Track Listing

1. Moonshadow
2. Father & Son
3. Morning Has Broken
4. Wild World
5. The First Cut Is The Deepest
6. Lady D'Arbanville
7. Oh Very Young
8. Matthew & Son
9. Sitting
10. Hard Headed Woman
11. I Love My Dog
12. Ruby Love
13. Don't Be shy
14. Can't Keep It In
15. Here Comes My Baby
16. Into White
17. (Remember The Days Of The) Old School Yard
18. Where Do The Children Play?
19. How Can I Tell You
20. Another Saturday Night
21. Sad Lisa
22. Just Another Night
23. Peace Train
24. If You want To sing Out Sing Out

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #291 in Music
• Released on: 2006-10-30
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .18 pounds
• Running time: 77 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
This set surveys all of Stevens's stages, from the orchestrated late-1960s sides through his early-'70s peak to his more eclectic late-1970s experiments. Following the progression makes for an interesting endeavor as Stevens learns to harness his ambitious ideas with arrangements that don't obscure his rhapsodic messages. Few artists of his generation were more gifted when it came to plucking timeless melodies out of thin air, and his sumptuous voice was always able to movingly convey his bittersweet lyrics. As a career overview this set achieves its goal, hitting all of the chart successes along the way and basically defining his role as a sensitive '70s singer-songwriter, but some fans may opt for the classic early-'70s studio records, which find Stevens at his most consistently touching. --Marc Greilsamer

CD Description
Definitive 'best of' collection from 70s folk-rock hero primarily known for his songs recorded by others, namely 'Wild World' and 'The First Cut Is The Deepest'. This album contains his own recordings of both these and other well-loved tracks such as 'Lady D'Arbanville', 'Father And Son' and 'The Old School Yard'.

Customer Reviews

Simply the Best
I enjoyed CS's music in the seventies, but was to young to really appreciate his talent as a writer. I would sum up this album as unbeatable. Having had listened to this over and over again since Christmas, I love it even more!

Excellent value remastered compilation of Cat Stevens
This is an excellent value compilation, extending to 24 songs over 77 minutes, which pretty much lives up to its title. Four pop hits from 1967-68 are included for the sake of completeness, but their overblown arrangements are grating and only serve to emphasise the appealing simplicity and restraint of much of Cat Stevens' Island Records work from 1970-78. The weakest tracks in the collection are 'Don't be shy' and 'If you want to sing out', which although rarities not available on other albums certainly do not rank among Stevens' best work. Their place would have been better taken by the tracks 'Ready' and 'Two fine people' (which both appeared on his 1975 Greatest Hits album, the latter not being available anywhere else), or 'The hurt'. This CD has the same tracks as the earlier collection 'Remember Cat Stevens', with the exception of two substituted songs, both of which are improvements over the selection on 'Remember'. Altogether a collection well worth having, although for the committed Cat Stevens fan there is no substitute for all his original Island albums, which are now available in superb sounding remastered editions with all the original artwork.

Great introduction to Cat's pop music
Born Steven Georgiou, he adopted the name Cat Stevens for his musical career but subsequently became a Muslim, quitting his musical career and changing his name again, this time to Yusuf Islam. This compilation of his music as Cat Stevens is as good as any you are likely to find.

Cat had a minor UK hit in 1966 (I love my dog) but established himself as a songwriter by providing the Tremeloes with their first hit since Brian Poole left them (Here comes my baby) and by providing P P Arnold with her first hit (First cut is the deepest). Those hits were both in 1967, the year in which Cat had his first major hit as a singer, when Matthew and son peaked at number two in the UK. It was the biggest hit he ever had. He had another top ten UK hit (I'm gonna get me a gun) and two minor hits (A bad night, Kitty) in 1967 but none of those hits are included here. Actually, despite their hit status, they aren't really important.

Cat left his original label (Deram) and signed to Island, after which he recorded a series of albums that won him international acclaim. Although he placed six singles on the UK charts, all included here, his reputation ultimately rests with his albums. This explains why so many of his fans do not like compilations of his music, preferring the original albums.

Nevertheless, there is a market for compilations and there are plenty of people who don't want (or can't afford) to collect Cat's original albums. So here you get those hits (Lady D'Arbanville, Moon shadow, Morning has broken, Can't keep it in, Another Saturday night, Remember the days of the old school yard) as well as other classic tracks such as Peace train, Father and son, Wild world and Cat's own versions of Here comes my baby and First cut is the deepest.

If you want just one Cat Stevens collection, make it this one - but if you decide to collect his original albums instead, start with Tea for the tillerman or Teaser and the firecat.