Al Stewart – Past, Present & Future (50th Anniversary 4-disc box set)
Scottish born singer-songwriter-folk rock musican Al Stewart is best known, outside of his own fan-base, for 1976 album Year Of The Cat, from which came the hugely successful and musically timeless title track/ single.
However for many a fan and music critic his finest work is 1973’s Past, Present & Future, which now sees release as an impressive, 4-disc 50th Annivesrary set.
Not only was P,P&F Al Stewart's breakthrough record (and first to make the US Billboard charts), it also gave birth to, as Stewart himself christened it, "historical folk rock."
Indeed history plays a major part in P,P&F.
Influenced by the song 'Manuscript' from third album Zero She Flies (the song lyrically refers to events that led to the outbreak of World War I), Stewart had the idea to write eight songs that each touched on a decade from the 20th century, up to the then early 70s present.
The results were a set of songs so vivid that the listener could visualise, not just hear, the tales as they lyrically and musically unfolded.
Nor did it hurt that the album featured string and brass arrangements by Richard Hewson and a talented array of contributing musicians including B.J. Cole (pedal steel), Rick Wakeman (keys), Curved Air’s Francis Monkman (Moog synth) and Queen’s Roger Taylor (percussion).
Acoustically led, brass supported opener 'Old Admirals' lyrically and nautically charts, across its six sea-faring minutes, the life and reflective times of Admiral "Jacky" Fisher, Britain‘s first Sea Lord (and the man ultimately responsible for the modern Royal Navy).
The shorter and jauntier 'Warren Harding' (the 29th President of the United States) includes a steel band section that brings Caribbean calypso to the carousing backstory.
Following number, the slightly funky 'Soho (Needless To Say)' features a quick-fire lyrical delivery where Al Stewart’s phrasing and timing are as important as the lyric itself (which nods to the famous London area as seen from the perspective of a 1960s Friday night).
However for many a fan and music critic his finest work is 1973’s Past, Present & Future, which now sees release as an impressive, 4-disc 50th Annivesrary set.
Not only was P,P&F Al Stewart's breakthrough record (and first to make the US Billboard charts), it also gave birth to, as Stewart himself christened it, "historical folk rock."
Indeed history plays a major part in P,P&F.
Influenced by the song 'Manuscript' from third album Zero She Flies (the song lyrically refers to events that led to the outbreak of World War I), Stewart had the idea to write eight songs that each touched on a decade from the 20th century, up to the then early 70s present.
The results were a set of songs so vivid that the listener could visualise, not just hear, the tales as they lyrically and musically unfolded.
Nor did it hurt that the album featured string and brass arrangements by Richard Hewson and a talented array of contributing musicians including B.J. Cole (pedal steel), Rick Wakeman (keys), Curved Air’s Francis Monkman (Moog synth) and Queen’s Roger Taylor (percussion).
Acoustically led, brass supported opener 'Old Admirals' lyrically and nautically charts, across its six sea-faring minutes, the life and reflective times of Admiral "Jacky" Fisher, Britain‘s first Sea Lord (and the man ultimately responsible for the modern Royal Navy).
The shorter and jauntier 'Warren Harding' (the 29th President of the United States) includes a steel band section that brings Caribbean calypso to the carousing backstory.
Following number, the slightly funky 'Soho (Needless To Say)' features a quick-fire lyrical delivery where Al Stewart’s phrasing and timing are as important as the lyric itself (which nods to the famous London area as seen from the perspective of a 1960s Friday night).
'The Last Day Of June 1934' is an up-tempo folk-rock number that belies the darker underbelly of a lyric based around Hitler’s infamous Night of the Long Knives, albeit narrated from the viewpoint of a then peaceful England, while "Europe lies sleeping."
Folk and Roller 'Post World War Two Blues' is the fun number of the album, lyrically tracking pivotal moments in Al Stewart’s life (both personal and in world events) from his birth to around the release of his debut album in 1967.
Side Two, in old vinyl terms, is probably the best side of music Al Stewart ever laid own.
The acoustically built 'Roads To Moscow' ebbs and flows across its eight minutes with a choral quartet of backing voices, strings, percussion and bass, but it’s the profoundly centred lyric (a Russian soldier describing the German Invasion of Russia in 1941, and his ensuing war years) that truly makes the song.
The other long-form number, 'Nostradamus' (the Future of the album’s title), holds the attention in two, distinct ways.
First, there’s Al Stewart’s well crafted lyric, which includes some of the reputed prophecies as directly referenced from Erika Cheetham’s texts and research on the famous Michel de Nostredame.
Secondly, a number of clever tempo-shifts (performed primarily on acoustic guitars, with the occassional bass, percussion or mandolin embellishment) keep the folk-prog styled song moving, and interesting.
Between those two long-form pieces sits 'Terminal Eyes,' one of Al Stewart’s most intriguing songs.
A mid-tempo rock number that intentionally nods to The Beatles 'I Am The Walrus' (the lyric nods to the same creature, here as a mythical representation of the 1960s music movement, drugs and suicide), 'Terminal Eyes' is a hidden (and arguably misunderstood) gem of Al Stewart’s entire song catalogue.
Also included as part of this 50th Anniversary edition are the single versions of 'Terminal Eyes' and 'Nostradamus,' plus non-album song, the Wishbone Ash-esque 'Swallow Wind.'
Disc Two features a live performance from July 1974 recorded at The Howff in London.
This nine song live set, newly remixed by Stephen W Tayler from the original multi-track tapes, showcases six P,P&F songs plus an extended-jam cover of 'All Along The Watchtower,' which features, among others, Wishbone Ash’s Andy Powell.
(Interestingly, Al Stewart’s live band for this performance included former Home guitarist Laurie Wisefield, who had just joined Wishbone Ash).
Newly remastered from the original master tapes, P,P&F has never sounded better, although Stephen W Tayler’s new stereo mix (Disc Three), where he has managed to conjure a warmer sound and more defined clarity, is better still (for the audio buff there’s also Tayler’s 5.1 Surround mix on the accompanying Blu-ray disc).
Completed by an illustrated 68-page booklet with a new essay by Neville Judd (plus a facsimile promo poster and a set of postcards), Past, Present & Future remains, half a century on, historical (and prophesising) storytelling of the highest order.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Folk and Roller 'Post World War Two Blues' is the fun number of the album, lyrically tracking pivotal moments in Al Stewart’s life (both personal and in world events) from his birth to around the release of his debut album in 1967.
Side Two, in old vinyl terms, is probably the best side of music Al Stewart ever laid own.
The acoustically built 'Roads To Moscow' ebbs and flows across its eight minutes with a choral quartet of backing voices, strings, percussion and bass, but it’s the profoundly centred lyric (a Russian soldier describing the German Invasion of Russia in 1941, and his ensuing war years) that truly makes the song.
The other long-form number, 'Nostradamus' (the Future of the album’s title), holds the attention in two, distinct ways.
First, there’s Al Stewart’s well crafted lyric, which includes some of the reputed prophecies as directly referenced from Erika Cheetham’s texts and research on the famous Michel de Nostredame.
Secondly, a number of clever tempo-shifts (performed primarily on acoustic guitars, with the occassional bass, percussion or mandolin embellishment) keep the folk-prog styled song moving, and interesting.
Between those two long-form pieces sits 'Terminal Eyes,' one of Al Stewart’s most intriguing songs.
A mid-tempo rock number that intentionally nods to The Beatles 'I Am The Walrus' (the lyric nods to the same creature, here as a mythical representation of the 1960s music movement, drugs and suicide), 'Terminal Eyes' is a hidden (and arguably misunderstood) gem of Al Stewart’s entire song catalogue.
Also included as part of this 50th Anniversary edition are the single versions of 'Terminal Eyes' and 'Nostradamus,' plus non-album song, the Wishbone Ash-esque 'Swallow Wind.'
Disc Two features a live performance from July 1974 recorded at The Howff in London.
This nine song live set, newly remixed by Stephen W Tayler from the original multi-track tapes, showcases six P,P&F songs plus an extended-jam cover of 'All Along The Watchtower,' which features, among others, Wishbone Ash’s Andy Powell.
(Interestingly, Al Stewart’s live band for this performance included former Home guitarist Laurie Wisefield, who had just joined Wishbone Ash).
Newly remastered from the original master tapes, P,P&F has never sounded better, although Stephen W Tayler’s new stereo mix (Disc Three), where he has managed to conjure a warmer sound and more defined clarity, is better still (for the audio buff there’s also Tayler’s 5.1 Surround mix on the accompanying Blu-ray disc).
Completed by an illustrated 68-page booklet with a new essay by Neville Judd (plus a facsimile promo poster and a set of postcards), Past, Present & Future remains, half a century on, historical (and prophesising) storytelling of the highest order.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ