Cat Stevens — Gold

Gold

Hip-O/Universal

Alison Lang (CHARTattack)

01/10/2006 7:48am

The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens (now known as the devoutly Muslim Yusuf Islam) has long eschewed the hard-living life of a musician for the simpler pleasures of faith and family, keeping new releases to a minimum. This hasn't deterred his record companies from releasing 17 different best-of albums over the years. One's inclined to scoff at this latest mélange of hits and we advise neophytes to scrabble in the used bins for a copy of Tea For The Tillerman instead. However, the inclusion of "Indian Ocean," Islam's response to last year's tsunami disaster in Asia, makes Gold somewhat worthwhile. This wrenching, catastrophic snapshot, shaped by a voice both lyrical and wholly unsentimental, proves that even after 20 years of orthodoxy, the spirit of Cat Stevens is as relevant as ever. Now, if they would only let the man get on a plane.

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