"Let's Get It On" by MARVIN GAYE – August 1973 US LP on Tamla Records (September 1973 UK on Tamla Motown) – Featured Guests Include The Originals, The Monitors, Joe Sample and Wilton Felder of The Crusaders, Ray Parker, Jr., Willie Hutch, Dean Parks, David T. Walker, Leroy Emmanuel, Bobby Keys, Michael Henderson and many more (September 2001 US Universal/Motown Deluxe Edition 2CD Expanded Edition Reissue and Remaster with 27 Unreleased) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...You'll Like It!"

 

At the risk of limb-loss and threats of being forced into a Sweeny Todd type barbers at midnight on the day of judgement - I'm going to put out an unpopular opinion, nay sacrilegious and possibly even scurrilous assessment.

 

While "What's Going on" puts Marvin (hot like an uv-in) Gaye firmly on the shoulders of Gods, I always thought 1973's lovers album "Let's Get It On" was good rather than great and not quite the masterpiece of lurve-sexy bedroom delight everyone claims it is.

 

So why five stars for a record I think is only deserving of four? I'm reviewing the 'Deluxe Edition' 2CD Reissue of "Let's Get It On" and on top of the newly remastered eight album tracks, you get a whopping 29 extras – 27 of which are Previously Unreleased (the other two are period tie-ins issued in the 90s). And in the main, they are truly stunning - pushing this 2-Disc 2001 Expanded Edition splurge into the stratosphere.

 

Like most music fans, if I've a fave album and Universal or Sony has done a 2CD Deluxe Edition of them, I'm going to own it. But we have found that time and time again, the unreleased stuff (or rarities as they like to call it) was unissued for a reason. But here, the sheer wallop of all that extra brilliance is screaming at you - almost too much in that it sometimes drowns out the core eight we're supposed to be celebrating. 

 

In fact, when you're listening to the truly fantastic grooves being achieved in instrumentals like say "Song No. 3" or "Cakes" - it's like listening to an entirely different Marvin (hell some of "Cakes" even has a Northern Soul shuffle to it).

 

Soul fans will salivate too at those session-men names (some superstars in their own right) - Herbie Hancock on Keyboards, Wilton Felder and Joe Sample of The Crusaders on Bass and Keys, James Jamerson also on Bass, Ernie Watts on Sax, Uriel Jones on Drums with Ray Parker, Jr., Melvin 'Wah Wah' Ragin, Leroy Emmanuel, Dean Parks, David T. Walker and Willie Hutch on Guitars along with many others.

 

Over on CD2 in the 'Working The Groove' clutch of tunes section we even have Fonce and Larry Mizell of Blue Note/Donald Byrd "Spaces And Places" fame providing funky backing vocals on the gorgeous "Where Are We Going?" – Track 11. With stuff like "The World Is Rated X", you get to hear a 1975/1976 Funk-Sexy-Soul Music sound, three years before it became commonplace. In short, there is a whole lot on offer here - a slew of creativity that's thrilling to eavesdrop on, and all of it sounding super-duper spiffing your honor. Forgive me people, but let's get it on and on...

 

US released 18 September 2001 - "Let's Get It On: Deluxe Edition" by MARVIN GAYE on Universal/Motown 440 014 757-2 (Barcode 044001475726) is a 37-Track 2CD Reissue and Remaster with 27 of its 29 Bonus Tracks being Previously Unreleased (Tracks 14 on CD1 and 20 on CD2 were issued before). It's part of Universal's DELUXE EDITION Series and plays out as follows:

 

CD1 (70:29 minutes):

ORIGINAL ALBUM

1. Let's Get It On [Side 1]

2. Please Stay (Once You Go Away)

3. If I Should Die Tonight

4. Keep Gettin' It On

5. Come Get To This [Side 2]

6. Distant Lover

7. You Sure Love To Ball

8. Just To Keep You Satisfied

Tracks 1 to 8 are his thirteenth studio album "Let's Get It On" - released August 1973 in the USA on Tamla Records T 329V1 and November 1973 in the UK on Tamla Motown Records STMA 8013. Produced by MARVIN GAYE, ED TOWNSEND - it peaked at No. 1 on the US R&B LP charts and No. 39 on the UK Rock LP charts.

 

SESSIONS (All Tracks Previously Unreleased Except 14)

9. Song No. 3 (Instrumental, 5:30 minutes)

10. My Love Is Growing (Working Titled 'Super Polished', 4:20 minutes)

11. Cakes (Instrumental, 3:15 minutes)

12. Symphony (Undubbed Version, 2:50 minutes)

13. I'd Give My Life For You (Demo, 3:33 minutes)

14. I Love You Secretly by THE MIRACLES (Marvin Gaye co-written song, officially issued on The Miracles US LP "Renaissance" in April 1973 on Tamla T325L)

15. You're The Man (Alternate Version 1, 7:25 minutes)

16. You're The Man (Version 2, 4:45 minutes)

17. Symphony (Demo, 2:50 minutes) 

 

CD2 (77:01 minutes):

DEMOS, ALTERNATIVES MIXES & MORE

(All Tracks Previously Unreleased Except 20)

1. Let's Get It On (Demo, 5:14 minutes)

2. Let's Get It On (Part II) aka Keep Gettin' It On (Complete, 3:15 minutes)

3. Please Stay (Once You Go Away) (Alternate Mix with Horns, 3:50 minutes)

4. If I Should Die Tonight (Demo, 4:15 minutes)

5. Come Get To This (Alternate Mix, 2:48 minutes)

6. Distant Lover (Alternative Mix, 4:20 minutes)

7. You Sure Love To Ball (Alternate Mix with Alternate Vocals, 4:40 minutes)

8. Just To Keep You Satisfied (A Capella with Alternative Vocal, 4:40 minutes)

9. Just To Keep You Satisfied by THE ORIGINALS (1970, Original Single Mix Scheduled for Soul 35079, B-side of "God Bless Whoever Sent You" but Cancelled, 4:00 minutes)

10. Just To Keep You Satisfied by THE MONITORS (1968 recording, Richard Street Lead Vocals, 2:36 minutes)

 

WORKING THE GROOVE

11. Where Are We Going? (Alternate Mix, Produced by and Featuring Freddie Perrin and Fonce Mizell, 4:00 minutes)

12. The World Is Rated X (Alternate Mix, From Version That Appeared on the 1995 2CD "Anthology" compilation, 3:50 minutes)

13. I'm Gonna Give You Respect (2:55 minutes)

14. Try It, You'll Like It (3:55 minutes)

15. You Are That Special One (3:35 minutes)

16. We Can Make It Baby (3:20 minutes)

(Tracks 13 to 16 Produced by and Featuring songs from Willie Hutch recorded throughout 1972)

17. Running From Love (Instrumental, Version 1, 3:45 minutes)

18. Mandota (Instrumental, 3:00 minutes)

19. Running From Love (Instrumental, Version 2, 3:45 minutes)

20. Come Get To This (Live From Oakland, 2:57 minutes, First Issued in 1990)

 

The 28-page booklet inside the foldout card digipak (and outer plastic printed slipcase) is a tastefully laid-out piece of work. Someone did some serious work on this because it is crammed with Discography Details from the Motown Archive and Biographer DAVID RITZ and Music Author BEN EDMONDS pour of the Biographical stuff that puts it all into context (the groove and grind always aligned with conflict and contradictions). HARRY WEINGER also gives us insights in paragraphs he entitles "Finding The Groove – Adventures In The Vault" – Tape Preparation and Location. Impressive stuff.

 

The array of cool woollen beany hats Gaye wore at the time make for the most beautiful photos, but all of that is as nothing when you start to wade through the dirge of music (on top of the album) you are given. KEVIN REEVES has done literally hundreds of CD Reissues for Universal and his is a name I would actively seek out. Well his magic touch is very much in evidence here – all of it feeling muscular and sensual in a way that was lacking before. Not even the Demos or Alternates feel clunky – in fact – some are better recorded than some actual released material.

 

The album produced three 45s with wildly varying chart success. The title track previewed the LP by two months when "Let's Get It On" hit the shops in June 1973, but it was a smash and promptly topped both the R&B and Pop charts in the USA. That was followed by "Come Get To This" in October 1973 (No. 3 R&B and No. 21 Pop) - whilst the final overtly hip-swaying 45 tapered out even more - "You Sure Love To Ball" in early January 1974 managing only No. 13 R&B and No. 50 Pop. Sounding like a manifesto for the bedroom, I can only imagine how many homes had this on the turntable in 1973 and now count grandchildren all owed the Oven Man. But there is even better in the Bonus material...

 

Universal put out an Original Mix of "Where Are We Going?" on their 'Very Best Of' Marvin Gaye set in July 2001 – what we get here is an Alternate Mix that emphasizes the sexy piano and wah-wah guitar backbeat – a gem. That's followed by what has to be one of the best Marvin Funk discoveries of all - "The World Is Rated X" – laid down in 1972 with Marvin even putting in Saxophone. His vocal on this is passion personified – every line sung with a genuine conviction - that socially aware inner radar on his on fire. That is then whomped by the lovely Willie Hutch session of four songs – the nugget being the brass-bopper "I'm Going Give You Respect" – the kind of winner that makes you want to lay talcum powder on the kitchen lino and just sway and shuffle with your Northern Soul crew. Regardless of what else is on CD2 – if I only programmed Tracks 11, 12 and 13 together – I’d be in Marvin Nirvana. But then you are hit with three more...

 

Things get Fuzz-Guitar Funky with two Versions of "Running From Love" laid down in September 1971. The first sounds like a backdrop to The Temptations or even The Undisputed Truth before they go off to that war over there. Both are instrumentals co-written with Hamilton Bohannon and Michael Henderson – fantastic echoed guitar licks from Melvin "Wah Wah" Ragin, Ray Parker, Jr. and Leroy Emmanuel, while Marvin provided Keyboards, Bongos and Percussion. A couple of months later (December 1971), Marvin and Hamilton Bohannon put down the seriously Funky Guitar and Keyboards instrumental "Mandota" – all Blaxsploitation atmospherics that feels like a precursor to the "Trouble Man" soundtrack in 1973. The Second Version (Take 6) of "Running From Love" slows everything down to a sexy groove that again wouldn’t have gone amiss on Shaft or Trouble Man – all strings and grinding groovy Funk. It ends with a sensual audience-clapping Live Version of "Come Get To This" recorded 1974 and first issued on the 1990 Box Set "The Marvin Gaye Collection" – tasty and still Marvin cool.

 

Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" is one of those 2CD Deluxe Editions that provides a genuine embarrassment of riches - a real upgrade on what went before (Bob Marley's "Legend", Marvin Gaye's own "Trouble Man" Soundtrack 2CD Deluxe Edition, Whiskeytown's "Strangers Almanac" with Ryan Adams and The Who's "Who's Next" are among many others that warrant a DE merit badge too).

 

In the end, I'm probably like every other fan, I only have to hear his voice soar and parry with the melodies and I'm a goner. And that always makes me wish he wasn't.  

Come Get To This indeed because I guarantee, if you have any affection for the 1973 original, then this brilliant 2001 upgrade is a big You'll Like It!...

"What's Going On" by MARVIN GAYE – May 1971 US LP on Tamla - October 1971 UK on Tamla Motown featuring Ed Townsend (March 2001 and January 2011 UK Universal/Motown 2CD Deluxe Edition Reissue and Remaster – Kevin Reeves and Suha Gur Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…A Place Where Love Is King…"

Infused with a legend that only grows deeper as the decades pass - Marvin Gaye's 1971 album "What's Going On" is surely the cornerstone of every Soul lover's collection - a vinyl LP so engrained in our hearts that its probably impossible to review it with any real distance. 

And why the Hell would you want to. Some things are just beautiful - plain and simple. And this fabulous 2CD Deluxe Edition celebration of that Tamla Motown crown jewel only hammers its legend home with presentational and sonic knobs on. What an album and what an artist. Here's What's Happening Brother...

The 2CD set "What's Going On: Deluxe Edition" by MARVIN GAYE was originally UK released March 2001 (February 2001 in the USA) on Motown 013 404-2 (Barcode 044001340420). 

It's been subsequently reissued January 2011 on Universal/Motown 0600753279557 (Barcode 600753279557) and both DE versions break down as follows:

Disc 1 (75:37 minutes):

ORIGINAL LP RELEASE (21 May 1971)

1. What's Going On

2. What's Happening Brother

3. Flyin' High (In The Friendly Sky)

4. Save The Children

5. God Is Love

6. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)

7. Right On [Side 2]

8. Wholy Holy

9. Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler)

Tracks 1 to 9 is the original album "What's Going On" - released May 1971 in the USA on Tamla TS 301 and October 1971 in the UK on Tamla Motown STML 11190

ALTERNATE DETROIT MIX (5 April 1971) - Previously Unreleased

10. What's Going On

11. What's Happening Brother

12. Flyin' High (In The Friendly Sky)

13. Save The Children

14. God Is Love

15. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)

16. Right On

17. Wholy Holy

18. Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler)

THE FOUNDATION - Previously Unreleased

19. What's Going On (Rhythm & Strings Mix)

Disc 2 (77:28 minutes):

LIVE AT THE KENNEDY CENTER, WASHINGTON DC (Recorded 1 May 1972):

1. Sixties Medley: That's The Way Love is/You/I Heard It Through The Grapevine/Little darling (I Need You)/You're All I Need To Get By/Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing/Your Precious Love/Pride And Joy/Stubborn Kind Of Love

2. Right On

3. Wholy Holy

4. Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler)

5. What's Going On

6. What's Happening Brother

7. Flyin' High (In The Friendly Sky)

8. Save The Children

9. God Is Love

10. Stage Dialogue

Reprise:

11. Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler)

12. What's Going On

Tracks 1 to 12 are Previously Unreleased Live Versions

ORIGINAL SINGLE VERSIONS:

13. What's Going On

14. God Is Love

15. Sad Tomorrows

IN THE MEANTIME...

16. "Head Title" (aka Distant Lover) - Previously Unreleased

The 2011 reissue comes in a 2CD jewel case when the original 2001 issue was one of those chunky Deluxe Edition Card Digipaks in a plastic titled outer slipcase. The 32-page booklet reproduces the 'Family Photo Album' insert that came with original copies of the LP, there an intro from Smokey Robinson, an essay on the album called "A Revolution In Sound & Spirit: The Making Of What's Going On" by BEN EDMONDS of the Mojo Magazine, lyrics, notes on the Detroit Mix, Single Versions and after by HARRY WEINGER and comprehensive reissue credits. In between the text are outtake photos of Marvin playing football and training in the snow, taking a phone call and even getting a haircut (it's comprehensive!).

KEVIN REEVES (Disc 1) and SUHA GUR (Disc 2) - both long-time Universal Engineers - carried out the 24-bit remasters from originals tapes - and the sound is gorgeous - as warm and as lovely as you would have hoped for. The album broke the production line process at Motown and is heavily layered, deeply religious and spiritual in its feel and message - that all surfaces as the instruments, strings and voices surface in your speakers. The live set is not a great recording by any means but it is full of atmosphere and Marvin's band digging the new material. It feels like you're eavesdropping on musical history...

Chills race up my arms every time I hear the song "What's Going On" - possibly the most sublime opening tune on any album anywhere. It morphs into the double-whammy of "What's Happening Brother" and "Flyin' High (In The Friendly Sky)" - linked by rhythm and social messages. Marvin goes into full on preacher mode with "Save The Children" and ends Side 1 with another own-two sucker punch - the beautifully uplifting "God Is Love" and "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" (those strings and that sax solo). But the best is yet to come - Side 2. Marvin's worries for America and the World and his positive solutions for the same are name-checked in the sublime groove of "Right On" - a seven and half minute slice of magic that never fails to move me - forty-three years after the event.

The extras are a mixed bag as always. The liner notes explain that some oxidization on the tapes have produced drop outs and heavy amounts of hiss on the "Detroit Mix" of the album and indeed it's particularly evident on Side 2 - "Right On", "Wholy Holy" and "Inner City Blues..." But if I'm honest I can see why Marvin discarded this mix - there's just something missing. It could be that I'm so used to hearing the original that it makes an alternate hard to swallow. There's interesting vocal passages in "Inner City Blues" and a more prevalent rhythm section - but again it feels about as subtle as mallet.

Far more exciting is the live set. Recorded a year after the album's release - even his opening 13-minute "Sixties Medley" is done in a languid "What's Going On" groove - slow and mournful - with the band playing a blinder while he gets seriously Soulful on the piano (impressive playing). There then follows the whole of Side 2 - that finally sees the gig lift off into Donny Hathaway territory - the vibe and the crowd behind him and the funky groove. He even starts "Inner City Blues..." over again much to the crowd's clapping delight. Disc 2 ends with four winners - three single mixes and a Demo taste of the future. The B-side "Sad Tomorrows" is a version of "Flyin' High (In The Friendly Sky)" while I've always loved the Single Mix of "God Is Love".

So there you have it - a masterpiece given a worthy reissue. Even the front cover photo gives me the wobblies - what an album.

"...Some of us feel the icy wind of poverty blowing in the air...heed the people's cries..." - Marvin sang on "Right On". Our Soul Hero may be gone but the truth soldiers on...

"Live At The Apollo Volume II" by JAMES BROWN and HIS FAMOUS FLAMES featuring Marva Whitney, Bobby Byrd, Pee Wee Ellis and more June 2001 Polydor 2CD 'Deluxe Edition' Expanded Reissue - Kevin Reeves Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Get The Feeling...HUH!"

Mr. Dynamite returned to his natural stomping ground for live opus numero duo - 24 August 1968's double-album on King Records 1022 - "Live At The Apollo Volume II". 

But what puts this very cool 2CD Deluxe Edition reissue into the must-own territory (especially for JB fans and lovers of primo 60ts Soul) is the 'extras' and the stunning remaster re-construction of the tapes courtesy of one of Universal’s Tape Supremo engineers - Kevin Reeves. Details of the reissue first...

UK released 26 June 2001 - "Live At The Apollo Volume II" by JAMES BROWN and HIS FAMOUS FLAMES on Polydor 549 884-2 (Barcode 731454988421) is an Expanded 2CD Deluxe Edition of the 24 August 1968 2LP classic on King Records 1022 (USA) and Polydor Records 583 729/30 (UK) in Stereo. The DE Version plays out as follows…

Disc 1 (42:10 minutes):

1. Introduction To The James Brown Show (MC Frankie Crocker)

2. Think (Vocal Duet with Marva Whitney)

3. I Wanna Be Around

4 James Brown (Thanks)

5. That's Life

6. Kansas City

7. Sweet Soul Music (Bobby Byrd)

8. It's A Man's Man's Man's World (19:05 minutes)

This performance incorporates elements of:

 (a) Lost Someone (b) When A Man Loves A Woman

9. Caravan (James Brown Band featuring The J.B. Dancers)

INTERMISSION

Disc 2 (50:51 minutes):

1. Introduction To 'Startime' (MC Frankie Crocker with Sad Sam)

2. Money Won't Change You/Out Of Sight

3. Bring It Up

4. Try Me

5. Let Yourself Go

6. There Was A Time

7. I Feel All Right

8. Cold Sweat

9. Prisoner Of Love

10. My Girl (Instrumental Interlude)

11. Maybe The Last Time

12. I Got You (I Feel Good)

13. Please, Please, Please

14. Bring It Up (Finale)

The Original 2LP running order was…

Side 1:

1. Think

2. I Wanna Be Around

3. That's Life

4. Kansas City

Side 2:

1. Let Yourself Go

2. There Was A Time

3. I Feel All Right

4. Cold Sweat

Side 3:

1. It May Be The Last Time

2. I Got You (I Feel Good)

3. Prisoner Of Love

4. Try Me

5. Bring It Up

Side 4:

1. It's A Man's Man's Man's World

2. Medley

3. Please, Please, Please

As you can see from the two track-lists, the original 2LP set had omissions and edits galore most of which have been returned into this 2CD DE Full Monty running order. A word about that – the original was a lickety-splitly tight as a sumo wrestler's jocks four-sided sucker and the sprawling 2CD set actually isn't – a case of less was indeed more in the first place. You can of course just edit out what you don't want. But right from the off though, it has to be said that some of the inclusions are good – but some aren’t and it's easy to see why show filler like "Caravan" was left off the final vinyl product.

Very much on the upside however is the fab Audio - which for 60ts live tapes is incredibly good. The separation and sheer live-cooking vibe inside say "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" is fantastic. You can hear how tight they were – the sympatico between Brown and his players as he teases and raps with the audience in sexy innuendo is amazing and it's an expert ear indeed that can spot-the-join.

Once the outer DE plastic slipcase is off, the four-way foldout flaps of the DE show James in his late 60ts prime while the 28-page HARRY WEINGER and ALAN LEEDS compiled booklet is the usual class act from him. There are trade adverts from the period, band and tour member lists and colour photos of Godfather Of Soul doing his hysterical Please, Please, Please thing – cape and all. Leeds went on to compile and co-ordinate the stunning 2CD sets "The Singles" from Volume 1 to 11 (I've reviewed from 6 to 11). The Famous Flames band has Bobby Byrd, Bobby Bennett, Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis giving it some Saxophone righteousness, while Waymon Reed, Joe Dupars and Levi Rasbury back them up with even tighter Trombones (they're pictured on Pages 3 and 27). To the music…

Here’s a list of the new stuff: Disc One gives us a short 32-second MC introduction by Frankie Crocker as the show begins and Bobby Byrd's 2:38 minute between sets straddler "Sweet Soul Music" - a wicked uptempo cover of Arthur Conley's then new 1967 hit on Atlantic Records. That newbie comes in as JB ends a fabulous kicking version of Lieber and Stoller’s Little Willie Littlefield R&B classic “Kansas City”. Portions are inserted into "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" turning it into a 19-minute stop-start monster (do you know what I’m talking about – yeah!). Within that showstopper you get portions of “Lost Someone” and the Percy Sledge gem “When A Man Loves A Woman”. A final insert on Disc One includes the Duke Ellington song “Caravan” which accompanies the JB Dancers – an awful instrumental in my opinion and one where the tightest band in the world seem to be all at sea with its Jazz syncopations. It’s not something I ever want to hear again and it kind of sours the final moments of CD1 for me (the covers of I Wanna Be Around most famously associated with Tony Bennett and the smooch standard That’s Life also felt out of place to me too).

Disc Two offers us another Startime intro from MC Frankie Croker but this time with Sad Sam (34 seconds), followed by a 42-second snippet of “Money Won’t Change You/Out Of Sight”. CD2 flips the Side 3 running order of “Try Me” and “Bring It Up” and it works – the get-in-the-groove hit-it Funk of “Bring It Up” first, followed by the smooch of “Try Me” instead (the saxophone break features Eldee Williams and St. Clair Pinckney). This cleverly sets up the guitar-flicking huh-huh funkiness of “Let Yourself Go”.

Both “There Was A Time” (8:55 minutes) and “I Feel All Right” (8:52 minutes) are now extended versions on here that segue seamlessly into each other and the wall-to-wall sweat of the band in a mash potatoes groove on the first is astonishing while the second track elicits the joy of the crowd in a hey-hey call and response – it really cooks (Jimmy “Chank” Nolen and Alfonzo “Country” Starks on Guitars). Brown even puts in a brief drum solo and bit of organ work after the end of “I Feel All Right”. As drummer Clyde Stubblefield goes into their latest hit “Cold Sweat” – there is no doubt that this is magic.

Brown then slows it all down and adds strings to the croon of “Prisoner Of Love” – a surprisingly touching shuffle – looking for someone to share with. There is a brief instrumental interlude with 20 seconds of the Motown smash “My Girl” which then slides into a very cool groove with “Maybe The Last Time” – the crowd joining in the oh-I chants.

The hardest workingman in show business proved it all night between the 16th and 25th of June 1967 at The Apollo Theatre in Harlem, NYC – and despite the ever so slight oddness of CD1 – CD2 is a stone to the bone monster. It only remains for any of us to say, hit it bobby and take us to the bridge…

"Tea For The Tillerman: Deluxe Edition" by CAT STEVENS - November 1970 UK Fourth Studio Album on Island Records (November 2008 UK Universal/Island '2CD DELUXE EDITION' Reissue - Ted Jensen Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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                                         "...Longer Boats Are Coming To Win Us..."

*** THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE 2008 'DELUXE EDITION' 2CD REMASTER ***

Some artists have a golden period - a stretch of albums that define them for decades to come.

CAT STEVENS had such a spell with Island Records in the Seventies - starting at the lovely and underrated "Mona Bone Jakon" LP in July 1970 - right through to November 1978's "Back To Earth" when the public had long since stopped listening. In-between this eight-year splurge - London's Steven Demetre Georgiou popped out a series of singer-songwriter albums that found their way into every bedsit and bedroom around the world (a girlfriend in collage had remarked that our Steven had eyes like a cat – hence the stage name).

After a pop start with Deram and Decca in the late Sixties - Cat Stevens switched to Island Records in early 1970 - acoustic-folk-souled his songwriting and the handsome troubadour and across the next five years in particular became huge with the public. Albums like 1972's "Catch Bull At Four", 1973's “Foreigner” and 1974's "Buddah And The Chocolate Box" are still remembered with real affection now in 2016 and charted big at the time – part of the James Taylor, Elton John and Carole King singer-songwriter movement sweeping the world in the early part of that fantastic decade. 

But it was the duo of 1970's "Tea For A Tillerman" and the 1971 follow-up "Teaser And The Firecat" (Island Records in the UK and A&M in the USA) that seared him into the hearts of millions. These two beautifully written and well-recorded albums have always been the jewels in his catalogue crown. It's therefore hardly surprising that both have become recipients of a 2CD 'Deluxe Edition' Remaster from Universal - "Tillerman" in November 2008 with "Teaser" following in May 2009. Here are the Longer Boats coming to win us...

UK released November 2008 - "Tea For The Tillerman: Deluxe Edition" by CAT STEVENS on Universal/Island 00602517870888 (Barcode 602517870888) is a 2CD Expanded and Newly Remastered 'Deluxe Edition' with Eleven Bonus Tracks and plays out as follows:

Disc 1 (36:46 minutes):
1. Where Do The Children Play?
2. Hard Headed Woman
3. Wild World
4. Sad Lisa
5. Miles From Nowhere
6. But I Might Die Tonight
7. Longer Boats
8. Into White
9. On The Road To Find Out
10. Father And Son
11. Tea For The Tillerman
Tracks 1 to 11 are his fourth studio album "Tea For The Tillerman" - released November 1970 in the UK on Island Records ILPS 9135 and January 1971 in the USA on A&M Records SP-4280. Produced by PAUL SAMWELL-SMITH - it peaked at No. 20 in the UK and No. 8 in the USA.

Disc 2 (36:49 minutes):
1. Wild World (Demo Version, Recorded 1969)
2. Longer Boats (Live At The Troubadour, Recorded 1970)
3. Into White (Live At The Troubadour, Recorded 1970)
4. Miles From Nowhere (Demo Version, Recorded 1969)
5. Hard Headed Woman (Live in Japan, Recorded 1976)
6. Where Do The Children Play? (From the Majikat Earth Tour, Recorded 1976)
7. Sad Lisa (from the Majikat Earth Tour, Recorded 1976)
8. On The Road To Find Out (Live at KCET-TV, Recorded in Los Angeles, 1971)
9. Father And Son (from Yusef's Cafe, Recorded 2006)
10. Wild World (from Yusef's Cafe, Recorded 2006)
11. Tea For The Tillerman (Live At The BBC, Recorded 1970 for BBC Radio 1's "Sounds Of The Seventies" at the Playhouse Theatre)

This 'Deluxe Edition' had a plastic wrap (before Universal decided unwisely to ditch them) with 'Classic '70s Album Digitally Remastered...' sticker on the outside and a four-way foldout card digipak within - itself housed a beautifully laid-out 28-page oversized booklet. The inner gatefold photo of the original LP is spread across the flaps of the digipak with sepia photos adorning the other flaps (it's hardly great visually). The booklet is gorgeous. Page 3 has Cat's own ruminations on the album and its life/career changing effect on him - Pages 4 to 6 feature superb in-depth track-by-track explanations by original LP Producer PAUL SAMWELL-SMITH while principal band member and Guitarist ALUN DAVIES gives his eclectic take on the songs (Pages 8 and 9). 

The rest of the booklet reprints the lyrics alongside live photos and finally track-by-track breakdowns of the Bonus Material. The eleven-track Bonus Disc includes Previously Unreleased - two demos being the real prizes - almost as lovely as the finished articles. Songs from the 'Majikat' Tour have been released on an Eagle Vision DVD and the KCET Concert piece was out on a Weinerworld DVD "Tea For The Tillerman Live" - the rest are Previously Unreleased.

But the big news is a new June 2008 TED JENSEN Remaster done at Sterling Sound Studios in New York from the original two-track analogue master tapes - superseding the version he did on the May 2000 single disc Remaster series. This version is beautiful to listen too - a real Audio treat. Typically the bonus tracks are a mixture of the essential vs. the superfluous. His voice is gone on "Sad Lisa" while the Live At The BBC "Tea For The Tillerman" that ends the disc is less than a minute long and very hissy. The two live 'Yusef's Cafe' tracks are beautifully recorded and feature "Wild World" in both English and a different langue (original album player Alan Davies is part of the band for these sessions). 

But the real prize here for collectors and uber-fans is the two demos - both sweetly recorded and hugely impressive. There’s a warmth and magic coming off of them and you wish there was a whole album of these. The Troubadour live cuts are good too (just him and Alun Davies on guitars) - very clear and way better than say bootleg quality. As I write this (Thursday, 10 November 2016) - the Sci-Fi movie "Arrival" is opening today about twelve banana-shaped spaceships suddenly turning up on our capitol city lawns itching to communicate in squiggles. I mention this because in his first Troubadour song he announces that "Longer Boats" is about spaceships 'coming to win us' - 46 years before the film event! What a clever boy. But onto to the album...

"...Well I think it's fine building Jumbo planes...switch on Summer from a slot machine...but tell me...where do the children play?" Cat opens the album with an environmental plea and in his May 2008 liner notes he comments that those passionate cries are still falling on 'tone-deaf ears' and unfortunately all present day evidence proves him right. What's not in dispute is the 'Audio'. My 'Pink Island' label 1970 Vinyl LP original and subsequent 1970's 'Pink-Rim Palm Tree Label' reissues always had low audio on "Where Do The Children Play?" - but this CD Remaster has gorgeous clarity and that acoustic bottom end when it kicks in is impressive. The strings on "Hard Headed Woman" are clearer and Harvey Burn's drums are almost 'too' good - a beautiful transfer. That huge piano on "Sad Lisa" fills your room and you forget just how passionate his vocals could be until you re-hear "Miles From Nowhere". Side 2's "Longer Boats" and the anthemic "Father And Son" will leave many tingling - both musically and lyrically.

"...Mary dropped her pants by the sand...and let the parson...come and take her hand...But the soul of nobody knows...where the parson goes..." I don’t know where he's gone either.

"Tea For A Tillerman" is a gorgeous album and the Audio on this 2008 'Deluxe Edition' Remaster has only hammered that home with knobs on. I don't how many times I'll return to Disc 2 in truth - but there are nuggets to be had there as well – period songs that fans will need and enjoy.

If you're not prepared to pay the extra - then simply plum for the May 2000 single CD remaster which has great audio too and can be found for less than three or four pounds in many places.

If however you're after the very best Audio and the fanboy in you wants that tasty presentation and those extras on Disc 2 (some of which are actually worth owning) - then this 2CD 'DE' version of Cat Stevens' "Tea For The Tillerman" is the Father and Son for you...