Track Listing

1. Lord Grenville
2. On The Border
3. Midas Shadow
4. Sand In Your Shoes
5. If It Doesn't Come Naturally Leave It
6. Flying Sorcery
7. Broadway Hotel
8. One Stage Before
9. Year Of The Cat
10. On The Border
11. Belsize Blues
12. Story Of The Song

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6236 in Music
• Released on: 2001-09-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Customer Reviews

A missed opportunity
It's increasingly fashionable to 'remaster' CDs; with some justification, as the technology has advanced in the years since albums like YOTC were first released digitally.

Personally, my ears aren't finely tuned enough to feel major benefit from this re-release, and my ancient sound system made no comment, so I have had to concentrate on the 'bonus tracks'

On the Border (live) is taken from the Chicago Radio sessions; it's a fine version, but technically hardly an advertisement for digital remastering. More seriously, those sessions included a ten-minute Year of the Cat, with a four minute keyboard intro, and marvellous sax solo. Why wasn't that included?

Belsize Blues owes its presence here to its absence from other 'official' releases, though this version was first released on the unofficial "Coldest Winter in Memory" collection. The date suggests it could have been a rejected track from the original YOTC - though the flavour is five years earlier. The sleeve notes leave us none the wiser.

Story of the Songs is a commentary on the YOTC album by Al stewart; interesting, but hardly the sort of thing you'd listen to daily on your in-car stereo. Many of the concert albums included highly original and amusing intros, especially to YOTC itself; wouldn't the fictional explanations have been a better addition than a recorded sleeve note?

This remastered album will have nothing to say to new listeners, so it is clearly intended to persuade existing fans to part with their money. The die-hards will - as I did - and I don't regret it. But, by gum, I'd have been much, much happier spending a few pounds more on a proper job.

Picture it - a twin-cd set with the remastered YOTC on one disc, and the other featuring these bonus tracks, plus a selection of other live versions, complete with intro, guest artists - one YOTC even featured a guest singer - and a sleeve note that truly informed us about the collection, not just looked back to 1976.

Andrew Heenan 23 September 01

Review
I first heard this album in the summer of 1977 while on holiday on the island of Jersey and this does bring back some very fond memories, however the quality of this recording is fantastic and the melodies are now constantly running through my head again.
The bonus track, the story of the songs, gives you some background to the quality of the line up. This really has stood the test of time.

Did Al Stewart Only Make One Album?
Yet another Year of the Cat reissue - now remastered with bonus tracks! Sometimes I think Al Stewart must have only made one album. Anyway, as a remaster job this one is pretty good. It certainly has more detail than some of the earlier CDs I have heard and surprisingly less tape noise too (always quite obvious on this recording) - shame about the rather ponderous bass - I remember the original Vinyl always sounded really clean at the lower end - but as a whole it's not bad.

Musically, this was Al's real breakthrough album and it stands the test of time.

How about the bonus tracks - Well yet another live version of 'On the Border' - interesting, but hardly essential - 'Belsize Blues' - should have remained an out-take and Al talking about the songs - ok to listen to once but not something you will be playing on repeat.

Not really much of a bonus - I would of liked the single edit of 'Year of the Cat' included (simply because I can't remember it).

The packaging is ok - but not really very imaginative - the original inside of the LP sleeve with the lyrics (I think you need a magnifying glass to read it) worked well 12" x 24" but doesn't translate to the CD format. However, the sleeve notes are interesting.

So, if you don't have this already or have an early CD issue, buy it for the music and the small but arguably worthwhile sonic improvements, but if you are expected a transformation, probably best steer clear.

Hopefully, a remastered 'Time Passages' will follow - as this sounds pretty dire on CD.