Product Description

1970's MONA BONE JAKON was Cat Stevens's third album, yet it bore little relation to the pop-oriented sound of his 1967releases. In the interim Stevens had become disillusioned with the pop scene, then became seriously ill and spent a year convalescing. When he returned with this album his sound had grown folksier and his songs more reflective and emotionally straightforward. Acoustic guitar and spare backing by bass, keys, and drums framed these new compositions that dealtwith the trials of fame ("Pop Star"), personal hardship ("Trouble"), and faith ("I Think I See the Light").
Althoughthe quality of the songwriting here does not quite match what Stevens would achieve on his following releases, it is strong nonetheless, and goes a good length toward establishinghis trademark sound. Of particular note is Stevens' voice: a rich, variable baritone that he exploits on MONA BONE JAKON to excellent effect. The results--warm, intimate, and immediately appealing--put Stevens in the running with the best singer-songwriters of the early '70s, and paved the way for his next release, the watershed TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN.

Track Listing

1. Lady D'Arbanville
2. Maybe You're Right
3. Pop Star
4. I Think I See The Light
5. Trouble
6. Mona Bone Jakon
7. I Wish, I Wish
8. Katmandu
9. Timen
10. Fill My Eyes
11. Lillywhite

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24466 in Music
• Released on: 2000-05-29
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 35 minutes

Customer Reviews

New beginning
After two albums of colourful pop and a serious illness, Cat Stevens returned in a much-changed guise. Gone was the fashionable, fresh-faced man about town, and in was the t-shirted, chisel-featured, hirsute troubadour. How much influence his illness had on this music I don't know because the lyrics tend to be vague. The concept of time, however, recurs frequently on this album, especially the shortage of it. In some ways, this is a more interesting album than its more illustrious successors, as it has more twists and turns. 'Lady D'Arbanville' is a macabre tale in folk ballad mode, featuring a beguiling melody. 'Maybe You're Right' is rooted in the present, a resigned reflection on failed love. 'I Think I See The Light' is a brisk, piano-dominated slice of realisation and optimism, a track that sounds like a product of late 1960s revolution. 'Katmandu' follows other musicians into Eastern mysticism, though it's done without sitar or tabla. Instead ghostly traces of flute, courtesy of a young Peter Gabriel weave a beautiful melody with Stevens's guitar. 'Lillywhite' has an obscure lyric, two minutes of song and almost as much again of string-driven whimsy. All of the songs are wonderful, with the exception of 'Pop Star.' Stevens certainly gets his message across on this one, not with the plain lyric, nor with the slightly shambolic, standard blues picking, but with the wry, laconic vocal delivery. For me, this isn't enough. It's simply a poor song with an attitude, though it sounds like a deliberate act of sabotage. The brief title track has a similar element of darkness. 'Mona Bone Jakon' the album is, however, Stevens's biggest musical leap and well worth hearing.

magnifique!
Ok, i love Cat stevens ,even if I was born many a year after he disappeared off out of the charts.

I bought this because I love the song Trouble, which features in my all-time favourite film, Harold and Maude(go see).

I think its an amazing album and who cares if it is a little more depressing than his usual stuff .... everyone needs to be sad sometimes you know and at least CS is sad in a literate manner...

heck, i just like sad songs, so sue me sue me what can you do me, I love this....(sinatra fan too...)

Poetic and lyrical:One of Cat's best !
I missed this the first time around coming in,as I did,with 'Tea for the Tillerman'.Thirty Three years on and finding myself filling in the gaps in my musical journey from youth to middle age,I picked this up through Amazon.
To my delight and amazement I find this-Cat's first album after he re-invented himself as a acoustic singer/songwriter- totally captivating !
I was familiar with one or two tracks which had appeared on Island compilation albums but it was wonderful to hear Mona Bone Jakon as a new album which sounded totally approachable and accessible all these decades later.
Like John Martyn,Van Morrison,Paul Simon,Nick Drake and other great singer songwriters,Cat's musical legacy is as valuable today as it ever was.
Mona Bone Jakon is a great album !