Comments on: Back

By: AT-one

AT-one — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:00:37 +0000

It didn’t take me nearly that long. I “got it” the first time I walked out onto the flight deck at night out in the middle of nowhere, with the ship’s lights turned down, and only the escorts visible on the horizon, and Carl Sagan’s “billions and billions of stars” above in the heavens.

My “boat” is parked downtown here in Sandy Eggo, at navy pier. I spent three years on the Midway, and go visit three or four times a year.

To quote xformed:

“I suspect, as is the case with many I know, and myself, the longing never leaves. The joy is always there, but you adjust, yet you still, in my case, look seaward (and in Lex’s upward) and know many will never know what you learned, and how you wish you could go there again.”

My exact sentiment.

By: submandave

submandave — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:17:41 +0000

I’d say a good overview of Stewart can be had on “Live – Indian Summer.” As complex and involved as his songs and arrangements are, the live performances on this disc are damn near studio quality. A real amazing performance by all.

By: Zane

Zane — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:31:10 +0000

I have a live bootleg from the 1970s where he tells the story behind Year of the Cat. It involves hippies, hashish, Morocco and a tour bus that didn’t wait. Stewart’s version is definitely a little more exotic.

I should add that my favorite feature of 1970s Al Stewart is the guitar playing of Tim Renwick, without which YotC would be so much oatmeal. Ironically, Al Stewart was such an unknown that he won a Grammy (or maybe a Guitar Player reader’s poll) for best guitar in 1976, when it was all Renwick’s work.

Surprised no one’s mentioned Constantinople yet, either:

Across the western world
The lights are going down
The gypsy armies of the evening
Have lit their fires across
The nether side of town
They will not pass this way again
So here in the night
Leave your home it’s time for running
Out of the light
I see the hosts of Mohammed coming

The Holy Sister bars her doors against the East
Her house has stood too long divided
The uninvited guests are breaking up the feast
She may not bid them leave again
So here in the night
Leave your home it’s time for running
Out of the light
I see the hosts of Mohammed coming

By: fliterman

fliterman — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 06:41:52 +0000

Al Stewart occupies a favored portion of my Ipod. And I think we met the same woman as in his Year of the Cat. Not my favorite, but well written is Old Admirals; the lyrics here. The salt, the spray, and the deep-blue water dreams never leave the true sailor, though the sailor may have left them all, many years ago.

By: Zane

Zane — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:45:38 +0000

I used to have the vinyl of that, maybe still do in a box, and Nostradamus certainly didn’t take up all of side two, only the last 8 minutes of it. But like Frampton’s “Do You Feel Like I Do?” it served a DJ’s purposes. Where did you get that snippet from?

I should add that it was his next album, Year of the Cat, that really broke him in America, and if you’re looking for an introduction to Stewart, that’s probably his most enjoyable album to listen to.

By: David K. M. Klaus

David K. M. Klaus — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:34:44 +0000

Al Stewart, born in Scotland, is generally considered a British folk artist as the beginnings of his career took place while he lived in the Soho district of London. He now lives in Los Angeles. The album Past, Present and Future, from which "Old Admirals" is the first cut, was his major introduction to U. S. audiences via the free-form FM radio of the day, as "Nostradamus" takes up the entire B-side of the vinyl LP. Like the earlier Richard Harris cover of "MacArthur Park", or Iron Butterfly's "In-a-Godda-Da-Vida", it was a staple for DJs who needed a smoke or bathroom break, but was well-worth the airtime in its own right and made his name here in the U. S.