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ALL THINGS MUST PASS
1970
1970
Your All-Genres Guide To
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"...I Think See The Light..."
To date I've purchased two
of these 50th Anniversary Reissues - "Mona Bone Jakon" and "Tea
For The Tillerman" - both albums originally issued in 1970.
They are part
of an ongoing series of reissues entitled The Yusuf / Cat Stevens Cat-O-Log
Collection.
2021 has also seen September 1971's "Teaser And The
Firecat", and 2022 will undoubtedly see September 1972's "Catch Bull
At Four" also get a 50th Anniversary makeover, and in multiple formats too.
Only ever available as a
bare-bones single CD remaster from 2000, this is the first time "Mona Bone
Jakon" has been given a proper upgrade (see list of formats below). And
like most purchasers/fans I've loved the fabulous new spangly-clean Geoff
Pesche Remasters (done at Abbey Road in 2020), and the 2CD Hardback Book
Digipaks are certainly presentation lookers. But there are frustrating clunkers
across this 2CD set masquerading as 'Bonuses' and irritating omissions that
really should have been on here (and this is before we get to the initial vs.
now prices of the 'Super Deluxe Box Sets' which started out at £185+ and are
now hard to sell at £78 and £75 respectively).
Anyway, let's deal with what
we have to celebrate and moan about in equal measure...
UK released 4 December 2020
- "Mona Bone Jakon: 2CD Deluxe Edition" by CAT STEVENS on
UMC/Cat-O-Log/Island 0602508395260 (Barcode 602508395260) is a 2CD Reissue and
Remaster with 10 Bonus Tracks (on CD2) that plays out as follows:
CD1 "Mona Bone Jakon,
2020 Remaster" (35:19 minutes):
1. Lady D'Arbanville [Side
1]
2. Maybe You're Right
3. Pop Star
4. I Think I See The Light
5. Trouble
6. Mona Bone Jakon [Side 2]
7. I Wish, I Wish
8. Katmandu
9. Time
10. Fill My Eyes
11. Lilywhite
Tracks 1 to 11 are his 3rd
studio album "Mona Bone Jakon" - released April 1970 in the UK on
Island ILPS 9118 and August 1970 in the USA on A&M Records SP-4260.
Produced by PAUL SAMWELL-SMITH with all songs written by CAT STEVENS - it
peaked at No.63 on UK LP charts in June 1970 (didn't chart USA).
CD2 "Mona Bone Jakon,
Demos and Live Recordings" (31:59 minutes):
1. Maybe You're Right
(Studio Demo)
2. I Think I See The Light (Studio
Demo)
3. Trouble (Studio Demo)
4. I Wish I Wish (Studio
Demo)
5. I Want Some Sun (Studio
Demo)
6. Interview - BBC Live
Recording 16 June 1970
7. Lady D'Arbanville - BBC
Live Recording 16 June 1970
8. Katmandu - BBC Live
Recording 16 June 1970
9. Time / Fill My Eyes - Audience Recording Live at Plumpton Jazz
& Blues Festival 8 Aug 1970
10. Maybe You're Right -
Audience Recording Live at Plumpton Jazz & Blues Festival 8 Aug 1970
The hardback book with
embossed front-cover artwork that precisely mimics the original British LPs
that comes with these 2CD Deluxe Editions is gorgeous and of course the same
generic artwork will make a row of titled spines stretching right up his last
album on Island Records "Back To Earth" in December 1978. To date
(January 2022), there have been three (see list below). Unfortunately once the
shrink-wrap is torn open, the titled sticker has nowhere to go and worse, the
credits page on the rear simply falls off (don't know why they can't simply
paste these bloody things on).
But once inside, those minor
niggles fade. There is a newly laid out 28-page booklet replacing the 12-page
inlay of the old 2000 CD version. Anyone who had the original UK and US LPs on
Island and A&M Records will remember fondly that the inner holding bags
actually had the lyrics to the songs printed out in his handwriting on either
side of the bag with little noodle drawings above some of the songs. The 2000
CD booklet repro'd that, but unfortunately this reissue ditches all such
slavish devotion to detail in favour of a more elaborate presentation.
In-between the period B&W/Colour photos and rare Euro Picture Sleeves, each
song gets a detailed liner-notes history of its creation and the lyrics are
typed next to them in a clear font. The period snaps are fab - publicity
photos, live shots with Alun Davies on Guitar, a repro of the Harold And Maude
film that Cat Stevens gave songs to and well as two pages at the rear showing
the actual British Mastertapes. Genesis fans will know that an in-between albums
19-year-old Peter Gabriel played flute on "Katmandu" (not much of a
contribution truth be told) and we get thankful reminiscence from him on it,
but sadly no photos. A huge let down (as it is with all these 2CD sets) is that
CD2 is merely listed by tracks in the booklet but has no discussion at all –
the lazy approach. There is a sort of apology and acknowledgment that the
Audience Tape sound on the two Plumpton Jazz & Blues Festival cuts is less
than brill - even with Abbey Road audio restoration and remastering. I think
they're a joke and CD2 filler of the worst order. But more of that later...
Ted Jensen - a long-standing
Audio Engineer of WEA catalogue renown – mastered the 2000 single CD reissue
series and lovely they were too. Here we get technology advanced by 20 years
and GEOFF PESCHE at Abbey Road having another go round in 2020. These '50th
Anniversary' Reissues are gorgeous and even though you can feel the crudity
with which "Mona Bone Jakon" was recorded, the audio feels bigger and
more spacious. The instruments are in your face and in a clarity-way you would
actually want. Impressive...
MBJ opens with an obvious
single, the lovely mid-paced "Lady D'Arbanville". Actually darker
than its pleasant strum would initially suggest - the warmth of that acoustic
soundstage is countered with cheery lines like "...in your grave you
lie...I'll always be with you...this rose will never die..." A hurting
smoocher follows - this time Cat leading with piano on "Maybe You're
Right". It’s a rather stunning little song that sounds like it could
easily have been on "Tea For A Tillerman". With it's strings and deep
melody - I can't help thinking it would have made a great follow up 45 - but
Island let "Lady D'Arbanville" be the only 7" single lifted from
the album. The rather acidic "Pop Star" whines just a little too much
and just seems strangely out of place (a B-side) - but at least as he sings
"...going to the cold bank..." the acoustics are crystal (a great
transfer this). Side 1 ends with "I Think I See The Light" - a slight
return to the Pop sound of the Deram days - and the beautiful
"Trouble" - a song that exudes a tangible hurt (superb remastered
sound).
Side 2 opens with the short
and echoed title track "Mona Bone Jakon" where he sings 'jack-on' and
tells us 'it won't be lonely for long' - whatever that means. A pencilled face
with a closed-up mouth stares down at the lyrics for "I Wish, I Wish"
in the booklet (his own sketch) - a strange hybrid sound that's somewhere
between Deram and Island - and dig that fabulous Acoustic Guitar solo (Alun
Davies I'd swear). The catgut strings of a Spanish acoustic guitar squeak
throughout "Katmandu" where we hear the occasional Flute flourishes
of Genesis' Peter Gabriel making a few bob before stardom on Charisma Records.
It's a tad hissy this track but the audio is magnificent – Pesche has wisely
let it breath. At 1:26 minutes "Time" is short but wow what a
gorgeous little melody - him on acoustic with the occasional piano note nipping
in and out like a jet (treated production). It segues into the equally pretty
"Fill My Eyes" - a song with a sweet chorus. It finishes on another
LP highlight - the ballad "Lilywhite" - Newman's arrangement of those
big strings and cello notes elevating the song into something special - especially
in that gorgeous fade-out passage.
But the lovely new 2020
album audio is as nothing to the five Studio Demos that start CD2, that as far
as I'm concerned actually outshine the finished versions on CD1. They are
startling in their sonic clarity to say the bloody least – beautiful – acoustic
guitar on "Maybe You're Right" and "I Wish I Wish" with
pounding piano on "I Think I See The Light". His attack on these
Studio Demos is palpable – like he's got something to prove after a yearlong
illness with TB and with this stunning audio feel more 'alive' than the rather
stilted finished cuts ended up sounding on the LP. The new outtake "I Want
Some Sun" is beautifully recorded but awkward, not great either vocally or
lyric-wise and easy to see why it remained in the can all these years.
As I say, fans are going to
love those five Studio Demos. Unfortunately the dairy of them is quickly
reduced to rubble by the crappy last five – one of which is a 1:11 second
interview with the BBC explaining about Patti D'Arbanville, the actress he was dating
at the time who featured in the Andy Warhol movie "Flesh" and whom
"Lady D'Arbanville" is based upon. "Katmandu" follows, but
both are hissy and only OK sonic-wise. The two Plumpton Jazz and Blues Festival
offerings are awful (the poster is repro'd in the booklet) – unlistenable
far-away crap. They shouldn't be here and 'historical importance' is a poor
excuse. When I think of the Mona outtakes on the Cat Stevens Box Set like
"I've Got A Thing About Seeing My Grandson Grow Old" or the lovely
Harold And Maude tracks like "Don't Be Shy" and "If You Want To
Sing Out Sing Out" – they would have been so much more appropriate and
genuine 'bonuses'. As it is, it won't take fans long to work out that the good
five could have been tagged onto the 1CD 50th Anniversary version - cheaper for
us - less for the morally upright artist.
"Mona Bone Jakon"
isn't as special as the "Tea For The Tillerman" and "Teaser And
The Firecat" LPs that would follow and make his name. Instead it's a
three-star effort that's getting to those two stabs of genuine five-star greatness.
I've also watched this 2CD Deluxe Edition of "Mona Bone Jakon"
fluctuate wildly in price ever since release, up to a point that as I write this in
January 2022, it's less than eight quid new on Amazon with "Tillerman"
clocking in at one point a few days ago at a staggering low price of £6.35 for the double!
So, to sum up - anywhere under a whinging
ten-spot for the 2CD Deluxe Edition of "Mona Bone Jakon" and I say go
for it my peeps of taste and cultural refinement, this being upgraded tears
from a dustbin truly worth nabbing...
Titles in The Yusuf/Cat
Stevens/Cat-O-Log Collection Series Of
50th Anniversary Reissues - Geoff Pesche Remasters at
Abbey Road
1. Mona Bone Jakon (April
1970 UK Original LP)
All 50th Anniversary Formats
UK/EU released 4 December 2020
On Universal UMC/Cat-O-Log
Records/Island Records
Single CD Version is
0602508820298
2CD Deluxe Edition Version
is 0602508395260
4CD/LP/12”/BLU RAY Super
Deluxe Box Set Version is 0602508395178
VINYL LP Version is 0602508820304
2. Tea For The Tillerman
(November 1970 UK Original LP)
All 50th Anniversary Formats
UK/EU released 4 December 2020
On Universal UMC/Cat-O-Log
Records/Island Records
Single CD Version is
06025088203598
2CD Deluxe Edition Version
is 0602508395253
5CD/LP/12”/BLU RAY Super
Deluxe Box Set Version is 0602508395086
VINYL LP Version is
0602508820311
3. Teaser And The Firecat
(September 1971 UK Original LP)
All 50th Anniversary Formats
UK/EU released 19 November 2021
On Universal UMC/Cat-O-Log
Records/Island Records
Single CD Version is
0602435513188
2CD Deluxe Edition Version
is 0602435513126
4CD/BLU RAY Super Deluxe Box
Set Version is 00602435949628
VINYL LP Version is
0602435513218
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