Yusuf/Cat Stevens - Back To Earth

Back To Earth Super Deluxe Anniversary Edition 2LP/5CD/Blu-ray box set!

Includes 50-page hardcover book and memorabilia!

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.

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."

Back To Earth was indeed a remarkable return to form, reuniting Stevens with Paul Samwell-Smith, the producer of his landmark, multi-platinum albums Tea For The Tillerman (1970) and Teaser And The Firecat (1971), as well as continuing his creative partnership with long-time guitarist Alun Davies. Musically, the album was a blend of the acoustic balladeering and spiritually-questing style that had made the singer a worldwide star, along with more distant echoes of his years growing up as Steven Demetre Georgiou in London's West End. Tracks such as "New York Times" and "Randy" recalled the influence upon him of the U.K. capital's theatre land, and — since parts of the album had been recorded in New York City — Broadway.

"There was this other side of me which was the sort of musical composer," he remembers. "I loved musicals and I was surrounded by them where I lived. So, I had Bernstein in my blood."

Long overdue for re-evaluation, Back To Earth is a brilliant and fascinating album capturing Yusuf/Cat Stevens at a defining point in his life. "Now," as he said at the time of his departure from the music world, "I've come down from the stars."

Features:
40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition
2LP & 5CD box set
12"x12" Box
Original album remastered from original analogue tapes at Abbey Road Studios
Demos and unreleased tracks
Performances from UNICEF's 1979 Year Of The Child concert
50-page hardcover book + memorabilia

 

 

CD1 Remastered – Original album remastered from analogue tapes

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 2011 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)

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

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 Richard Thompson and David Essex)

LP 1: Remastered – Original album remastered for vinyl from analogue tapes

Side 1

1. Just Another Night

2. Daytime

3. Bad Brakes

4. Randy

5. The Artist

Side 2

1. Last Love Song

2. Nascimento

3. Father

4. New York Times

5. Never

LP 2: Year Of The Child Concert at Wembley Arena 1979

Side 1

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?

Side 2

1. Father & Son

2. Morning Has Broken

3. Peace Train

4. Child For A Day

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