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Topic ClosedCat Stevens: Foreigner Suite
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Poll Question: Is Foreigner Suite prog?
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12 [80.00%]
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pirkka View Drop Down
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    Posted: July 24 2006 at 05:20
Not the most important issue but something that has troubled my mind for long now. I like Cat Stevens alot. I know that he is a pop singer but there are also elements of folk and rock in his music. Foreigner suite in particular might be a great prog epic or not?
 
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Phil View Drop Down
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Points: 1881 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 24 2006 at 05:27
Trouble no more; it isn't!
Seriously...no.....sounds like you are making the equation: "It lasts more than 3 minutes, has a number of influences, I like it, so therefore it must be prog".
 
 
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Points: 5851 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 24 2006 at 08:21
Originally posted by Phil Phil wrote:

Trouble no more; it isn't!
Seriously...no.....sounds like you are making the equation: "It lasts more than 3 minutes, has a number of influences, I like it, so therefore it must be prog".
 
 
 
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Points: 825 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 24 2006 at 08:21
NOT prog. and his drively stuff has always made me quite very sick indeed.
progressive rock and rural tranquility don't match. true or false?
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Points: 590 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 24 2006 at 09:56
I wouldn't call it prog - but I really like it just the same.
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Points: 319 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 24 2006 at 19:26
I don't believe it's prog, but Cat Stevens was a tremendous composer of interesting music and shouldn't be dismissed as a mere folk/pop star
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Points: 408 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2006 at 00:09
     
     He could've been a prog star; many of his songs, with a few long instrumental passages added, would've qualified.   Odd time signatures, multi-keyboard arrangements, heavy lyrics....   a bit of tweaking, and suddenly he would've fit the definition.  But he chose to do it the way he did; good music's good music.
 
 
 
 
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Points: 5109 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2006 at 00:15
    Love Cat Stevens. I was listening to "Tea for the Tillerman" yesterday. He's a great composer, but not prog. If he had taken a different turn in the road, who knows? He probably could have made a good prog artist.
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Points: 1484 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 27 2006 at 05:43
I hope you guys are watching this "ancient" topic Wink
 
Just listening to Foreigner suite; I can't decide yet, but one album took my attention: Numbers is a concept album, and is of very strong musical quality.
 
Cat Stevens is a very talented musician/songwriter; and some of his works are considered within psychedelia, so at least in that respect he's prog-related.
 
but suggesting for the archives? I wouldn't open that can of wormsTongue!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
He (not Yusuf Islam!) still must get an honourable mention every now and then!Embarrassed
Listen to Turkish psych/prog; you won't regret:
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Points: 1964 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 10 2008 at 13:45
 
I downloaded this (legally) a while back, and I voted yes. Even, if it surely is a borderline case. But it is good actually.
 
A question: regardless of wheter you think it is prog or not, is this song the closest Cat Stevens ever came to prog or did he do other near-prog songs/albums?
 
I have only heard Teaser and the Firecat (bought it just because Rick Wakeman plays on it) and that is certainly not even remotely proggy. And I don't like it very much! 
 
Are any of his albums worth checking out?
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Points: 15585 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 10 2008 at 14:01
"Catch bull at four" is by far his best, and has distinct prog tendencies too!
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Points: 1964 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 10 2008 at 14:10
Originally posted by Easy Livin Easy Livin wrote:

"Catch bull at four" is by far his best, and has distinct prog tendencies too!
 
Ok, thanks! So this Catch Bull at Four album is more similar to Foreginer Suite than to Teaser and the Firecat then? I hope Tongue
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Points: 12818 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 11 2008 at 05:29
Originally posted by Easy Livin Easy Livin wrote:

"Catch bull at four" is by far his best, and has distinct prog tendencies too!
 
 "distinct prog tendencies" could also be said in theis case: influenced by what was going around him at the time, especially amongst his  Island Records stable mates wrt underground music, ergo not that surprising or unusual. Does he continue to use them and develop beyond them??? Cliche time: One swallow doesn't make a summer.
 
 
 
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Points: 1964 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 11 2008 at 05:57
Originally posted by Dick Heath Dick Heath wrote:

Originally posted by Easy Livin Easy Livin wrote:

"Catch bull at four" is by far his best, and has distinct prog tendencies too!
 
 "distinct prog tendencies" could also be said in theis case: influenced by what was going around him at the time, especially amongst his  Island Records stable mates wrt underground music, ergo not that surprising or unusual. Does he continue to use them and develop beyond them??? Cliche time: One swallow doesn't make a summer.
 
 
 
 

Yeah, as opposed to "real" prog artists who created their music in a vacuum, not at all influenced by what was going on around them at the time Smile
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Points: 1964 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 11 2008 at 06:02
Originally posted by Easy Livin Easy Livin wrote:

"Catch bull at four" is by far his best, and has distinct prog tendencies too!
 

I am listening to Catch Bull at Four right now, I agree it has distinct prog tendencies. And it is very much better than Teaser and the Firecat, enormous difference really! However, I don't think that Cat Stevens ever will be any of my favored artists, but maybe I will buy this album as well as Foreigner some day.
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Points: 1484 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 11 2008 at 06:57
^^ for some strange reason I also like "Numbers" album, maybe because of its odd concept. (wait, I already mentioned this in my previous post!!!)
I listened to "Bull" once today, and I didn't really find those "progressive tendencies"... I admit not having listened to Foreigner album entirely, well, just the title track, which makes up half of it anyway Tongue. Apart from Numbers, all I know of Cat Stevens is the tracks in greatest hits compilations... I need to find albums, then make up my mind... (most tracks from his earlier albums sound quite good, though...)
Listen to Turkish psych/prog; you won't regret:
Baris Manco,Erkin Koray,Cem Karaca,Mogollar,3 Hürel,Selda,Edip Akbayram,Fikret Kizilok,Ersen (and Dadaslar) (but stick with the '70's, and 'early 80's!)
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Points: 3449 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 11 2008 at 20:08
There was a time I listened to Cat Stevens.  But sorry folks, anyone who openly advocates the murder (on religious grounds) of another artist no longer deserves any consideration for anything.
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Points: 38570 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 11 2008 at 20:47
I like Cat Stevens' music best when watching Harold and Maude, and I love his version of "Morning has Broken." I don't consider "Foreigner Suite" to be a prog epic, or even prog.

Oh, here's a video that some people may like to see:

YouTube - Cat Stevens - Foreigner Suite

"Slide show of original foreigner suite. Great pics.
7 min -"

Originally posted by jammun jammun wrote:

There was a time I listened to Cat Stevens.  But sorry folks, anyone who openly advocates the murder (on religious grounds) of another artist no longer deserves any consideration for anything.


Strangely, and it shows my particular bias, I'd be rather more sympathetic towards an artist that advocated the murder of another artist on artistic grounds.  But on religious grounds? Gee whizz.  Cat Stevens has claimed to be misrepresented by the media concerning his comments about Rushdie (whom I've had the pleasure of meeting), but it seems clear to me that he was at the least condoning the Ayatollah's Fatwah as he considered it justified by Islamic law....

He later wrote on his website:

Quote

I never called for the death of Salman Rushdie; nor backed the Fatwa issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini--and still don’t. The book itself destroyed the harmony between peoples and created an unnecessary international crisis.

When asked about my opinion regarding blasphemy, I could not tell a lie and confirmed that-- like both the Torah and the Gospel -- the Qur’an considers it, without repentance, as a capital offense. The Bible is full of similar harsh laws if you’re looking for them. However, the application of such Biblical and Qur’anic injunctions is not to be outside of due process of law, in a place or land where such law is accepted and applied by the society as a whole...



Edited by Logan - July 11 2008 at 20:59
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Points: 1964 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 02 2008 at 07:49
Originally posted by SouthSideoftheSky SouthSideoftheSky wrote:

 
I downloaded this (legally) a while back, and I voted yes. Even, if it surely is a borderline case. But it is good actually.
 
A question: regardless of wheter you think it is prog or not, is this song the closest Cat Stevens ever came to prog or did he do other near-prog songs/albums?
 
I have only heard Teaser and the Firecat (bought it just because Rick Wakeman plays on it) and that is certainly not even remotely proggy. And I don't like it very much! 
 
Are any of his albums worth checking out?
 
Ever since I wrote this I have been listening to Foreigner Suite on a regular basis. And everytime I hear it I like it more than the previous time. It is a fantastic piece of music! And is it prog? Yes, I no longer consider it a border line case, it is prog. And I don't think it is prog just becasue it is long and I like it. It features several interconnected themes or "songs within songs", connected by instrumental passages. Some parts remind me of Genesis. The instruments involved are typical in 70's prog; electric pianos, A.R.P. synthezisers, string arrangements, some woods, electric and acoustic guitars etc. Give it another chance.
 
I am not suggesting that Cat Stevens is a prog artist, only that Foreigner Suite is prog. His other stuff is not prog. But I must thank Easy Livin' for recommending Catch Bull at Four. It is a great album, but not prog. I got both albums on cd this week. I must check out Numbers and Buddha and the Chocolate Box too.
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Points: 2720 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 02 2008 at 08:36
I voted 'Yes' on this, for the same reason that SouthSideOftheSky named.
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