Al Stewart
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Al Stewart (born September 5, 1945) is a British songwriter and musician. He is best known for his 1976 single Year Of The Cat and its 1978 follow-up Time Passages (both produced by Alan Parsons). Stewart’s inspiration for his songs primarily comes from the past; indeed, he is credited with creating his own genre, “historical folk rock”. At one time in his life, Stewart took guitar lessons from King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp.
Stewart was born in Glasgow, Scotland but grew up in the coastal resort town of Bournemouth, Dorset. According to Songfacts, in days of youthful folly Stewart played in a beat group with later BBC DJ Tony Blackburn before moving to the capital to seek fortune and fame.
Although he had his share of the breaks, including a tenure at Bunjees coffee house and a record deal with CBS, life wasn’t always easy for the young troubadour; his first serious love affair ended in disaster, and he experienced all the usual insecurities of the stranger in the big city trying to find his way.
In January 1970, Melody Maker named his second release Love Chronicles its Folk Album Of The Year, but in spite of his obviously carving out quite a name for himself, it was not untilYear Of The Cat - the single and even more so the monster album - that he really shot to fame.
Year Of The Cat and its 1978 follow-up Time Passages (both produced by Alan Parsons). Stewart’s inspiration for his songs primarily comes from the past; indeed, he is credited with creating his own genre, “historical folk rock”. At one time in his life, Stewart took guitar lessons from King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp.
Stewart was born in Glasgow, Scotland but grew up in the coastal resort town of Bournemouth, Dorset. According to Songfacts, in days of youthful folly Stewart played in a beat group with later BBC DJ Tony Blackburn before moving to the capital to seek fortune and fame.
Although he had his share of the breaks, including a tenure at Bunjees coffee house and a record deal with CBS, life wasn’t always easy for the young troubadour; his first serious love affair ended in disaster, and he experienced all the usual insecurities of the stranger in the big city trying to find his way.
In January 1970, Melody Maker named his second release Love Chronicles its Folk Album Of The Year, but in spite of his obviously carving out quite a name for himself, it was not until
Year Of The Cat - the single and even more so the monster album - that he really shot to fame.
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The Best of Al Stewart
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Year Of The Cat
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Time Passages
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On the Border
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Shoutbox
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estravagaria wrote:
On a morning from a Bogart movie In a country where they turn back time...
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waldojeffers1 wrote:
saw Al a couple days ago, his voice still sounds great live. Nice guy too.
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Luffbucket wrote:
@ClydeConkey: lol, great stuff :-)
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morleron wrote:
Smoked a lot of Columbian weed in the mid-'70s listening to Al's music,. I originally heard "Roads to Moscow" on KISW an AOR FM station out of Seattle, WA. while i was living there in 1975-76. I went out and ordered "Past, Present, and Future" about a month before "Year of the Cat" came out. And he's still making great music as "Shards of Ancient Light" shows.
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ProdigalPriest wrote:
I was in in a playpen discovering the joys of finger-painting with my own excreta but I can still remember listening to Year of the Cat. loved it then and still do now 35 years later.
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ClydeConkey wrote:
Cleaned my first bag of pot on this album cover in 1976 - THAT'S THE SPIRIT! (For you youngsters, that is when pot had seeds in it and album covers were bigger than one square foot.)
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Erhard47 wrote:
Hat jemand den Text von "Year Of The Cat" wirklich kapiert? Did anyone understand the lyrics of "Year Of The Cat" really?
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grendelis wrote:
I learnt so much history and poetry from his songs.
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kriegsturmer wrote:
Love his stuff... but I bet he could pull off a convincing version of West End Girls... It's a joke. Relax. Time Passages is one of my all time favorites. That sax is incredible.
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joriiik wrote:
apple cider!
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p38lightning7 wrote:
A very unique sound he has I must say.
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revolutionen wrote:
Adore his earlier material!
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mssaintgermain wrote:
Creo que además del Año del Gato, otras canciones son excelentes. Escuchen WHAT'S GOING ON; ALMOST LUCY. Los riffs de guitarra acústica son originales y muy lindos. La calidad del sonido que tienen sus discos son sobresalientes. Yo toco sus canciones y difícilmente puedo lograr el feeling de Al Stewart.
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joriiik wrote:
jup :D most of the songs are perfect, not only the ones from the year of the cat album!
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MatsuSkyline wrote:
underrated =/
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mirrorball95 wrote:
Latest great album I discovered is 24 Carrots. Next time he comes to Scotland, I'm going for sure!
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HARTYP wrote:
I have just listened to his greatest hits and brought a tea to my eye thinking that it was over 30 years ago when i first liked him with Year of the Cat and also my favorite is Roads to Moscow. The guy is a genius and i wish thee were more of him about
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ndunlavey wrote:
The man who made the electric historic folk rock genre his own ... ;)
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Pdna2 wrote:
@Hanare-- Most have only heard 1or 2 hits (and Time Passages was pretty lame, imo). If people actually listened to his early stuff (from late 60's folk/ baroque pop era) to a rock classic like the 1975 Modern Times, say, it would be hard not to be impressed by his unique and inspired songwriting and delivery (to say nothing of Parson's seamless production). He's also one of the more gifted lyricists we've seen in rock music. Great stuff, criminally overlooked.
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rosmaritbrum wrote:
Fascinante....
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Year of the Cat
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You should have listened to Al
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A Man For All Seasons
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Life In Dark Water (Live)
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Recent Activity
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larop1, claudiamore, minimicumahfoud and 13 other people added Al Stewart to their libraries. 7 minutes ago
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WOArulesMetal tagged Al Stewart with ‘classic rock’. Sunday evening
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andrewpwm, robfromdublin, Onkyoht360 and 54 other people added Al Stewart to their libraries. Sunday afternoon
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AJ2002 tagged Al Stewart with soft rock and folk. last month
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BAYNOR, lesdawg122, ldcolyar and 8 other people added Al Stewart to their libraries. last month
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makys tagged Al Stewart with british, british folk, singer-songwriter and 3 other tags. last month
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djnartus, els57, amr1234 and 4 other people added Al Stewart to their libraries. last month
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fakehead wrote about Al Stewart – Year Of The Cat in scrobble on the turntable. June 2011
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Roelant wrote about Al Stewart – Year Of The Cat in My CD collection. December 2010
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Oniren wrote about Al Stewart – Year Of The Cat in CD Collection. August 2010
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