Year of the Cat is the seventh studio album by Al Stewart, released in 1976. It was produced and engineered by Alan Parsons. Its sales helped by the hit single "Year of the Cat", co-written by Peter Wood and described by AllMusic as "one of those 'mysterious woman' songs", the album was a top five hit in the United States. The other single from the album was "On the Border". Stewart wrote "Lord Grenville" about the Elizabethan sailor and explorer Sir Richard Grenville (1542–1591). Stewart had all of the music and orchestration written and completely recorded before he even had a title for any of the songs. In a Canadian radio interview he stated that he has done this for six of his albums, and he often writes four different sets of lyrics for each song. The title track derives from a song Stewart wrote in 1966 called "Foot of the Stage" with prescient lyrics about Tony Hancock, one of Britain's favourite comedians who died by suicide two years later. When Stewart discovered that Hancock was not well known in the United States, he went back to his original title "Year of the Cat".
Ahhhh...now this takes me back to the long hot summer of '76 cruising down to Cornwall with the window open. A beautifully crafted 70s album (Alan Parsons) with great guitar and saxophone solos. Lovely listening.
Well Al Stewart certainly deserves a spot on a list like this. I love the songs “Year of the Cat” and “The Border” - fantastic songs - but had never listened to this. There’s a lot more great stuff on here! In particular, “Flying Sorcery” and “One Stage Before” are already in my musical rotation giving me something “new” to listen to from Al Stewart. There’s a lot of great gold left to mine yesterday’s LPs!
Al Stewart seems like the kind of musician that had a much larger influence in the UK than anywhere else. I’ve never heard of him prior to this but his melodies are pretty standard soft rock that resemble Paul McCartney, Bowie, and Elton John but lack the ability to write classics. Stewart is a good artist but he just gets overshadowed by the more popular artists of his time. 6.5/10
Nice and happy pop/rock album from the 70s. Of course Year of the Cat and On the Border are great songs. The other songs are also not that bad. All in all a pleasant listen, but not something I would put on again (apart from the two classic tracks).
I feel like I'm almost always turned off by overly-wordy/lyrically dense music but goddamn if this record doesn't bring back some massive childhood flashbacks. Something about Al's rather twee voice (very Pet Shop Boys...?) makes it weirdly less-annoying for me (also it just fits the material perfectly) so as to be able to focus on the lush music behind it. Always loved that they saved the killer title track for the end. Not much to say about that one other than it's perfection and one of the true classic pop/rock songs of all-time; grew up as a little kid hearing that (long!) song on the radio constantly. I do love this album - it plays out like a movie and really needs to be heard all at once. Killer production/mix, too (Alan Parsons!). Caveat: I'm not sure how well this does/will translate to younger/unfamiliar listeners though; I'm definitely listening a lot through a nostalgic lens and objectively even if I do love it it is pretty old-timey in song construction. Anyways for me it's a perfect addition; couldn't believe it wasn't in the original 1001. 9/10 5 stars.
July 18, 2025 HL: "Lord Grenville", "If It Doesn't Come Naturally, Leave It", "One Stage Before", title track Al Stewart is kind of like if Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys was born 10 yrs earlier and played soft rock. Al Stewart's hits on the radio (mainly "Time Passages") didn't click with me like other "old gold" singer/songwriters like Cat 🐱 Stevens or Jackson Browne, but Year of the Cat 🐱 is a pleasant way to spend an hour. Cat 🐱
Probably because I have no nostalgia for him, nor am I British, but I was mostly unimpressed. It's an album style I've heard a thousand times. 2.5/5 but rounding down since there are 3 star albums I like way more.
Never heard of this before, but big Bowie/Elton John vibes. I like it. 4/5. Update towards the end: this is fantastic. No idea how I'd never heard of it before. 5/5.
Never heard of this album. Never heard of this musician. This is amazing. Thanks for the recommendation.
Rating: 8/10 Best songs: On the border, If it doesn't come naturally leave it, Broadway hotel, Year of the cat
This was a really enjoyable listen. There's so much to like here, and that title track is a pure delight. I just want to play that song on a loop all day. Melodic, richly produced arrangements that are mildly proggy, but still have an easygoing vibe. That's actually a hard balance to pull off, which Al Stewart/Alan Parsons manage beautifully. I can point to several artists Stewart reminds me of (Elton John obviously, also George Harrison and even some early Steely Dan), but Stewart also brings a lot of his personality to these songs as well. My main critique would be that Stewart lacks much in the way of lyrical nuance, but he really makes the most of the material here. Fave Songs: Year of the Cat, One Stage Before, Lord Grenville, On the Border, Broadway Hotel, Midas Shadow
Never heard of Al Stewart before and really enjoyed this. At first I thought it was just another 70s album riffing on The Beatles, Bowie and Elton… and it basically is, but it does it really well. Great hooks and some real theatricality and character to the songwriting
Never heard of the album or the guy, but I loved it. Simple but lovely folk pop with unique songwriting and production. The title track hits hard, what a tune. Strong 4/5.
The good part of people submitting less familiar albums is discovering great music I was unaware of! Lovely 70s music
It's alright, I just can't get past his voice for some reason. It's always bugged me. 3 stars.
Cheerful
David Bowie core
Love the title track, though the rest of the album is just pleasant moody soft rock, that isn't quite as compelling or engaging.
feather light melodies. painfully british.
It came from Abbey Road
4 3
I enjoyed this but the style does feel very dated. Some things survive and they just feel timeless, other things hold up but more as museum pieces, and this seems trending to the latter side to me. I also kind of spent the whole time trying to decide if the lyrics were really saying all that much or were just very artfully constructed. On the whole positive though.
Was okay. Nothing too exciting
"nice"
Good enough.
Rock, soft rock, progressive pop. Ni fu ni fa.
This is another one of those albums that is fine, but also very much not for me. The music is good. I don't love his voice, but I wouldn't consider it a distinct negative either. I just didn't really get into the songs at all 3/5
Year of the Cat is a bit twee but fairly enjoyable in a laid back way. I liked On The Border early on and the title track late on, a middling high 2/5 is fine here, probably 3 because it was never bad or annoying. Just fine.
Well produced but slightly wishy-washy nice English folk album.
Meh. It's pretty run of the mill 70s-era soft rock. There are dozens of these albums that exist out there. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.
Good 70’s album, worth a listen, but not sure I’d rate it higher than the other classics from the era.
Sounds even older than it is; catchy songs, well sung; the wee "story of the songs" interview at the end (of the remaster) was cool, even if he sounded like an old school transatlantic 'Smashie & Nicey' style radio DJ; contains possibly the only song about an Elizabethan privateer
Not bad for what it is, which is mid-70s singer/songwriter soft rock. Just not my thing.
Thoroughly almost aggressively pleasant.
Not bad, but after 1100 albums, it sounds quite generic. It's possible to be a pleasant generic singer-songwriter, but it deserves a 3-star rating at maximum.
This I actually thought was very peaceful and nice. I think it needed a little more something, but I was a big fan and parts were very beautiful.
It sounds like Kermit the Frog trying to sound more like a human and drop a 70s album. Not for me but maybe for frogs?
It's a 3 stars album, but since you have a track of commentary you lost a star...
There’s the sense of a strong songwriting effort attempting to break through here, but from a modern perspective it’s hampered by the sonic trappings of the past. Found myself questioning whether this was a lost Bowie B-sides album at points, as the LP just can’t clear a defined path for itself.
It was fine
Eltonish.
Ultimate dad rock. 1 star pretty unlistenable.