Year of the Cat is the seventh studio album by Al Stewart, released in 1976 and was produced and engineered by Alan Parsons; it is considered his masterpiece, its sales helped by the hit single "Year of the Cat", "one of those 'mysterious woman' songs," co-written by Peter Wood. The other single from the album was "On the Border". Stewart wrote "Lord Grenville" about the Elizabethan sailor and explorer Sir Richard Grenville (1542–1591).
Stewart had all of the music and orchestration written and completely recorded before he even had a title of any of the songs. In a Canadian radio interview he stated that he has done this for 6 of his albums, and he often writes four different sets of lyrics for each song. The title track derives from a song Stewart wrote in 1966 called "Foot of the Stage" with prescient lyrics about Tony Hancock, one of Britain's favourite comedians who tragically committed suicide two years later. When Stewart discovered that Hancock was not well known in the United States, he went back to his original title "Year of the Cat".
The cover design, by Hipgnosis and illustrator Colin Elgie, depicts a woman who has an apparent obsession with cats. She can be seen in the mirror dressing up as a cat for a costume party, and all of the items on her dresser have feline motifs.
1976 Original LP edition
Side 1- "Lord Grenville" – 5:00
- "On the Border" – 3:22
- "Midas Shadow" – 3:08
- "Sand in Your Shoes" – 3:02
- "If it Doesn't Come Naturally, Leave It" – 4:28
- "Flying Sorcery" – 4:20
- "Broadway Hotel" – 3:55
- "One Stage Before" – 4:39
- "Year of the Cat" (Stewart, Peter Wood) –
- Al Stewart - vocals, guitar, keyboards
- Peter White - guitar, keyboards
- John Perry[disambiguation needed] - background vocals
- Tim Renwick - guitar
- Andrew Powell - string arrangements
- Bobby Bruce - violin
- Marion Driscoll - percussion
- Stuart Elliott - drum, percussion
- George Ford - bass
- Phil Kenzie - alto saxophone
- Don Lobster - keyboards
- David Pack - background vocals
- Tony Rivers - background vocals
- Graham Smith - harmonica
- Peter Wood - keyboards
Hey, I heard you missed me! I'm back!
ReplyDeleteVery cool. I had not heard that song in a long, long time. Love your family history. Kudos to you and your father.
ReplyDeleteYep, another good one! Remember that one coming out just after we came back from deployment.
ReplyDeleteHey ShellDude Welcome Back!
ReplyDeleteHey Momma Fargo,
You are welcome, the trick is finding songs that not everybody knows...
Hey Old NFO;
Hiope it was a good deployment...Was it the Med?