Roadsinger

by

Yusuf

Edit

I was pleasantly surprised by 2006's "An Other Cup," which is a superb album by any standard, but--to my astonishment--"Roadsinger" easily surpasses it, making this new album one of the very finest in Cat Stevens/Yusuf's remarkable canon. At first glance, the musical and cultural range here is not as broad at that of the earlier disc, and the overt references to Yusuf's Islamic faith are certainly considerably toned down, but, in this case, neither of these is a bad thing. What emerges instead is a much more focused and accessible record, whose folky gentility recaptures the Seventies glory days of "Tea For The Tillerman," and "Teaser and the Firecat." Yusuf's acoustic guitar playing, intricate, teasing, and gentle, is sweetly haunting, recalling (and maybe even outdoing) his work on his classic records thirty years ago. This is the true return of the Cat Stevens we knew in our youth, a re-emergence so startling and complete that not even the considerable charms of "An Other Cup" could have prepared us for it. Every single track here is a gem, and "Roadsinger" is nothing short of a full-blown masterpiece. The title track alone, with its beautifully-told tale of an outcast seeker, is well worth the price of the disc.