He Wants To Sing Out, Again

If you don't like songs that allude to butterflies, golden sands, gardens and titles like "One Day At A Time" or "The Beloved" than Cat "Yusuf" Stevens' first album in 27 years will make you cringe. But then this is Cat Stevens we're talking about. If this were purely a Yusuf Islam record than the Pop elements would be taken out. But Islam plays the role of Stevens on this album and melodically it recaptures his early 70's output, before he became so self-concious that his albums became a big bore. Lyrically, it's another story. Surprisingly, he doesn't have much to say that he didn't already say in the 70's. It's all a bit too airy, no matter how pretty it sounds. At times I got the feeling he was holding back. Afraid to morph into the Pop star and wanting to satisfy his religious principles. But I give him credit. There are only 11 songs, and they breeze by quickly. In fact the worse I can about this album is its title: An Other Cup.