Cat Stevens - Back to Earth (5 CD Super Deluxe 40th Anniversary Edition, 2020/FLAC)

 

In 1978, after having sold millions of records and become one of the biggest international artists of the 1970s, Cat Stevens decided to step out of the rock star spotlight and walk away. That year, he was to release his final album under that name.

While Stevens’ legions of fans were saddened by the news, along with the musicians who had played with him on record and stage, the singer himself was exhilarated by the prospect of moving on. “It was like going back to my original nature,” he reflected at the time. “Back to wide-eyed childhood again”. The appropriately-titled Back To Earth was his parting gift: an album that saw the London-born singer saying farewell to his fans, while obliquely explaining his decision to quit in songs such as ‘Last Love Song’ and ‘Just Another Night’.

“What’s going on behind the appearance of stardom or the stage itself can be a completely different world,” he says now, “and that’s what it was a lot of the time. I kept my sanity and I kept my eyes open.”In May 2019, Back To Earth is to be reissued in various formats on Cat-O-Log Records / BMG, including a 6 Disc, 2LP Deluxe Boxset featuring the original album (remastered at Abbey Road), along with demos, unreleased tracks, and material from UNICEF’s 1979 Year Of The Child concert, the singer’s last live performance as Cat Stevens. 

 

CD1: the original album remastered from original analogue tapes to stunning effect at Abbey Road Studios

1 Just Another Night  

2 Daytime  

3 Bad Brakes  

4 Randy  

5 The Artist  

6 Last Love Song  

7 Nascimento  

8 Father  

9 New York Times  

10 Never 

 

CD2: Return to Earth – the original stereo mix

1 Just Another Night  

2 Daytime  

3 Bad Brakes  

4 Randy  

5 The Artist  

6 Last Love Song  

7 Nascimento  

8 Father  

9 New York Times  

10 Never

 

CD3: Unearthed - live tracks, rare demos and two beautiful, completely unheard recordings

1 Butterfly (previously unreleased)  

2 Toy Heart (previously unreleased)  

3 New York Times (new mix) previously unreleased  

4 Just Another Night (demo) previously unreleased  

5 Last Love Song (Session Mix) previously unreleased  

6 Daytime (Live 2017 Adelaide)  

7 Bad Brakes (Live 2009 Albert Hall)  

8 Last Love Song (Live 2014 Toronto)  

9 Nascimento (Solto) previously unreleased  

10 Just Another Night (Live 2016 Nashville)  

11 Bad Brakes (instrumental) previously unreleased

 

CD4: Alpha Omega (A Musical Revelation): Completion of the circle. Yusuf helps his brother David realise his own musical ambition by producing the 1978 album Alpha Omega, featuring the much loved ‘Child For A Day’

1 Universe  

2 I Who Am I  

3 Paradise  

4 Inventions  

5 I See That Face  

6 Child For A Day  

7 Sing, Love Is Everywhere  

8 Alpha Omega  

9 Music Is The 7th Wonder  

10 Dreamer  

11 World  

12 Listen To Me  

13 I Believe

   

CD5: UNICEF Year Of The Child Concert at Wembley Arena 1979. The last love song. Yusuf performs, what he believes will be his final farewell at UNICEF's 1979 Year Of The Child charity concert at London's Wembley Arena

1 The Wind with intro from Paul Gambaccini  

2 On The Road To Find Out  

3 Just Another Night  

4 Daytime/Where Do The Children Play?  

5 Father & Son  

6 Morning Has Broken (with Belmont Junior School Choir)  

7 Peace Train  

8 Child For A Day (with Alun Davies and David Essex)