Esoteric (label)
08 March 2021 (released)
08 March 2021
It is amazing to think that this album is 45 years old and still stands up today as one of the absolute best of a certain class of British singer/Songwriter/folk music. Even more to think that it was released in the year that Punk changed the British musical geography but survived as one of the best selling albums of the year.
The whole package is excellent – a 3CD boxset with posters, book etc and a superb remastering of the original album.
The 3 CDs are the original album and a full band set from Seattle split over 2 CDs that shows Stewart to be a consummate live performer as well as studio artist.
The album itself is brilliant. Stewart had hit peaks with his previous 2 albums, the literacy & storylines of ‘Past Present ^ Future’ and the musical quality of ‘Modern Times’ but ‘Year Of The Cat’ brings it all together with a fabulous production job by Alan Parsons. The songs hark back to earlier albums with Continental feel and themes alongside very British characters and the two standout numbers ‘On The Border’ and the title track.
His voice is soft and has a sensitive tenderness to it, the playing throughout is exquisite and it really is difficult to find a fault with it.
The album certainly doesn’t feel 45 years old and it stands up really well today, in fact I’d say that if it were being released today it would still be a massive hit.
