Cat Stevens Box Set

Disc 1
1	Back to the Good Old Times previously unreleased 2:49
2	I Love My Dog 2:21
3	Portobello Road 2:28
4	Here Comes My Baby 2:57
5	Matthew & Son 2:47
6	The Tramp 2:10
7	I'm Gonna Get Me a Gun 2:14
8	School Is Out 2:59
9	A Bad Night 3:13
10	The Laughing Apple 2:39
11	Kitty 2:22
12	Blackness of Night 2:32
13	The First Cut Is the Deepest 3:03
14	Northern Wind 2:51
15	Moonstone 2:17
16	Come on Baby (Shift That Log) 3:53
17	Lovely City (When Do You Laugh?) 2:41
18	Here Comes My Wife 3:01
19	The View from the Top 3:35
20	Where Are You 3:03
21	If Only Mother Could See Me Now previously unreleased / Demo Version 3:05
22	Honey Man previously unreleased 3:10
23	The Joke previously unreleased 3:13
Disc 2
1	Time/Fill My Eyes previously unreleased / Demo Version 4:09
2	Lady d'Arbanville 3:44
3	Trouble 2:47
4	Pop Star 4:14
5	Katmandu 3:22
6	Lilywhite 3:46
7	I've Got a Thing About Seeing My Grandson Grow Old previously unreleased / Mix 2:44
8	Where Do the Children Play? 3:53
9	Wild World 3:20
10	Sad Lisa 3:45
11	On the Road to Find Out 5:12
12	Father and Son 3:42
13	Love Lives in the Sky previously unreleased 3:13
14	Don't Be Shy 2:52
15	If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out 2:47
16	The Day They Make Me Tsar previously unreleased / Demo Version 2:36
17	The Wind 1:41
18	Moonshadow 2:52
19	Morning Has Broken 3:19
20	How Can I Tell You 4:27
21	Peace Train 4:12
22	I Want to Live in a Wigwam 3:23
Disc 3
1	Crab Dance 3:03
2	Sitting 3:15
3	Silent Sunlight 3:00
4	Angelsea 4:33
5	Can't Keep It in 2:59
6	18th Avenue (Kansas City Nightmare) 4:18
7	The Hurt 4:19
8	Foreigner Suite 18:17
9	Oh Very Young 2:39
10	Music 4:23
11	Sun/C79 4:39
12	King of Trees 5:09
13	Bad Penny Live 3:22
14	Lady d'Arbanville Live 3:52
15	Another Saturday Night 2:30
Disc 4
1	Whistlestar 3:47
2	Novim's Nightmare 3:52
3	Majik of Majiks 4:32
4	Banapple Gas 3:10
5	Blue Monday previously unreleased 2:23
6	Doves (Majikat Earth Tour Theme Song) 2:19
7	Hard Headed Woman Live / previously unreleased 4:14
8	Tuesday's Dead Live / previously unreleased 4:15
9	Ruins Live / previously unreleased 3:44
10	(Remember the Days of The) Old Schoolyard 2:44
11	Life 4:55
12	(I Never Wanted) To Be a Star 3:04
13	Child for a Day 4:24
14	Just Another Night 3:48
15	Daytime 3:59
16	Last Love Song 3:29
17	Never 3:03
18	Father and Son Live / previously unreleased 3:38
19	God Is the Light 3:37

Barnes & Noble

Prior to his last live performance in 1979 and his conversion to the Islamic faith, British songwriter Cat Stevens had spent the bulk of his career as a songsmith with a knack for generating mystical, introspective Top 40 hits. Thus, this gorgeous four-CD box set traces Stevens's musical journey from his days as a late-'60s British pop star up to his late-'90s incarnation as Yusuf Islam, a devout Muslim who still occasionally records songs with religious themes, such as 1997's "God Is the Light." Along with a broad selection of his best-known hits and a lavish 96-page booklet featuring original album artwork, an essay by Stevens (including song-by-song annotations), and extensive photos, there are a number of musical rarities here, including demos, outtakes, B-sides, live recordings, and 11 previously unreleased tracks. Prime among these cuts is the brassy "Honey Man," a 1970 recording with a then-unknown Elton John on piano, that fits in neatly alongside '60s pop hits such as "There Goes My Baby" (most recently covered by the Mavericks) and "The First Cut Is the Deepest." Hit singles such as "Wild World," "Peace Train," and "Morning Has Broken" point to Stevens's ongoing spiritual quest, as do lesser-known but equally worthy compositions such as "On the Road to Find Out" and "Sitting" and the hard-to-find songs he composed for the film Harold & Maude, such as "If You Want to Sing Out." Fifty percent of the royalties from sales of this box set will go to the September 11th Fund to help victims and families of the 2001 terrorist attacks on America, with the remainder earmarked for orphans and the homeless in underdeveloped countries. Thoughtfully rendered and thought-provoking, the Cat Stevens Box Set pays homage to one of the 20th century's greatest singer-songwriters. Dave Gil de Rubio

All Music Guide

In almost every respect, this four-CD, 79-track package conforms to the usual standards of box sets for major artists. All of Cat Stevens' hits, and his most popular album tracks, are here, and the four discs span his entire career, from the mid-'60s to the end of the 1970s (with just one cut, the late-'90s finale "God Is the Light," postdating his change of name to Yusuf Islam). The usual ribbons on the wrapping are also properly tied, with a few previously unissued demos/outtakes/live performances, some non-LP singles and B-sides, and a couple live 1974 recordings from Saturnight (Live in Tokyo) that have never been available on CD before. The only surprise, in fact -- at least, to the many listeners who are likely unaware of Yusuf Islam's increasing willingness to acknowledge his Cat Stevens past in the 21st century -- is the active participation of Islam in the set, to the point of contributing the principal essay in the liner notes (as well as adding some printed comments for many of the tracks). Refreshingly, the box also does not shun his false start as a British pop star in 1966 and 1967, with almost the entirety of the first disc devoted to pre-1970 recordings. While overly orchestrated and not much like the folky singer/songwriter music for which Stevens became most famous, those early sides are valuable both for documenting his first impact on the pop world and for containing some material that's worthwhile in and of itself.

The hardcore fan will naturally be most interested in the rarities, and while none of these are on par with Stevens' finest work, they both carry historical interest and fit in well with the lengthy program. There's a 1965 folk-rock-poppish demo, "Back to the Good Old Times"; a sparse, haunting acoustic 1968 demo, "If Only Mother Could See Me Now"; a January 1970 demo, "Honey Man," with Elton John on piano; another January 1970 demo, "Time/Fill My Eyes," that would have not been out of place on his Mona Bone Jakon album; "Don't Be Shy" and "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out," both of which were used in the Harold and Maude soundtrack; the quirky, instrumental 1972 B-side "Crab Dance"; and the live November 1979 version of "Father and Son" (for the Year of the Child concert in London) that marked his final concert appearance. To be unkind, there's another way this anthology is entirely typical of major box sets: the final disc is much inferior to what precedes it, Stevens' material becoming considerably blander as he approached the end of the '70s. But it's certainly likely to stand as the best thorough retrospective of his career, with a superb 98-page booklet that, in addition to Islam's essay and comments, also includes quotes from Stevens' producers and side musicians, as well as a detailed time line of his career. Richie Unterberger