The fifth studio album for Cat Stevens, who would later rename himself Yusuf Islam, was released this month in 1971. Teaser and the Firecat offered ten songs in the pop/rock, album rock, soft rock and singer/songwriter categories suggested by the American online music database. Stevens was born in London, England.
The Wind opens Teaser and the Firecat seeing Stevens, as quoted on Songfacts here, examining “spirituality and fate, listening to the wind of his soul to find his direction. At the time, he was exploring Eastern philosophy following a life-threatening bout of tuberculosis.” Recorded in London, the song would be used in the Cameron Crowe movie Almost Famous (2000), among others.
With a verse sung in Greek, Rubylove was recorded in Los Angeles, California of the United States. As noted on the Playing Cat Stevens blog here, this song allowed friends of Cat Stevens’ father “over to the studio to play on the record with their bouzouki.” The instrument is similar to a mandolin in sound, though Greek in origin.
If I Laugh meditates on the aftermath of a deeply impactful relationship that has run its course to an unhappy ending. The relationship need only be meaningful and missed, with Stevens making a statement for doing the work for recovery. The meaning here helps me greatly.
The fourth song on the album, Changes IV, as noted on the Playing Cat Stevens blog here, “was recorded with Gerry Conway playing live drums. Those background claps on the album recording were actually Cat’s ingenious idea.” The song amplifies the message of change being a necessary teacher in life, as raised in the song If I Laugh.
How Can I Tell You gets into the notion of a writer feeling “something so immense that he can’t think of words to describe how he is feeling[, thus] it becomes difficult to write songs,” as stated here. The song captures the elusiveness of this forthrightly.
Tuesday’s Dead brings an uplifting playfulness to finding the peace of mind and purpose in a life that hasn’t provided the experiences to light the path through the confusion. That the human condition is this kind of messy need not diminish the light; Stevens says to lift the bushel and shine despite what embarrassment or pain you feel to get to peace, allowing the past to remain there once you can.
Morning Has Broken, along with the remainder of the songs on Teaser and the Firecat, were recorded in London. Charting ninth in the United Kingdom and sixth in the United States, as noted here, the song provides a “reworking of a 1931 children’s hymn by Eleanor Farjeon, who also wrote a lot of children’s poetry. The lyric is a reference to the book of Genesis in the Bible, where God creates Earth on the “first morning.””
Bitterblue is a negotiation of sorts in coming to some form of understanding about moving forward with understanding and acceptance. While I can see this living in the context of a human relationship, I see this more expansively within the context of the Teaser and the Firecat album as an effort to reach spiritual understanding with the divine, perhaps existentially. I hear a distinct sense for what Cat Stevens is trying to reject within the dialogue he shares with us in Bitterblue.
Moonshadow charted 22nd in the United Kingdom and 30th in the United States, as noted here. This song gets into finding hope in any situation; being present and joyful; seeing life as it is, right now, and not comparing it to others’ lives, or other times in your life. The message is to be present in the current moment rather than worrying about what could be, or what has been, since the richness of life rests in experiencing the present moment.
Peace Train charted as high as seventh in the United States, as indicated here. In the song, Cat Stevens sings of a hopefulness for people coming together, peacefully, to form a unified togetherness of purpose, direction and peace. Stevens is quoted as saying he was “was revisiting a very Greek-sounding riff – the kind of thing you’d hear on a Greek island. The words were attached to that time, my peace anthem. It ended every show that I did and was quite a show stopper. It was a very important song for me because it stated one of the big goals of my life which was heading straight for that peace.”
Musicians accompanying Stevens on Teaser and the Firecat include Harvey Burns on drums, Gerry Conway on drums and voices, Alun Davies on guitar, Angelos Hatzipavli on the bouzouki, Del Newman on strings, Paul Samwell-Smith on finger cymbals and vocals, Larry Steele on bass and congas, Andreas Toumazis on the bouzouki and Rick Wakeman on the piano and organ.
Matt – Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Matt Lynn Digital 