Musicology101: Link (new window)

A short interview with Peter White about when he played the spanish guitar for this song.

/Subby

Thanks for posting both links. I always love to hear the behind-the-scenes stories.

+2 for Subby for providing some great links.

-15 for Subby destroying any chance I had of getting any work done today.

Great song. Always love the historical references in AS's lyrics (here about the Basques and Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, and especially in Roads to Moscow).

Can't wait until the "Al Stewart Story" comes out with Eric Idle in the lead role.

I prefer Mel's Rock Pile, myself.

Roads to Moscow

My favorite song by him.

Don Kirshner wrote the Archie'shiat earworm: "Sugar, Sugar", a brilliant example of a prototypical pop song.

oldandwiser: Roads to Moscow

My favorite song by him.

Same here. And despite the subject matter, Nostradamus is probably my second.

Taxee: Can't wait until the "Al Stewart Story" comes out with Eric Idle in the lead role.

Who gets to play Robert Fripp?

Great find, subby. One of my favorite singer-songwriter albums.

Also from that album, Al on stage in '91 performing the title track with a certain red-headed pianist. (new window)

Damn I was just old enough to watch this show as it happened back in the day. Makes me feel old now. I seem to remember some part of the show that was nothing but a big jam session with the likes of Elvin Bishop on occasion. Seems a lifetime ago.

I remember Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. It's teh earliest memory I have of seeing people play what became known as "videos." (Sonny and Cher show doesn't count.)

GypsyJoker Quote 2010-07-25 06:00:03 PM
Great song. Always love the historical references in AS's lyrics (here about the Basques and Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, and especially in Roads to Moscow).

Saw him at festival called Maritime Days way back when and he name dropped Henry Cisnaros/Cisneros, then mayor of San Antonio, in a song.

Good stuff, Subby. A symbolic, slightly ironic +1.

Year of the Cat from the same show (pop)

Al has been releasing great albums since Past Present and Future. I just saw him again last year -- probably about the 15th time or so -- and he gets better with age.
I came in to say that Between the Wars is one of my favorites, and Modern Times is a masterpiece. Both albums are great from start to finish, and I highly recommend them.

I was in Hawaii when "Morris the Cat" died. The radio station played Year of the Cat for him.

Musicology101: Hi, it's me again.

DrBenway -
Past, Present and Future was where he peaked in my estimation. Year of the Cat was a bit too formulaic to me, but I could deal with it; saw him touring at that time, really a great show with a large screen at the back of the stage for projections. Time Passages... ugh. Mind you, I didn't begrudge him his success. It was just all too far over into the radio-friendly pop zone for me. I though that the pop songs on his earlier albums were quirkier. Just lucky PP&F came out at an earlier time when FM was more adventurous. In Houston, where I was at the time, they played the crap out of it, happily, on KLOL. The 2nd side of that -- Roads To Moscow, Terminal Eyes, and Nostradamus -- is an all-time favorite.

Sadly, I can't seem to find live clips that aren't recent versions of any of that stuff.

I agree with everything you wrote except you seem to have left his career after Time Passages. Al has been very prolific since then even releasing a new CD last year called "Merchants of Ancient Light".

While "Modern Times" and "Past, Present and Future" were my faves for many years, he put one out that no one bought called "Between the Wars" that may just be my favorite. It features Laurence Juber on guitar and certainly has Al's songwriting chops in full form. All songs concern events between WW1 and WWII and it fits nicely alongside his earlier mentioned albums.

Also, there are many clips of him recently performing songs from the era you mentioned. None are with a full band though, instead he tours with another guitarist only or solo.

my mistake mods, please delete my previous (and this one)

Musicology101: Hi, it's me again.

I agree with everything you wrote except you seem to have left his career after Time Passages. Al has been very prolific since then even releasing a new CD last year called "Merchants of Ancient Light".

While "Modern Times" and "Past, Present and Future" were my faves for many years, he put one out that no one bought called "Between the Wars" that may just be my favorite. It features Laurence Juber on guitar and certainly has Al's songwriting chops in full form. All songs concern events between WW1 and WWII and it fits nicely alongside his earlier mentioned albums.

Also, there are many clips of him recently performing songs from the era you mentioned. None are with a full band though, instead he tours with another guitarist only or solo.

I love a guy who knows his salt about Al Stewart. I just wanted to chime in and say that he is easily one of the most desperately underrated artists of his era, and may well rank as one of the most talented singer/songwriters of the past 50 years.

His intellectual content cost him some mass appeal, and it's a shame that most people remember him only for Year of the Cat and Time passages, which may well represent some of the worst material in his (extensive) catalog. A lot of his non-pop stuff is just brilliant. For anyone who wants a slightly better sense of what he's about, I have to recommend Modern Times which has a fantastic blend of Dylanesque folk and great contemporary (i.e. 1974) rock, (especially "Apple Cider Reconstitution" and the title track); as well as some perfectly brilliant lyrical work ("Not the One").

I also agree about "Between the Wars," a concept album from about 1995 about life and politics of the 1920's and 30's, with musical stylings that mirror those of that period. It is aan absolutely amazing album, ingeniously constructed and executed. It also contains one of the most beautiful songs he ever recorded "Sampan," about life in China and its simplicity which was forever lost when WW2, Mao, etc came to bear.

I am also partial to "Russians and Americans", around 1984, which has a lot of insightful anti-ColdWar stuff. It may be a little synthesizer heavy for some people's taste, but I think that it has aged well for a mid-80's album.

Guys, check him out, you won't regret it!

jj325: Not trying to threadjack, but Don Kirshner helped change my life when I was 14 by showing this
Link (new window)

Punk didn't come up much in Iowa in 1977...

YEEEEESSSSS! Sorry to threadjack again, but I've been looking for vid of Johnny playing the Rickenbacker 450. That guitar was stolen, I've read.
Back to the regularly scheduled topic...

flup: Musicology101: Hi, it's me again.

I agree with everything you wrote except you seem to have left his career after Time Passages. Al has been very prolific since then even releasing a new CD last year called "Merchants of Ancient Light".

While "Modern Times" and "Past, Present and Future" were my faves for many years, he put one out that no one bought called "Between the Wars" that may just be my favorite. It features Laurence Juber on guitar and certainly has Al's songwriting chops in full form. All songs concern events between WW1 and WWII and it fits nicely alongside his earlier mentioned albums.

Also, there are many clips of him recently performing songs from the era you mentioned. None are with a full band though, instead he tours with another guitarist only or solo.

I love a guy who knows his salt about Al Stewart. I just wanted to chime in and say that he is easily one of the most desperately underrated artists of his era, and may well rank as one of the most talented singer/songwriters of the past 50 years.


Part of that may have been from a roommate from his formative years; he was just starting out when he became roommates with a guy from New York who was staying in London: Paul Simon.

Stewart has a pretty amazing history with regards to whom he worked with. Robert Fripp was one of his guitar teachers, and his circle of friends/cohorts included Andy Summers, Bert Jansch, Roy Harper, Cat Stevens, Richard Thompson, and Van Morrison. He also worked with Rick Wakeman and Ian Anderson.

I need to get some of his earlier/later work. Most of what I know of his is from his MOR-ish period. But damn, "Roads to Moscow" (in particular) is amazing.

Wierd, in this clip he looks alot like the guy who played a tourette's syndrome dude in Quincy years later. Maybe it's just me.

Obnox: Good stuff, Subby. A symbolic, slightly ironic +1.

Year of the Cat from the same show (pop)

Slightly OT, but that is one of my favorite YouTube clips. The keyboard player does a damn fine job of replicating the orchestra on the Freeman String Symphonizer-- not an easy task on a primative analog string machine. An amazing performance, IMHO.

Thank you, Musicology101! Love your writing, too. I do hope you are a pro music journalist; you should be!

Sucking In The 70's

I prefer this episode of Don Kirshner's rock concert...... (new window)

I freakin' LOVE "Year of the Cat", not just the song, but the WHOLE ALBUM. I first discovered it when i was about 12... and have been listening to it ever since.
One of my favoutite 70's albums EVER.
Every song is a winner. I love the lead guitarist on it... and love the solos...

GypsyJoker 2010-07-25 07:02:25 PM

Taxee: Can't wait until the "Al Stewart Story" comes out with Eric Idle in the lead role.

Who gets to play Robert Fripp?

wait, what?
what does Robert Fripp have to do with Al Stewart?

/p.s. i always thought that the actor who played Ian Curtis in "24 hour party people" looked a lot more like a late 70's Robert Fripp [ie. "slick business-man"-look era] than Ian Curtis.
Maybe him?

Third_Uncle_Eno: I freakin' LOVE "Year of the Cat", not just the song, but the WHOLE ALBUM. I first discovered it when i was about 12... and have been listening to it ever since.
One of my favoutite 70's albums EVER.
Every song is a winner. I love the lead guitarist on it... and love the solos...

GypsyJoker 2010-07-25 07:02:25 PM

Taxee: Can't wait until the "Al Stewart Story" comes out with Eric Idle in the lead role.

Who gets to play Robert Fripp?

wait, what?
what does Robert Fripp have to do with Al Stewart?


Fripp and Stewart grew up in Wimborne, Dorset together. They (and Greg Lake) took guitar lessons from Don Strike, and Stewart would also take lessons from Fripp: "[Fripp] taught me some other stuff, a lot of jazz chords and leads... it was a lot like algebra--stuff I learned but never had any real use for." (paraphrased)

According to allmusic.com, the McDonald-Giles-Lake version of Crimson also backed up Stewart at an early ('68) gig.

Really, though, when you look at the London scene at the time and the personnel on Stewart's albums, you'd be hard pressed to find someone of that era he hadn't worked with.

I used to be Don Kirshner's pool boy so I am really getting a kick......

guit-tard: Obnox: Good stuff, Subby. A symbolic, slightly ironic +1.

Year of the Cat from the same show (pop)

Slightly OT, but that is one of my favorite YouTube clips. The keyboard player does a damn fine job of replicating the orchestra on the Freeman String Symphonizer-- not an easy task on a primative analog string machine. An amazing performance, IMHO.

I love the lead guitarist's work. I don't even know who he is, but he has a great feel. I've had his licks stuck in my head since I was a child.