1 Whistlestar
2 Novim's Nightmare
3 Majik Of Majiks
4 Drywood
5 Banapple Gas
6 Land O' Free Love & Goodbye
7 Jzero
8 Home
9 Monad's Anthem

From Amazon.com

Remastered but not recently

 Album Rating: (1 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: I have been buying Cat Stevens on CD to supplement my vinyl collection, the latest remastered versions are quite good. However, this was not one of them. The sound , in a nutshell, was quite bad. If you think all CDs sound the same disregard this review. If you are interested in sound quality wait for the new version to come out, if it does.

Cat in the 70/s80s

 Album Rating: (4 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: My favorite is Banapple Gas. Finally sat down and read the "liner notes" about Jzero - the album makes more sense now. Music is timeless Cat Stevens.

Haunting.

 Album Rating: (4 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: Reading reviews on other websites, it would seem this album is a weaker effort by the always searching songwriter Cat Stevens. Filled with folky tracks and even a few dancier tunes, that tell a story about the distant planet where "nine" is an unlucky number, among other things, is artistically and carefully put together, and each song has it's own rhyme and reason. "Whistlestar" is a pleasant and catchy intrumental tune that actually sounds like it's title, and is a great album opener. "Novim's Nightmare" follows the thoughts of a character and his inability to fit in with his "others." It has a nice verse and chorusm diction to it, and haunting tune, like most of the songs do. "Majik of Majiks" and "Drywood" go back to the folk roots that Stevens was famous for coming up with. Each tell s story about the planet of the story the album follows, but also hold their own and could be considered radio friendly.

Side Two (or as it is known on the album, Side 0) Starts off with "Banapple Gas." This is a device that people smoke or sniff, that is said to be healthy, but due to sarcasm, this could be an allegory for marijuana. Nice tune, and bouncy and catchy at that. "Land of Freelove and Goodbye" is a real highlight of the album, with a very sentimental tone and great beat to it. "Jerizo" is a conversation between the title character, about life. "Home" while not as sentimental as it would sound, is all in the title, appreciations and all. The last track is alright, but gets a little forgotten in the hype of the other music.

Nice piece of music for all kinds of music lovers, and very haunting with it's tone and artwork, both of the album cover and story. Should be entertaining, if not as accessible as Stevens' other work.

4.5 Stars

My FAVE ALBUM BY CAT

 Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: This is a truly overlooked masterpiece. I can listen to it over and over again and never get tired at all. Since the very first song "Whistlestar" you are taken to a journey, through sounds and music. "Novim's Nightmare" is certainly the finest piece in the album and one of the best songs by Cat Stevens, mysterious and gentle with a great production. "Jzero" is such a lovely piece and "Home" beautiful. This album has no filler, you can just push play and be sure you will enjoy every single track. My fave album by Cat.
... one more thing about the review "Hokus Pokus" by tnahpelle from Australia, you may need new ears or brain ;-)

Highly under-rated

 Album Rating: (3 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: Straight out of the box this a much stronger set than either 'Foreigner' or 'Buddha and the Chocolate Box' and a much under-appreciate gem in the Cat Stevens catalogue. Acutally listening to his albums, it's hard to pick any duds isn't it? Their all so strong.

From beginning with the gorgeous 'Whistlestar' and then a few very melodic songs follow; 'Novim's Nightmare', 'Majim of Majiks' and 'Drywood'. These songs feature much more stripped down arrangments than had been seen for a while and instead focus on melody and meaning of the lyrics. These are followed by 'Banapple Gas' an extremely catchy but quirky uptempo number. 'Land of Freelove and Goodbye', 'Jzero' and 'Home' are three off-kilter folk songs that help close the album.

I think this album gets dissed because of the hatred vented towards synth heavy pop, the cover and the D word, 'disco'. The lyrics seem a bit removed from reality, though a closer inspection can reveal mnay life-relevant metaphores. Still, it could eb explained a bit better. Also, 'Drywood' and 'Majik of Majiks' are some of the most focused, stripped down disco songs you will ever hear. And there is no compromising on the melody. In fact I love disco anyway, I'm a little disco diva. And 'all those instruments and synths' are acutally well integrated into the songs rather than drowning it out.

If the album suffers, it's more about what's not there than what is. There's nine cuts, one more a novelty. Things seem to be going along quite nicely and all of a sudden there's the huantingly dark 'Home' and then suddenly the album is over. It seems to have a sudden and premature ending and ultimately there are not enough excellent cuts to rate it amongst his best work. But it is not at the bottom as is often suggested.

PS many years ago I heard this album and heard 'Majik of Majiks' and freaked out, and gave it a negative review. That explains 'Roger' putting the boot into me. It's still pretty scary!