Cat Stevens has always been an artist whom I’ve been able to take or leave: I like the hits and I recognise his talent, but have never really got into any of his albums.
Mona Bone Jakon was his third album and marked a shift from the surprise pop star to a more mature writer of introspective material. He shifted record labels and stripped down his sound. Aside from the opening track, Lady D’Arbanville, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to this album before.
I feel exactly the same after listening to it as I did before–I recognise his talent and his gift for melody, but don’t feel particularly moved enough to investigate further. I know that this is, as they say, more about me than him. I did like Katmandu, though, it strikes me as a song that’s qualitatively more interesting than the rest. A song like Fill My Eyes is one I can joy melodically even while I’m wondering WTF? about the lyric.
There’s nothing wrong with this album and quite a lot right with it; it just doesn’t grab me.
As an aside, if you Google Lady D’Arbanville and madrigal you will get endless mentions that the song either sounds like a madrigal or is ‘madrigal inspired.’ I can’t hear anything of the madrigal in it at all and haven’t been able to find the source of the claim. Unless someone can point me to a definitive source for the claim, It looks like a piece of endlessly recursive internet bollocks.
I listened on Spotify and there’s at least on YouTube playlist:
Recent Comments