tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post8018325019888851002..comments2024-03-02T07:40:22.786+03:00Comments on Only Solitaire blog: Cat Stevens: Catch Bull At FourUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-46525510062156469912017-08-07T03:26:04.200+03:002017-08-07T03:26:04.200+03:00Thank you for an amazingly informative and excepti...Thank you for an amazingly informative and exceptionally polite comment. Keep 'em coming.G. S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05848634884798924824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-13005958340023418592017-08-07T00:51:07.972+03:002017-08-07T00:51:07.972+03:00An amazingly dumb and prejudiced review of a poign...An amazingly dumb and prejudiced review of a poignant and musically clever work of art. Congratulations mr. Starostin on reaching new lows...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-24980393764966941662017-08-04T00:03:02.727+03:002017-08-04T00:03:02.727+03:0018th Avenue is specifically about a bad LSD trip i...18th Avenue is specifically about a bad LSD trip in Kansas City.Midnight Rockshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00299340585466896965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-45005698328162305812017-08-03T21:25:40.877+03:002017-08-03T21:25:40.877+03:00Here's my two cents.
This album sounds like ...Here's my two cents. <br /><br />This album sounds like the real sequel to Tillerman, the wide-eyed protagonist setting off on his journey for meaning or redemption and returning world-weary and cynical. It lacks the prettiness of the intervening album, but that was on one level a regression from Tillerman into well-intentioned but fairly banal truisms, for all the fancy packaging. Nowhere is this more apparent than on Sweet Scarlet, which sounds like the follow-up to Sad Lisa, only now, the offer of help is replaced by an almost funereal tone chronicling the tragedy that has by now seemingly occurred.<br /><br />Stevens isn't really a poet so there's little point in looking for clever metaphorical wordplay in his lyrics. His main strength is his melodic gift, which he seems to be deliberately restraining himself from applying here (I reckon that's why Sitting, like several other songs, doesn't have much beyond the simple introductory riff - listen to his first two albums for proof of how he could incorporate several catchy hooks into a 3 minute song), and in the inventiveness and diversity of the themes he chooses to sing about.<br /><br />There are a couple of duds here - agree with the assessment of Moon and Star - but you have to give him credit for investing, or trying to, his songs with real meaning. He's been on the journey and discovered that life is mostly about reflection (Sitting) honest toil (the lovely Silent Sunlight), that it's often meaningless (18th Avenue) and even that we're all doomed (the stunning and unique O Caritas, and the downbeat Ruins). <br /><br />The hit-making Stevens is now a thing of the past, which is a double-edged sword given that his real strength was always his sense of melody rather than his gift for lyrical expression, as opposed to insight. On Tillerman, he combined both, which is why it's his essential album. CloudSurferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00147823143388632564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-3635500702385831412017-08-03T21:19:06.085+03:002017-08-03T21:19:06.085+03:00Though it might spur an infidelity in the woods an...Though it might spur an infidelity in the woods and even provide the accompanying soundtrack. Come to think of it, maybe "The Boy..." is intentionally long and dull as to be background lovemaking music. 6 minutes (with a percussion climax halfway through) is all the Cat needs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com