PRESS
RELEASE
CD
DEBUT OF “INDIAN OCEAN” HIGHLIGHTS
DEFINITIVE TWO-CD
GOLD RETROSPECTIVE FROM CAT STEVENS/YUSUF
ISLAM
Collection Also Features The Hits “The
First Cut Is The Deepest,” “Where
Do The Children Play?,” “Hard
Headed Woman,” “Wild World,”
“Moonshadow,” “Morning Has
Broken,” “Peace Train,”
“Oh Very Young” And More
 With
the CD debut of “Indian Ocean,”
Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) gives an inkling
of a new creative dawn and lends hope that
more music will soon be heard from a man who
wrote and recorded some of his generation’s
most beloved songs. Penned and co-produced
by Islam, “Indian Ocean” was digitally
released in early 2005 to benefit, through
Islam’s Small Kindness charity, children
in the region of Aceh decimated by the December
2004 tsunami. Now the recording highlights
Cat Stevens: Gold
(A&M/UMe), the singer-songwriter’s
definitive two-CD retrospective, released
November 15, 2005.
After reaching the veritable heights of pop
sovereignty, Cat Stevens bowed out and became
a Muslim, changing his name to Yusuf Islam
and did not record for nearly 20 years. But
in the mid-‘90s, Yusuf looked back at
his life choices and realized what his music
meant to the millions of people who had loved
and grown up with it. After much soul-searching,
he decided that his talent for building peace
and harmony through his songs was needed more
than ever. Gradually, he began taking steps
towards a return.
2000 saw the release of The Very Best Of Cat
Stevens, marking his first gold record in
more than 20 years. In 2001, the Cat Stevens
Box Set was released, from which he donated
the royalties to the September 11th Fund and
Small Kindness. He also re-emerged on various
benefit albums--for Bosnia, the children of
Iraq, AIDs, Band Aid and the tsunami victims.
Cat Stevens: Gold spans his career from 1966-1978
and each of his albums with 31 recordings
digitally remastered from the original two-track
analog master tapes. Gold opens with his second
single, “Matthew And Son,” which
hit #2 U.K. Two other early songs were U.K.
hits for others: “Here Comes My Baby”
for the Tremeloes and “The First Cut
Is The Deepest” for P.P. Arnold (decades
later, Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow respectively
turned it into major transatlantic hits).
In the U.S., “Lady
D’Arbanville” and “Trouble”
from 1970’s Mona Bone Jakon were for
many the introduction to Stevens. Elsewhere,
Jimmy Cliff scored a U.K. Top 10 with a reggae
reading of his “Wild World,” which
the author turned into a #11 U.S. hit on 1970’s
Tea For The Tillerman, which also included
such gems as “Hard Headed Woman,”
“Father And Son,” “Where
Do The Children Play?” and “Sad
Lisa.” Stevens’ “Don’t
Be Shy” and “If You Want To Sing
Out, Sing Out” were then heard in the
cult classic Harold And Maude.
Stevens’ ability to encapsulate his
metaphysical journey in song helped make him
a massive star. He sold millions of copies
of now-classic albums and performed for adoring
crowds in arenas around the globe. 1971’s
Teaser And The Firecat scored with “Morning
Has Broken” (#6), “Peace Train”
(#7) and “Moonshadow” (#30). Gold
also includes its “The Wind” and
“Bitterblue.” Catch Bull At Four
in 1972 was his fourth of eight consecutive
gold albums, and at U.S. #1 his highest charter,
and included “Sitting” (#16),
“Can’t Keep It In,” “Silent
Sunlight,” “Angelsea” and
“18th Avenue (Kansas City Nightmare).”
His take on Sam Cooke’s “Another
Saturday Night” (#6) was a single that
year before joining his Greatest Hits.
From 1973’s Foreigner, Gold culls the
18-minute “Foreigner Suite” and
Top 40 “The Hurt.” 1974’s
Buddha And The Chocolate Box yields the #10
“Oh Very Young” as well as “King
Of Trees.” 1975’s concept album
Numbers is represented by “Drywood”
while 1977’s Izitso spotlighted “(I
Never Wanted) To Be A Star” and Top
40 “(Remember The Days Of The) Old Schoolyard.”
1978’s Back To Earth included the prophetic
“Last Love Song.”
Today, Yusuf Islam is arguably one of the
world’s most famous converts to Islam.
A committed family man, he has continuously
been devoted to charitable causes, especially
for children and education. In 1996, he achieved
historic equality for Muslim families in the
U.K. by founding the first government-funded
primary school for Muslim pupils alongside
long-established existing schools for the
Christian and Jewish communities. He has been
honored with the World Social Award for his
humanitarian relief work (previous recipients
include Pope John Paul II, Steven Spielberg
and Paul McCartney) and in 2004 he was presented
the Man for Peace award by a committee of
Nobel Peace Prize laureates. This year, he
will receive an honorary doctorate in the
U.K. for his work in education.
Meanwhile, three decades after their creation,
Cat Stevens’ vintage songs retain their
emotional resonance. That they continue to
be embraced by longtime admirers and new generations
of fans is a testament to the songs’
ongoing relevance and their timeless efforts
to understand the world in which we all live
and the tomorrow we all wish for.
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