Tea for the Tiller man Island

Cat Stevens

It's official now. Time has run a feature on James Taylor and the new rock is now 'bitter-sweet and low. Notwithstanding the putative erudition of the music editors of Time, I think the new move in rock might be more accurately described as a 'renaissance in Romanticism.' I use these words advisedly, for many of the new stars produce songs with all the delicate balance and finesse of Elizabethan madrigals. If we accept these premises, then Cat Stevens is one of the 'new' rock artists. Except that he isn't.

Cat Stevens put out a string of hits in England in the mid-sixties (Semi-detached Suburban Mr. James' et al.) Even then his songs, though rather trite, displayed a little more artistry than the music many of his pop contemporaries were issuing. Stevens was not very happy with his product however, and finally, after a new breakdown, managed to get out of his contract by demanding his next record have a hundred-piece orchestra and massed choir. Nothing was heard of him for some years, until Mona Bone Jakon his first album for a long time, suddenly took off in the U.S. He had tapped the first demand for the 'new rock'.

Stevens can't really be compared with James Taylor or people like Elton John, though he has, like Taylor, spent time in mental institutions. But while Taylor's music is indeed 'bitter-sweet and low', Stevens has, perhaps, a message more of hope, though in a similar mood. Tea for the Tillerman, his second album, is a sparing LP, using only a few sidemen and strings. The music is finely balanced, two acoustic guitars dominating (Stevens plays guitar and keyboards.) Delicacy and precision are the watchwords. Cat Stevens' songs are most intricately written. It is obvious he is quite scrupulous in polishing them for recording. He does not use a straightstanza very often, but winds the music about the words, repeating words in different rhythms when there is a point to make.

Fire and spring ice? It is very evocative.

So. If you are tired of heavy heavy heavy rock, or if you wish to balance your mind. Cat Stevens is an excellent choice. A beautiful and delicate LP, Tea for the Tillerman conveys, with some subtlety, the sort of moods we seem to lose most of our ability to express after leaving the confines of the College Magazine, and is a most refreshing noise. Understandably jaded with heavy music, it's easy to see why the Arrierican and British audiences have turned to artists like this, branded new as the bitter-sweet and low apostates of the new rock.

-The One..