Album Review: Yusuf / Cat Stevens, Saturnight (Live From Tokyo)

By 1974, Cat Stevens had already blown through a few of his nine lives. He was emerging as a teenybopper favourite in Swinging '60s London, before a TB diagnosis in 1969 flattened him (his doctor told him he would have died within two weeks, had he not sought treatment).

Stevens’ isolated recovery afforded him the space to look inwards and he emerged a profound songwriter and one of the period's most commercially successful artists.

This live LP, recorded in Tokyo and originally released only in Japan, captures him at a spiritual crossroads.At the time he was juggling belief systems like Zen Buddhism and Numerology. A couple years later, he would have another Examen after almost drowning off the coast of Malibu. He became a Muslim in 1977 and eventually changed his name to Yusuf Islam.

The story of his faith makes this concert a fascinating portrait of a singular artist. Reflective lines like “Oh, I'm on my way, I know I am / Somewhere not so far from here”, carry more weight than they might have to the audience at the time, considering the wider context.

It’s a great sounding record too. Stevens’ voice is brimming with a fervent yearning for transcendence. The band is tight, pumping dark energy and pounding drum fills into ‘Lady D’Arbanville’ and adorning ‘Bitterblue’ with some stellar rock guitar. There’s also a worthy Sam Cooke cover on offer with ‘Another Saturday Night’.

The Japanese audience, meanwhile, is reverential in the presence of a master at his peak, capping off the otherworldliness which permeates throughout this live gem.

9/10