As 1972 dawned, Cat Stevens was nonetheless within the early phases of reshaping his musical persona from the singles artist of the “Matthew and Son” period to delicate album-maker. However now he was proving that he was each snug and standard in each settings.
Within the autumn of 1971 the London-born singer-songwriter delivered Teaser and the Firecat, which made good on the promise of his earlier albums, Mona Bone Jakon and Tea For The Tillerman, and gave him his first US high ten single in “Peace Train.” That wasn’t a UK chart merchandise, however one other observe from the LP, “Moonshadow,” grew to become a High 30 entry, because the album began what would change into an mixture of 93 weeks on the bestsellers, by far his longest run.
On the chart for New 12 months’s Day, 1972, Stevens debuted with “Morning Has Broken,” a sexy model of the Christian hymn printed in 1931, with lyrics by English author Eleanor Farjeon to the Scottish Gaelic tune “Bunessan.” The brand new rendition featured the elegant piano enjoying of Sure keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman, and after opening at No.36, took simply three weeks to offer Cat his first UK High 10 single since that “Matthew and Son” success of totally 5 years earlier.
Take heed to one of the best of Cat Stevens on Apple Music and Spotify.
Teaser and the Firecat had spent its first seven weeks within the UK High 10, apparently peaking at No.5. However the brand new single propelled it to better heights, and a No.2 rating later in January. It went on to an unbroken run of 64 weeks within the UK High 50 album chart. That spring, “Morning Has Broken” additionally gave Stevens one other High 10 single within the States, climbing to No.6 in a 14-week keep, a efficiency he would repeat precisely in 1974 together with his remake of Sam Cooke’s “Another Saturday Night.”
Purchase or stream “Morning Has Broken” on Teaser and the Firecat.
