Cat Stevens - Greatest Hits

Before Cat Stevens changed his name to Yusef Islam, he had a slew of hits built around his soft, yet sometimes coarse, vocals. Stevens utilized a variety of instrumentation and rhythms in his predominantly acoustic arrangements, and songs like "Peace Train," and "Another Saturday Night" had a multi-cultural feel to them. Greatest Hits provides a decent overview of his more popular work, including the poignant "Oh Very Young" and "Father & Son." Unfortunately, the delightful yet brief "Tea for the Tillerman" is not present. The lovely "Morning Has Broken" has elements of Stevens's growing concern with religion, philosophy, and the relationship between the cerebral and the spiritual. In the early 1980s, Stevens, now Yusef, "retired" from the music profession because of his new beliefs. --Steve Gdula