REVIEW

There was a time when Cat Stevens had something to say, and this CD compiles the whole. Whether his poetically romantic "Lady D'Arbanville" or his cautionary "Wild World," he declared in song things worth singing along to. The defiant "Another Saturday Night," with its familiar lonely angst ("It's another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody," resonates today as much as it did back in the 1970s when Cat Stevens mattered. That he now gives half of his royalties to charities the US government claims are affiliated with terrorism is alarming, but his old song still plays well. The broken-hearted hope intonated in "The First Cut is the Deepest," still has the same power when it hit the airwaves when AM radio was king.

The hits, like "Moonshadow," "Peace Train" and "Morning Has Broken," are all here. With 20 cuts, it plays longer than average, and is perfect for long drives.

As a personality, Stevens is enigmatic, acknowledging at one time that the Koran taught those who denounce the Islamic god should be killed (when referring to the Salman Rushdie death fatwah, still in force), while also, more recently, opposing terrorist attacks. As a musician, he has always been strong, bringing in passion to the often more subdued folk-rock scene.

This CD is clean of hiss and other noise problems sometimes found in compilations from the 1970s. Because his guitar work is filled with subtle strummings and picking, the clarity sounded here will cause older fans to put away their LPs. It is that good.

I fully recommend this CD, but be aware where the money goes.

Anthony Trendl