes the song interesting. Macavity is AWESOME! I know that I said that I didn't prefer this song for Brightman on her album "Surrender". I finally listened to it more carefully, and found that it's really interesting to listen to! My favorite song on the whole entire album - however - has to be "Tell Me on a Sunday". Beautiful lyrics, orchestrations, and overall spectacular voice talent ties the whole song together. Pie Jesu is a fairly nice piece from both Brightman and Paul Miles-Kingston - the 16 year old boy soprano. His voice is pure and straight with minimal vibrato. However, Brightman's voice shows a little bit TOO much vibrato! Overally, it's a good piece from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requium. THIS CD IS AMAZING! If you love Sarah from the Phantom of the Opera, then this collection of Lloyd Webber's work is just for you.

I also recommend Charlotte Church - (in her earlier career) - including Voice of an Angel and her self-titled album. I also recommend Love Changes Everything - The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection Vol.2 - just another grouping of Webber's classics. I also recommend Andrea Boucelli - he's awesome!

The Angel of Music.......2006-03-13

This is the third copy of this I've purchased. I wear them out listening to them. Awesome, Awesome music. Sarah's range and depth is so powerful!

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