The Cat's out of the bag (The Very Best Of Cat Stevens - Cat Stevens)

Member Name: Fiver29

Product:	The Very Best Of Cat Stevens - Cat Stevens
Date:	27/07/09 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Catchy songs

Disadvantages: Makes me feel old

You know you're getting old when you start to listen to music that your mum and dad used to listen to. Despite the thought of getting old when I saw the advert for this album on the TV I decided to download it because secretly as a youngster I like quite few of the songs. I'm not sure why it was suddenly being advertised as it's quite an old album now (first released in 2006 according to Amazon.co.uk, and 2000 according to Amazon.com).

After listening to the first run though I was actually surprised by the amount of songs I did know, there were the obvious ones (that I'd heard on the TV advert); Moon Shadow, Father and Son, Morning has Broken, but there were a lot of other ones that when I read the names I didn't recognise, but when I heard them the memories came flooding back, ones like Lady D'arbanville, Old School Yard, I love my Dog and Sad Lisa to name a few.

I can't say there's any particular songs on the album that I don't like, the only one I don't play is Morning has Broken, but that's only because it was played at my mum's funeral, and at the moment it still just brings tears to my eyes when I hear it.

Whilst I don't dislike any of the songs, the only problem I find with an artist like Cat Stevens is that his voice is so distinctive that it makes all his songs sound very similar, even though some of the songs are very folksie and others are quite popish.

I'm led to believe that some of the tracks have been digitally remastered to improve the quality, but since I only listen to music through the crummy speakers on my laptop, so I can't really speak about the quality of the tracks in this respect.

For anyone who likes Cat Stevens and who doesn't mind admitting they are getting on a bit, then this has to be the ultimate Cat Stevens album

The full track listing for the UK 2006 version is


1. Moonshadow
2. Father and Son
3. Morning Has Broken
4. Wild World
5. The First Cut Is the Deepest
6. Lady D'Arbanville
7. Oh Very Young
8. Matthew and Son
9. Sitting
10. Hard Headed Woman
11. I Love My Dog
12. Ruby Love
13. Don't Be Shy
14. Can't Keep It In
15. Here Comes My Baby
16. Into White
17. (Remember the Days of The) Old School Yard
18. Where Do the Children Play?
19. How Can I Tell You
20. Another Saturday Night
21. Sad Lisa
22. Just Another Night
23. Peace Train
24. If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out

So with 24 track for just over £6, you can't say you're not getting value for money.

Summary: A great album