New Cat steven's album??

I heard of this but I didn't know if it was accurate?? He hasn't put out a single song in over 10 years! anyone have any info?

 

I recently bought the new Album and I didn't aprecciate it too much...
The music is ok, Stevens (or do I have to say Yusufs) voice sounds exactly the same as in the early days and also the songs are melodious.
But the lyrics are just undifferentiated and moralic: The first song par example transposes the message that "you should avoid the city after dark". The other songs as well reveal Yusufs deep and strong religious (Islam) believe.
During his music career Stevens was always in the search of a spiritual truth. The search made his lyrics so interesting: He told us stories of doubt, search for identity, ambivalence, insecurity.....
Now he writes songs in the way of a person who already found what he was looking for.... With a strong, even dogmatic certitude

About Yusufs reasons to release an album after such a long break I only read an interview in which he said that he played in his muslim comunity for a special occasion and everyone was enthusiatic. Because of that he thought that I would be a good idea to start again

 

Good Post. It makes the point that the best art is created by the seeker of truth on the road to enlightenment. In other words, the one with questions to ask of the human condition, religion, politics. It's perhaps conceivable that Yusuf Islam would have made a better album had his lyrics questioned the actions of other adherents to the Islamic faith such as the jihadists and the validity of certain muslim practices in the modern world.

 

yeah a new Cat Stevens album, .. or wait Yousef Islam .. lol

 

lol @ stonedmonkiwana...

 

I'm glad his music isn't the same. And I'm glad he found his spiritual truth and his music reflects that. One would hope that in their lifetime you could find it.

 

ok?

 

I hate Cat Stevens' music. Introspective singer/songwriter Super 70's crap.

I'm glad that **** turned Muslim.

 

hey yeah isn't it under his "new" name?
i LOVE cat stevens!

 

Then why are you in here?

...go away.

 

I love Cat Stevens, but I'm not too fund of Yousef.

Bjoern got it right, it's just not the same cool cat, and not the same music.

He might sound the same, but... you won't see him making any more Harold and Maude soundtracks

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7KnWHDFsjo

This is cat stevens saying that rushdie should be killed and in fact he would like him burned alive ....this is not just rhetoric and cat stevens had chance to think about what he was saying .
he had allready had a lot of flack about telling newspapers he would tell khomenis agents where rushdie was so they could kill him .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOFsfc_gUBI&mode=user&search=

This is a clip from a paltlak with bakri mohammed where he says cat bankrolls terrorist causes and sits at the feet of terrorists, so I hope you are happy where you moneys going to .

I remember seeing the whole show the first clip was taken from when the rushdie affair happened , you had translators killed bookshops burned and cat stevens was one of the main people in favour of rushdies death and helped drive him into hiding .

since then we have had theo van gogh ritually killed for making a film about the abuse of women and we have had the cartoon riots with hundreds of people killed and cartoonists in hiding.

cat stevens has never said that rushdie should be free to write what he wants without fear of being killed, all his statements since say that he personally wont kill him and he shouldnt be killed under the present system .

but cat wants a system that would kill cartoonists and burn to death authors .

please tell people about the sort of fascist cat stevens is dont buy his music .

 

i think its pretty good, really enjoyed his perfomance on live earth the other day

 

its amazing how easy it is if your a big star and smile and say peace a lot how you can pretty much get away with murder and no one gives a shit .

after saying he wanted to see salman rushdie burned alive he then gave implied threats to a producer who felt he was being put on a hit list .

and all this worked out great salman rushdie was driven into hiding , and old cat gets peace prizes and ends up playing live earth

 

cat stevens personally as had the clip where he said he wanted to watch salman rushdie burned alive taken off youtube , funny how he doesnt have his songs taken down or interviews where he tells you about converting .

I wondered who was stopping the entire show being seen where he made the implied death threats against a channel four producer most likely that was him as well .

when newspapers called him a terrorist they should have wrote about how hes successfully covered up his appearences on tv and what he said during the rushdie affair .
hes a total fake

 

I loved and love Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) music.....once he disregarded the pop scene in the 60's and saw it for what it was, his awakening began.

As a composer and singer songwriter his songs were always a mirror, a mirror reflecting his soul.

So what! he turned to Islam for salvation, that's his choice and no one elses! as a human being he has a very gentle and peaceful soul and in this day and age that is no bad thing

 

did you bother to read my post he went on tv and said that the death sentence against rushdie applied to anyone working on the project and that he wanted to see him burned alive , he made a tv producer feel he was on a deathlist and sleep with a chair behind his door.....I actually saw him do it on national british tv and I thought that he and the other muslim were planning to attack the producer it was like watching gangsters .

now hes stopping people from seeing this tv show although there are transcripts of what he said and people have copys of parts of the show , hes taken the clips off youtube why would he do this if he wasnt trying to hide what he actually did during the rushdie affair

the man was one of the leaders that drove rushdie into hiding that ruined his life and broke up his marriage and you dare say thats a peaceful soul .


maybe hitler was a peaceful soul too as far as I know he personally didnt kill jews just gave some speeches .

cat stevens said all this before people were killed in the west and bookshops burned down

 

Oh dear! Islamic hatred and intolerance all bunged in for good measure too eh? so Cat Stevens is a terrorist now is he? Responsible for all these things you suggest....oh I know! Maybe he's a member of the taliban now? ah yes! that's it, it must be true, he is muslim after all and everything muslim terrorists do seems to tarnish every other muslim.

Besides this [IS] a 'folk music' forum, not a political or religious stage where you can vent your obvious dislike of Islam! I'm sure you can find an appropriate forum where you can stage this better, and this thread is meant to be an enquiry into music....still, each to their own I suppose.

 

are you talking when you say islamic hatred and intolerance about the hatred directed against salman rushdie ? and the people killed after cat stevens spoke on tv

And whats a terrorist isnt it someone who uses terror to get you to do things isnt that like saying if you produce this tv show you will be put on a death list and killed, if thats the case then clearly he is a terrorist , he didnt say he personally would kill the tv producer but that the death fatwa would apply on him if he made a film of satanic verses ..... if he isnt and hes not trying to hide what he did why is he stopping people from seeing the tv show and to judge for themselves

and yep this is a folk music forum but if you had a neo-nazi band that made death threats being discussed on a music forum and foolish people who didnt know any better were going on about how they were men of peace I think someone should point out that their not


these are from new york times May 23, 1989

LONDON, May 22 -- The musician known as Cat Stevens said in a British television program to be broadcast next week that rather than go to a demonstration to burn an effigy of the author Salman Rushdie, ''I would have hoped that it'd be the real thing.''

'' He also said that if Mr. Rushdie turned up at his doorstep looking for help, ''I might ring somebody who might do more damage to him than he would like.''

''I'd try to phone the Ayatollah Khomeini and tell him exactly where this man is,'' said Mr. Islam, who watched a preview of the program today and said in an interview that he stood by his comments
http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/04/18/specials/rushdie-cat.html you will need to register but its free

Under Islamic Law, the ruling regarding blasphemy is quite clear; the person found guilty of it must be put to death. Only under certain circumstances can repentance be accepted.


In the first week of the fatwa against Rushdie and his book, I appeared on a television panel. Among the Muslim panelists, all of whom favored condemning the book, were two zealots: the same Kalim Siddiqui; and Yusuf Islam, the Muslim convert pop singer of Greek Cypriot origin formerly known as Cat Stevens. The moderator asked if, in my role as a commissioning editor of Channel 4 UK, I would contemplate turning The Satanic Verses into a film. I said that I would judge the cinematic merits of the script, and that no other consideration would rule it out. Kalim Siddiqui and Yusuf Islam snarled, WARNING THAT THE SENTENCE OF DEATH ON RUSHDIE WOULD EXTEND TO ALL THOSE WHO FORWARDED HIS BOOK IN ANY WAY

We had all come from London to Manchester to record the "discussion." The producer had a word with me when it was over: would I feel more comfortable if he changed my hotel, away from the threateners and their entourage?
http://www.city-journal.org/html/11_4_our_islamic.html

The Presenter put several hypothetical questions to the panellists. He turned to me to ask if I would, in my capacity as a commissioner of TV drama, ever make a series or film of The Satanic Verses. I said I had read the book, found it engaging, but wondered how a book with fantastical time shifts could be adapted to screen. I said if the right adaptation of the engaging bits came my way I would certainly commission it. I had no objection to the substance of the book. My reply elicited a cry from Yusuf Islam and an interruption from Siddiqui to the effect that anyone who perpetrated that book in any form should be killed. Yusuf Islam agreed. Death was what such a judgement deserved.

After the programme they spoke to each other in a conspiratorial huddle. Or so it seemed to me. One of the producers asked me if I would like to change hotels. I said I wouldn’t, that barking dogs etc.. but that night I stuck a chair under the doorknob before I slept.

I felt mildly threatened, and foolish about feeling threatened. It was clear that Kalim and Yusuf weren’t going to carry out any death sentence, but their pronouncements were wishfully calculated to instigate others. It gave me a feeling of being on a secondary or tertiary hit-list.


http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=4612


I would point out that not every muslim said during the rushdie affair that they would like him to be publically burned alive , I remember one leading british muslim who said he would hide him as he hadnt broken any uk law

 

I agree with JDA and I like Cat. "Boy With The Moon ..." can't be beat and "Father and Son" could have been abt. my relationship with my dad and
possibly between my own sons and me. I am not a typical "folkie". I am one of those dumb guys who actually served my country and rode the snake because I felt it was my obligation but I prefer to keep my views to my self and deal with the present moment. Let's stick to music.