'An Other Cup' - A Review by Jacky

[Leonard]

Dear fellow majicats,


living in Germany has the advantage of being able to already get the album on November, 10.
I bought the Special Edition with the 44 page illustrated book and the extra song: There Is Peace.


VOICE
First of all, the debate about Steve's voice that is going on that his voice got rougher over time cannot be confirmed by me when listening to his new album. His voice is much finer, and more gracile than ever before; his voice being much mature and eternal like a rock in the vast sea.


ARTBOOK
I have to say that it is really worth to buy the Special Edition. The artbook is basically showing the lyrics with illustrations. You can see that there has been put so much love and care into making this that when putting up the book and listen to the album you are gonna go on a journey to your "I."


THE SONGS
Being backed up by old musician fellows like Alun Davies, Jean Roussel, etc. the album turns out to be a master piece. It does not connect to the Tea for The Tillerman era as stated by many newspapers.
'An Other Cup' is far beyond that. It was arranged and composed so fine with rhythm, melodies and a vast range of instruments that it can hardly be compared to the minimalistic (not meant negatively) 'Tea For The Tillerman' or 'Teaser & The Firecat.'

'An Other Cup' is, chronogically seen, the album after 'Back To Earth'. It can hardly be compared to Cat's '70s albums, though as mentioned by Steve before, songs like 'I Think I See The Light' or 'Greenfields, Golden Sands' were composed in the 60s (70s).
But the sound is not the sound of the past. It goes beyond that with a beautiful and powerful string, voice and chorus arrangement that simply could not be done back then in the '70s.

I want to avoid listing up every song, and put my comment under it. It would not make any sense. Listen to the album, I am more than overwhelmed by it. It shows a Steve who has found his way - you will not hear the inner quarrel, but mere peace in his songs, and voice. A complete Steve so to say.


~Jacky

[sue]

Thanks for posting your thoughts on the new cd and book.
I am especially looking forward to the book.

[Golden Sands]

This is the best review I've read so far
I must admit, when I first started listening to 'An Other Cup' I entered a state of 'inner quarrel.' Part of me liked some things, another part was skeptical.. "Did he do his best?" I asked.. "Has his voice changed? Has he lost his song-writing talent? This isn't the same as Tea for the Tillerman.."

But as I listened again and again, it didn't take long for Yusuf to dispel all the skepticism.. I remember my first experiences listening to Cat Stevens and how it took me a while to fall in love. And that's the sign of a good artist, no matter what you think in the beginning, he always impresses you in the end.

Thanks Jacky.. danke schoen!

[Vivian]

Thanks Jacky, I really look forward to this.

Peace,Vivian

[Bamboozle]

Cant wait - expecting mine tomorrow

[Bamboozle]

Its just arrived - listening to it now - HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY DAYS :-)

[Vivian]

I should be expecting one of them-either the delux or the standard by tomorrow. Can't wait!

Peace,VIvian

[Huru]

Oh yay, There is Peace is on the Deluxe version, which I plan to buy as soon as it stops raining cats and dogs here!!

Updated to say that we actually cannot go out and buy the Deluxe version here... yet. And the way that I got the download early was through a good friend of mine who is recently married to an Englishman who has friends there who bought it online and don't ask me how, but they sent it to him here... I'm not that tech-savvy. But those scalawags excluded There Is Peace just to mess with us!

[Chris]

I'm going out tomorrow morning to buy mine. :-) I'll probably have to buy the UK version on line as well, sometime... But for now, I wanted the experience of having to walk into a real record store for the first time since the 70's , strolling down the aisles of records until I come upon the 'Cat Stevens/Yusuf' section, taking it up to th e counter and purchasing my first "new album" of Cat/Yusuf material. I can't get that same experience by receiving it in the mail. ;-) ;D

Christine

[Huru]

admin said:

I wanted the experience of having to walk into a real record store for the first time since the 70's, strolling down the aisles of records until I come upon the 'Cat Stevens/Yusuf' section, taking it up to the counter and purchasing my first "new album" of Cat/Yusuf material. I can't get that same experience by receiving it in the mail. ;-) ;D Christine

Amen! I really don't buy much these days, and when I buy stuff I want it to feel like "the old days" LOL

[Leonard]

admin said:

[...] by receiving it in the mail.
Christine

Moreover, I would not recommend downloading any album from the Internet. It is mostly MP3, a reduced and compressed music format, meaning that some part of the music got substracted to make the file size much smaller.

If you really want to enjoy Yusuf with all his vocal and musical power go and buy the masterpiece album "An Other Cup."

~Jacky