Back To Earth

Vinyl LP pressing. Upon it's original release, Back To Earth received rave reviews. "Cat has come up with the kind of quality album that originally made him a superstar," declared the London Evening News. "Just one knockout song after another." Billboard meanwhile applauded the album's "tender, folksy ballads [and] up-tempo and spirited pop tunes." Hot Press hailed it as "a lush and intricately woven tapestry of fine melodies... really a return to form." Long overdue for re-evaluation, this newly remastered 40th anniversary 180g vinyl LP reissue of Back To Earth courtesy of Abbey Road Studios offers a fresh and fascinating look at a defining point in Yusuf / Cat Sevens' life and career. Back To Earth was 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 UK 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."