Cat Stevens Three mit den CD`s NUMBERS, IZITSO, BACK TO EARTH MFSL Gold 3 CD Box Neu OVP Sealed UDCD 3-661 Ultradics II Limited Edition No. 3527 ohne Sticker

Audio CD (1. Februar 1996)
Anzahl Disks/Tonträger: 3
Format: Gold CD, Box-Set
Label: Mfsl

      Tracks


DISC 1: NUMBERS:
1. Whistlestar
2. Novim's Nightmare
3. Majik Of Majik's
4. Drywood
5. Banapple Gas
6. Land O'Free Love & Goodbye
7. Jzero
8. Home
9. Monad's Anthem

DISC 2: IZITSO:
1. Old Schoolyard, (Remember The Days Of The)
2. Life
3. Killin' Time
4. Kypros
5. Bonfire
6. To Be A Star, (I Never Wanted)
7. Crazy
8. Sweet Jamaica
9. Was Dog A Doughnut?
10. Child For A Day

DISC 3: BACK TO EARTH:
1. Just Another Night
2. Daytime
3. Bad Breaks
4. Randy
5. Artist, The
6. Last Love Song
7. Nascimento
8. Father
9. New York Times
10. Never


Produktbeschreibungen


Audio
Seit '77 nennt er sich Yusuf Islam: Cat Stevens, einst Folkie mit 35 Millionen verkauften Alben, fand sein Heil im Islam. "I Never Wantet To Be A Star..." sang er denn auch 1977 auf "Izitso"; dabei spielte er elektronisch verzierten Folk-Pop, der als Gold-CD ziemlich dynamisch klingt. Mit "Numbers" ('75) und "Back To Earth" ('79) vereint die remasterte Box Stevens' Spätwerke. Das mit Instrumentals und Bluesrock fast experimentelle "Numbers" (3/3) wirkt wie das orientierungslose "Back To Earth" (2/3) schwächer als "Izitso" (4/3-4). ** Musik: 2-4 ** Klang: 3-4
© Audio

Stereoplay
Bevor Cat Stevens 1978 dem Popstar-Leben abschwor und zum Islam konvertierte, hatte seine Kreativitätskurve schon stetig nach unten gezeigt - von Meisterwerken aus den frühen Siebzigern wie "Teaser And The Firecat" mit melodientrunkenem Folkpop zu den eher etwas steifen und ideenarmen Studioalben "Numbers" (1975), "Izitso" (1977) und "Back To Earth (1978). Jene letztgenannten Aufnahmen gibt es nun als Sammler-Edition im weinroten Schuber: drei Gold-CDs in MFSL-typischer Überspielqualität, mit einem Booklet, das Illustrationen und alle Texte bereithält. ** Interpret.: 05-08

© Stereoplay

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Mobile Fidelity reissued three of Cat Stevens' late-'70s records — Numbers, Izitso and Back to Earth — as a box set in 1996. These records aren't necessarily among his best, but they have some very strong songs, and this is a good way to acquire them. However, fans should know that this disc costs more than buying the two records separately. For audiophiles, this won't be a problem, since the remastered tapes will be worth the extra money, but less dedicated fans should be aware of the steep retail price of this disc.



Review by William Ruhlmann
Subtitled "A Pythagorean Theory Tale," Numbers was a concept album relating to a faraway galaxy, a planet called Polygor, a palace, and its people, the Polygons. So one learned from the album's accompanying booklet. The songs presumably told the tale, but as with so many concept albums, listening to Numbers was like hearing a Broadway cast album without having seen the show — something seemed to be going on, but it was hard to tell what. The setting did allow Cat Stevens to indulge his affection for Middle Ages madrigal music, and individual songs, notably the singles-chart entry "Banapple Gas," were appealing. The lyrics were full of references to home, God, and "the truth," which gave the whole a vaguely spiritual tone, though the key word here is "vague." Stevens fans may have been somewhat put off by the fear that Numbers was a kind of musical math class — though it went gold, the album was the first in his last seven to peak below the Top Ten.



Review by William Ruhlmann
Cat Stevens bounced back from the lackluster Numbers with an album of pop/rock songs that brought his usual rhythmic folk-rock into contemporary style with the Muscle Shoals rhythm section, a snappy Dave Kershenbaum production, and lots of synthesizers. Most of the songs were unusually lightweight, but the autobiographical "(I Never Wanted) To Be a Star" explored Stevens' ambivalence about being in the music business, an attitude that would find him dropping out and finding religion after one more album. In the meantime, Izitso produced a final Top 40 hit in "(Remember the Days of The) Old Schoolyard" and a singles-chart entry in the instrumental "Was Dog a Doughnut," as a result of which it returned Stevens's name to the Top Ten LPs list and gave him a ninth straight gold album, his last.



Review by William Ruhlmann
In retrospect, it is not hard to find in the final album Cat Stevens made before a near-death experience and a religious conversion hints of his coming change. "I must be heading for a breakdown," he notes in "Bad Brakes," the album's sole singles-chart entry; there are songs titles like "Last Love Song" and "Never"; and there is, throughout, an elegiac tone to the mostly quiet ballads. But it is just as easy to see Back to Earth as an intended return to the simple style of albums like Tea for the Tillerman and thus a return to form: producer Paul Samwell-Smith is back on board, along with his subdued arrangements, and Stevens is again investigating his favorite themes, including children ("Daytime"), the father-son relationship ("Father"), and the vulnerable nature of romantic love, in plain-spoken verses. The year 1978 was late for a sensitive singer/songwriter to make a comeback; most of the folkies were getting tossed off the major labels by then. So, it's doubtful that Back to Earth could have re-established Cat Stevens even if he had been willing and able to promote it. As it is, the album serves as a satisfying coda to his pop career.