Yusuf

Yusuf / Cat Stevens – King of a Land (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 43:21 minutes | 482 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd

King of a Land is an epic body of work. More than a decade in the making, its 12 new songs are full of extraordinary surprises. Unique and transportive, Yusuf’s music, words and melodies paint a vivid picture of a world which embraces the lost lands of truisms and stainless youth, and brings it into touching distance. His poetical storytelling invites the listener on a journey towards the gates of an alternative universe to that which we presently inhabit – where happy endings can possibly happen. From the gloriously unexpected hard-rock intensity of ‘Pagan Run’ to the Tchaikovsky-inspired orchestration on ‘How Good It Feels’, the delicate acoustic balladry of ‘He Is True’ through to the driving Phil Spector-goes-gospel vibe of ‘Highness’, the Travelling Wilburys-styled rolling Americana groove of ‘All Nights, All Days’, and the ornate, atmospheric ‘Son Of Mary’, ‘King of a Land’ is an epic body of work. The album’s artwork was created by Peter H Reynolds, the award-winning children’s illustrator.

(more…)

Yusuf, Cat Stevens – Tea For The Tillerman² (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 39:30 minutes | 446 MB | Genre: Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © UMC (Universal Music Catalogue)

Cat Stevens was only 22, but already impressively bearded and professing worldly wisdom, when he released 1970’s ‘Tea for The Tillerman’, a cosy collection of pop-leaning folk songs. The record made the shy singer-songwriter a global phenomenon. With swooning lead single ‘Wild World’ – a tribute to the Londoner’s girlfriend, actor Patti D’Arbanville – he invented the softer side of dad-rock, and topped it all off with a cutesy cover illustration of the titular tillerman sipping on a nice cup of Earl Grey.

(more…)