The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 590

Number 590

Al Stewart

"Year Of The Cat"

(1976)
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Genre:Rock

You have to love Rolling Stone Mag and their sometime odd pollings they create. However odd they are, most times (i said most) they are fascinating. For example their latest one is entitled ... The Twenty Craziest Soundalike Songs. Lets check it out....

1.Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” and Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life”
2.Fergie’s “Fergalicious” and J.J. Fad’s “Supersonic”
3.The Beatles’ “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” and Offspring’s “Why Don’t You Get a Job”
4.Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” and Blondie’s “X Offender”
5.Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Boston’s “More Than a Feeling”
6.Nazareth’s “Hair of the Dog” and the Beatles’ “Day Tripper”
7.The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues” and Oasis’ “Put Yer Money Where Your Mouth Is”
8.Foo Fighters’ “Monkey Wrench” and Elton John’s “Whipping Boy”
9.Sublime’s “What I Got” and the Beatles’ “Lady Madonna”
10.Wilco’s “Walken” and Spoon’s “Don’t Make Me a Target”
11.Akon’s “Don’t Matter” and R. Kelly’s “Ignition” (Remix)
12.Billy Joel’s “Honesty” and Elton John’s “Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word”
13.Phish’s “Farmhouse” and Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry”
14.Elastica’s “Connection” and Wire’s “Three Girl Rhumba”
15.Bryan Adams’ “Summer of 69″ and Green Day’s “Jesus of Suburbia”
16.Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and Weezer’s “Beverly Hills”
17.Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn” and The Black-Eyed Peas “Where is the Love”
18.The Kinks “Picture Book” and Green Day’s “Warning”
19.The Killers’ “When You Were Young” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run”
20.Pearl Jam’s “Given to Fly” and Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California”

Oh and for the record, i did not agree with one song vs song listed, now if they had said Chuck Berry Vs Beach Boys, well then.

Al Stewart had found his voice on Past, Present & Future and found his sound on Modern Times. He then perfected it all on 1976's Year of the Cat, arguably his masterpiece. There is no overarching theme here, as there was on its two immediate predecessors, but the impossible lushness of Alan Parsons' production and Stewart's evocative Continental narratives give the record a welcome feeling of cohesion that keeps the record enchanting as it moves from "Lord Grenville" to "Midas Shadow" to "Broadway Hotel," before it ends with the haunting title track. Along the way, Stewart doesn't dwell too deeply in any area, preferring to trace out mysteries with his evocative lyrical imagery and a spinning array of self-consciously sophisticated music, songs that evoke American and European folk and pop with a deliberate grace. This could be unbearably precious if it didn't work so well. Stewart is detached from his music, but only in the sense that he gives this album a stylish elegance, and Parsons is his perfect foil, giving the music a rich, panoramic sweep that mimics Stewart's globe-trotting songs. The result is a tremendous example of how good self-conscious progressive pop can be, given the right producer and songwriter -- and if you're a fan of either prog or pop and haven't given Al Stewart much thought, prepare to be enchanted. ~ [Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide]
For the Beatles see Number 947 & Number 894
For Bruce Springsteen see Number 817
For Blondie see Number 594
For The Doors see Number 851, Number 746 & Number 729
For R Kelly visit Mellow Mix Vol 1 Number 127
For Billy Joel see Number 849
For Elastica see Number 866
For Bryan Adams see Number 609
For Green Day vist Mellow Mix Vol 1 Number 069
For Weezer see Number 656
For Natalie Imbruglia vist Mellow Mix Vol 1 Number 103
For Pearl Jam visit Mellow Mix Vol 1 Number 116
For Led Zeppelin see Number 957
For Chuck Berry see Number 783
For The Beach Boys see Number 714 & Number 641
For Foo Fighters see Number 535

What does Rolling Stone think about Al Stewart?
Between his voice, a wry tenor so light and well-mannered it made Neil Tennant sound like Joe Cocker, and his fondness for sad, slightly hallucinogenic story songs, Al Stewart was an unlikely candidate for Seventies rock stardom. Although his sound was unmistakable -- particularly on the dreamy, sax-splashed hits "Year of the Cat" and "Time Passages" -- the unflashy Stewart had no public persona to speak of and made a point of keeping his face off album covers. As such, this collection is as much education as celebration, showing off his balladeer-ish early work and dusting off a few half-forgotten gems (especially the smoothly insinuating "Song on the Radio"). In all, a pleasant reminder of one of rock's more genteel talents. (RS 2004)
For Joe Cocker see Number 633

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (We are year of the Rat!) and the Album ranked at Number (and we dont like cats!)

This song has a crowbarred rating of 72.4 out of 108