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ranked #128,592 most helpful
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★★★★★
A Triumphant Return--Better Than Ever!
Like many diehard Cat Stevens fans, I have eagerly devoured his Islamic recordings over the past twenty-eight years, all of which are superb, if somewhat difficult to find. "An Other Cup," is something else entirely.
Although still recording under his Muslim name, ("Yusuf Islam" now shortened to simply "Yusuf"), the former Cat Stevens has made a triumphant return to the spiritual folk-pop of his youth, and--by any name--he IS still very much Cat Stevens. Every track here is heartfelt, beautifully written, and gorgeously produced.
The whole range of his remarkable career is represented: a new recording of "I Think I See The Light," originally from 1970's MONA BONE JAKON; a horn-powered "Midday" which, although it is a new song, wouldn't have sounded out of place on his very first album, 1966's MATTHEW AND SON; "Heaven/Where True Love Goes," which expands on the final section of 1973's "Foreigner Suite." The album even closes with "Greenfields And Golden Sands," a previously-unrecorded early song dating from 1968! From start to finish, all are superb; there is a maturity in these tracks which in some ways surpasses his classic 1970s work.
This album is not for everyone. In the age of hard-edged, angry rap, some people will undoubtedly find Yusuf's folky spiritualism out-moded and passe. For those of us who loved Cat Stevens thirty years ago, however, this CD represents a long-awaited return to a magical world we feared we had lost forever. Bravo, Yusuf! And welcome back!
November 2006 · CDs and Vinyl · verified purchase
the product in question
An Other Cup
4.5★ · 433 ratings, as of 2023