Search - Cat Stevens :: Cat Stevens

I Was Delighted

bethtexas | United States | 06/18/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was delighted by this box set, whose proceeds, I understand, go to charity.Cat Stevens has one of the sweetest voices in music, and has written some of the most thoughtful songs. His work has a comforting sound, but it's never sappy. He's being just a little too honest for that. You can tell he really means the words he writes at the moment he jots them down. And he's a pretty smart guy. I appreciate having this enormous collection suddenly at my listening disposal. If I ever hear of a Cat Stevens song I wish I had, chances are, all I have to do is look more closely at the title listings, and it'll probably turn out that I now have it. Ultimately, asking for this as a gift (which is what I did) saved me a lot of money in buying individual albums.My favorite discs are two and three. Of course, I was glad to finally have a nice CD copy (to replace all those homemade tapes) of favorite songs like the themes from Harold and Maude and SITTING. But I was also pretty shame-faced to discover all the absolutely top-notch songs of his I'd never heard before. I Want to Live in a Wigwam is a surprisingly great one -- just because of that way he sings sometimes, where you get the feeling he's barely controlling his emotions. Like he's using every effort not to shout in the middle of a song. You can feel him quaking. I love it when he has moments like that in his songs. It was also a treat to hear him sing on disc 4 -- hadn't heard anything new from him in years and didn't know whether he could still sing. Yep - he can. That was neat.Kind of bad luck that on the listening page here, you can only hear tracks from disc 1. Because that's definitely the most disposable disc. It's the one sort of, you could say, before he really got good. Interesting from an historical perspective -- but not for much else! They really should let you listen to the good stuff, starting on disc 2.I wasn't alive when he started singing, but I'm definitely a fan, and I was really happy with this (ultimately money-saving) purchase."

Many years too late

Vivian Kenudson | Florida, USA | 03/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I know this wonderful box set has been out for several years now, but I don't think it's ever too late to rave about the beautiful music it contains. Like others here, I wish I could give this magnificent piece of work more than five stars. I'd give it 20 or more, if I could. The artwork is equally breathtaking, and the liner notes tells of Cat's extrordinary journey with such inpact that one just can't put the book down. And if anyone wants to know whether Yusuf Islam can still sing, just listen to the gorgeous "God is the Light", and you will have your answer. I look forward to all future works from this genius and gentle man."

Best Box Set!

D. Pluss | Jersey | 04/08/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I LOVE THIS BOX SET! I would rate this box set over a 5 if I could. I'm a huge Cat fan, and this box set is a great value for what's included. I love the version of sun/c79!!! I would also recommend the Majikat DVD/CD to any Cat Stevens fan! :)"