As an artist whose songs are filled with myriad figures across centuries of human history, it is fitting that Al Stewart’s finest achievement – his 1976 album Year of the Cat – receives a retrospective celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Stewart is often credited with playing a role in the birth of a brand-new form of folk music, dubbed “historical folk,” which melds the popular folk rock and folk music revival styles from the late 1960s with fabled figures from history.
On Year of the Cat alone, Stewart explores subjects ranging from former British Royal Navy Vice Admiral Sir Richard Grenville (on incredible album opener “Lord Grenville”) to ill-fated aviator Amelia Earhart (“Flying Sorcery”), as well as notable actors Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre (in title track “Year of the Cat”).
Al Stewart: A Lyrical Genius
Lyrically, Stewart is a dynamo. He began his career as a more “guitar and vocals” folk artist, in which performers had to be sharp songwriters – in terms of both musical and lyrical prowess.
50 years on, Year of the Cat features some of the most gorgeous lyrical imagery ever found on vinyl. A few of the finest examples from Stewart’s pen found within YotC:
- “Conquistador in search of gold; for all the jackdaw reasons” – from “Midas Shadow”, track 3
- “And you lay there by the ‘Do Not’ signs, and shamed them with your spark” – from “Sand In Your Shoes”, track 4
- “No schoolroom kept you grounded; while your thoughts could get away; you were taking off in Tiger Moths, your wings against the brushstrokes of the day” – from “Flying Sorcery”, track 6
- “Love was a rollaway, just a cajole away; mist on a summer’s day, nothing was clear; love was a smile away, just a defile away; I sought it every way, no one came near” – from “Broadway Hotel”, track 7
- “She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running like a watercolor in the rain” – from “Year of the Cat”, track 9 (one of the finest, most poetic couplets in pop music history)
An Album Full of Unforgettable Musical Passages
Of course, while these lyrics are truly amazing, the album would not have stood the test of time a half-century later without some spectacular music. Year of the Cat delivers on that front as well.
While this album is only nine songs long, each of them takes the listener on a fascinating journey: from America’s lost “Roanoke” colony via Sir Richard Grenville’s ships to the skies above Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to a hotel on Broadway, all the way to watching a “play in Paris or Madrid.”
With rich, detailed production courtesy of Alan Parsons (of The Alan Parsons Project fame) and an incredible cast of studio musicians and collaborators headlined by the epic, utterly scintillating guitar work of Tim Renwick (with secondary notable guitar flourishes provided by Peter White), the music on Year of the Cat is truly without flaw.
Every song is utterly evocative of its subject, as they effortlessly transport the listener exactly where Stewart wants them to go. Part of that is Stewart’s songwriting mastery, but much of it can be linked to the tremendous instrumental segments, which Stewart’s collaborators and his studio guest stars deserve immense credit for.
Song Highlights
Starting from track one, “Lord Grenville,” Renwick’s astoundingly melodic guitar work undergirds the entirety of the album. As strong as the melodies on this album are, some of Renwick’s guitar figures are just as memorable – and sometimes more so.
The album flits from driving, flamenco-style tracks such as “On the Border” to pure, sun-bleached tropical pop like “Sand In Your Shoes,” which features an absolute earworm of a double-tracked, harmonized guitar solo from Renwick.
Renwick’s finest solo on the album might belong to track eight, “One Stage Before” – wherein a skyscraping, cascading volley of gilded guitar distortion closes out the song in the same eerie yet seductive way in which the entire song wraps itself around your brain without you even realizing it.
Of course, the big hit on the album is its title track, and Stewart wisely knew to sequence the album with “Year of the Cat” serving as the album’s capstone… as there’s no way any song could follow it.
Eminently cathartic, stunningly beautiful, and immediately recognizable, “Year of the Cat” takes listeners on a mini-journey of its own over its nearly seven-minute run time, with striking string sections, a memorable repeated piano motif, incredible dueling acoustic and electric guitar solos (both played by Renwick) and supremely lush, velvety production courtesy of Parsons.
One of the finest songs of the 1970s, “Year of the Cat” deserves its place as Stewart’s best-known and most beloved song, though the album on which it lives is far more than just a place where that hit single lives.
Year of the Cat: An Album Worth Treasuring
Seeing as Al Stewart writes about notable historical figures, it makes sense that Year of the Cat stands as the pinnacle of his artistic achievements. Each of the album’s nine songs sounds as if it were expertly chiseled from a stunning block of milky white marble, the way Michelangelo or Bernini shaped their timeless sculptures. Stewart isn’t working with physical tools, of course, but instead with a profound understanding of melody, harmony, and arrangement combined with his unique lyrical wizardry.
That craft is elevated even further by the album’s star-studded cast of collaborators. Tim Renwick, in particular, deserves the lion’s share of the praise, thanks to his sterling guitar work throughout.
On its 50th anniversary, Year of the Cat sounds just as fresh as it surely did when it first released in 1976. For the album’s 45th anniversary in 2021, a remastered version of the album was released in various formats, so if you’ve never given this album a spin, now is the perfect time to explore it (see the Spotify link below for easy access).
Listening to Year of the Cat will surely take you on an unforgettable journey. And even if “you know sometime you’re bound to leave her, for now you’re going to stay…”
Header Photo Courtesy Philip Halling/Wikimedia Commons
