Me, absolutely. I heard Al Stewart for the first time on this very tour and I'm still his fan. You don't find that kind of music today with all the techno shit. Fortunately, he still has a lot of airplay here in the north of Germany
It's hard to describe how much this song has meant to me since March of 1977. Simply, it was beyond perfection to a young 23 year old and means more now to an aging, reflective 68 year old. It's a Van Gogh set to music!
@@carolinegodden4364 I've met Al a couple of times after concerts, and he is a totally humble, approachable genius. That's exactly what I expected from such a thoughtful lyricist. He is just the best storyteller ever. He must be a blast to even be around. Best wishes to you and your family! Give Al my highest regards!
@@keithgillum3414 I was just starting to do the exact same calculation. I guess if you lived through these times, you'd immediately see the b.s., but the real question is...why???
I was going through my early teens when this came out. The beauty, and allure of the song continues to this day, and is in fact enhanced knowing what an incredible piece of musical composition this is. Just sublimely as beautiful as being 13 all over again.
@@larrypeden9729 Hey man, THAT is a perfect song also! No doubt! I always thought "Smoke from a distant fire" was another one. How about " Don't worry baby" by the Beach Boys?
Beats "You go strolling through the crowd like Dick Cheney contemplating a crime" all to hell! (Yes, Al actually has sung it that way live sometimes...)
What's amazing about listening to a song over 4 decades old, is it makes you see how much of the old world has utterly changed forever, over and over, and it also lets you see the part of yourself that hasn't changed at all
The imagery created in the song reaches into your heart creating both happiness and a melancholy feeling about inability to change circumstances beyond your control, but also the importance of embracing the moment.
One of the best songs ever written. A perfect, evocative poem perfectly accompanied by heart touching music. I play it on my acoustic guitar and my head imagines the beautiful accompaniment of all the other instruments that make up this amazing piece of beautiful music.
I’ve actually cried listening to this song and I’ve probably heard it hundreds of times in my youth. I was 18 when it was released. It is a beautiful, mysterious timepiece and most surely a classic. Thank you Al and the members of your band for giving us such beauty right into the palms of our hands. Peace to you always.
The 70's were the greatest and most magical decade for both pop and rock music. You'd never hear a Top 40 hit with instrumental passages and solos like this in the 80's or any other decade.
The seventies seemed like a time when you could just go on n on with a jam and it was always was fantastic. New rifts and chord combos you never heard before..all made your sense go crazy and to hear them today they still do...
+Tom Johnson Awesome. Never saw Casablanca, wondering if it's romantic. Gonna try to find it now. My idea of a good time is parking in the middle of nowhere on a moonlit night, with someone very special, and a song like this comes on the radio.
+Tom Johnson If you watch the live version Al Stewart, Year Of The Cat, Royal Albert Hall, May 16 2015, he explains where the song came from, the significance of the piece from Casablanca and the title of the song. Maybe not as good a version as this one but I've yet to hear Al Stewart sing this song badly. Inspired and inspirational music. It's not easy to say what is my favourite song of all time but God, this one is right up there along with Time Passages.
I really believe this is QUITE POSSIBLY the most perfect song EVER written about the “human experience”. EVERY time I hear it I’m convinced even more..
1977 had so much great talent, and we listened to lots of it. This is a great, great song, and I am glad I was growing up at the time. The guitar solo always gave me chills, and it still has the power.
79 I graduated & left for the USN. The song followed me, right up to today @ 63 yrs old. The piano & solo guitar does send chills. And that saxophone is a killer again as in Time Passengers.
I still remember the first time I heard it on the radio. There was something distinctive, unusual and mysterious about it. No doubt one of the best songs of the 20th century.
There are no more poetic lyrics in rock than the first few lines of Year of the Cat ... "In a country where they turn back time... You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre contemplating a crime." "She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running like a watercolor in the rain." --- It doesn't get better than that. It just doesn't. Couple that with seamless guitar-sax transition and you have a timeless classic. Every year becomes The Year of the Cat.
I agree, can you imagine someone writing Year of the Cat, Roads to Moscow, Soho (Needless to say), Time Passages, On the Border, Nostradamus, etc today. They all tell such powerful stories. Rick Beato has just released a video talking about the lack of lyrics in modern music.
Do you think these guys had any idea we will be watching and enjoying to tears this show after thirty plus years? Great version. I love the flavor that every instrument brings to the mix. Great piano intro, great sax solo and the guitar is second to none. The melody simply creates an atmosphere. It's raining like it's the end of the world. Thanx, and greetings from Buin, Chile.
+Luis Flores I see Al Stewart live pretty much every year. He tours with guitarist Dave Nachmanoff, and the two man show plays very small (200-300 people) venues in the US. Dave is incredibly good. The first time I went I thought I might be a tiny bit disappointed not to have the full band. Not at all. Dave and Al make enough sound for 4 guitars. I go for the music, of course, but also for Al's stories and musings. He spends almost as much time talking to the audience as he does playing. He talks to folks, I've had my picture taken with him before a show when I found myself standing in the lounge next to him. It's always just such a wonderful evening. At this point, I almost feel like I know the man. (Almost) I can tell you that he often says that he is indeed amazed and appreciative that we still listen to his music. :)
+Dave Thompson Saw him two weeks ago in Washington. Yep. Live in California, retired. He plays in the state often. Going to try to make more of his shows.
Very cool, flatchyu. I recently relocated from Atlanta to Michigan and I have tickets to see him this summer in Chicago. WooHoo! Thankfully he likes to work!
When I was a teenager me and a friend skipped.school on day. He took me to a young ladies home. Our age. Him and her were Chicanos. I was honorary. I did not know this young lady. She welcomed us in... She dropped the needle of her record player onto an album. It was this song. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
One of the greatest songs ever written. A masterpiece that evokes space and time - stirs memories of when life was easy, yet hidden with unknowns. The grand rhythm and sound remains as fresh as ever ! Love it.
I'd be honored if some Al Stewart & late 70s fans would take a listen to my acoustic piano & vocal performances of TIME PASSAGES and WHAT A FOOL BELIEVES by Michael McDonald on my YT channel in tribute to a couple of the true masters of melodic lyricism and composition. Live acoustic with no autotune or digital editing. Thanks and peace.
Al Stewart's Year of the Cat LP (as well as the next release, Time Passages) came out when I was age 15 and 16 respectively and was a huge influence on me to learn to play guitar. I remember hearing the song "Time Passages" on a Christmas morning and it was just beautiful feelings all day. Thanks Al, you and the band are awesome.
This is so technically perfect and disgustingly good. I am in total awe. Its like watching a great movie. Ive watched it six times in two days to make sure I didn't miss anything.
A estas alturas de mi vida (55 años) puedo decir que esta es mi canción favorita. Siempre me gustó desde adolescente. Me produce una sensación deliciosa al escucharla
@Byron Galvez: I couldn't agree with you more. This was a song that was a great part of my youth and is now ( Largely due to the internet ) a great part of my old age. Peace to you Byron and may our Lord grant you many more years to enjoy.
Born in 58, graduated high school 1976, the music in the 60's, 70's is amazing. So much talent. Good radios and tape decks in my cars as a young adult. Vinyl records in my room at home. Concerts, what a great time for amazing bands.
Exactly what my mind goes back to everytime I hear this song....indelible images of my college days. Such a sweet soundtrack to wrap them in. Makes them all the more poignant and incandescent. What an incredible piece of music and musicianship. It's amazing how much of an effect this song has on everyone who hears it. Most I know truly stop what they're doing to really listen to it. It's like they too are taken back to special times in their lives that this melody captures and holds still for them to relive again. If only for a few moments .....
One of the best Art Bell Coast to Coast AM bumper songs. From the great American southwest I bid you all a good evening, good morning, wherever you may be.
My favourite parts are the incredibly seamless handover from Al's guitar to Adam's at 5:05 (before I saw this clip I thought it was all done on one guitar), and the equally seamless handover from Adam's guitar to Bryan's sax at 7:46. Both give me goosebumps every time. I must have played this a hundred times but I never tire of it.
Wasn’t he involved on “Dark side of the Moon” . I am pretty sure he was, had his own band with a hit “Time” . I love RU-vid so much great music & info about artists on it.
No money these days . Young people are spending it in different ways. This is just brilliant, would have just loved being there..I like to know more about the pianist. The story of how this song was written is fascinating.
@@Dmab661 "Herbert Smith so true! It’s now a pool of nothingness!!" 50 years ago we loved the music of the moment imagining how great it would be in 50 years. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED????????
It's different now, neither better or worse. We're just much, much older now, and nothing will vibrate the heart strings quite the same again as when we were much, much younger. That said, check out NPR's Tiny Desk Music. You might be surprised.
I play music in local venues, bars, restaurants, etc. and I always enjoy playing this song. It’s been a personal favorite of mine since it’s release in the 70’s. I love when people of my generation remember it and especially when young people respond to it and recognize it as the masterpiece it is.
To think of how such a composition originated, materializing from the brilliant mind of Stewart. The progression, the lyrics, the instrumental parts; all so eerily captivating and beautiful. It reminds me of distant lands and experiences which have yet to exist.
Thanks for that. As someone else said, this could be the greatest song of all time. A bold statement when you consider what other well composed and crafted songs there are (e.g. American Pie/Hotel California etc, etc, etc) but it has to be right up there
This music came out many years before I was born.. but I gotta agree with you. this song is SOOOOOO beautiful..... even makes me think of life with beautiful nature as listening to this music.. btw pardon me to be random.. I love my CAT at home.. Meow... :-P
I will never tire from this tune.. we use to wake up and get ready for school and get to listen to the radio before we walk out the door. Truly a time capsule of the 70s.
It was filmed in the TV studios of Radio Bremen where the Beat-Club was filmed a few years earlier. These studios were torn down three or four years ago.
7:52 - that merge from solo guitar to solo sax - staggering genius within an entire band obviously enjoying their craft. Wow and thankyou for posting the entire clip of such a legendary song :)
This song always reminds me of my beloved father who has passed on! I remember this song being on the radio while we were fishing one summer. It was the only time we both went out on my boat!
After analyzing all the versions ever made of this song, I must concur that this is the best live version ever made. The perfect harmony of the instruments and people (including the crowd) makes it magical. They all play their part well even the lady with the tambourine and the bassist. My favourite player is the saxophonist...it is hard to cast the proper saxophonist for this song, especially when the part differs from one video to another. The saxophone version of this song was more elaborate, swave and profound. I liked the liberty Al gave to the guitarist and saxophonist. The mellotron piano was sublime. The keyboardist really enjoyed this session and you can see it in his smiles here and there. What a bliss!
Funny thing is, this is an almost completely different set of musicians to those who played on the Year of the Cat studio album 3 years earlier. It's: Adam Yurman on guitar instead of Tim Renwick Harry Stinson on drums instead of Stuart Elliot Robin Lamble on bass instead of George Ford Robert Alpert on piano instead of Peter Wood Bryan Savage on saxophone instead of Phil Kenzie Krysia Kristianne on backing vocals instead of David Pack & others Only Al (of course) and Peter White played on the studio version.
*Robert Alpert he said at the intro to the song, not Herb Alpert. I would have been very surprised if they had Herb Alpert on the piano, given that he's a trumpet player.
Hmm, I don't see (or hear) it. I find the Old Grey Whistle Test live one from 1976 far superior. From the better piano playing to the audio balance to the saxophone solo's, I think the 1976 performance stands out more. I still like hearing every version of this song though, it never gets old.
