New Masters – CAT STEVENS*****

Kitty/I’m So Sleepy/Northern Wind/The Laughing Apple/Smash Your Heart/Moonstone/The First Cut Is The Deepest/I’m Gonna Be King/Ceylon City/Blackness Of The Night/Come On Baby(Shift That Log)I Love Them All

New Masters is another collection of brilliant pop songs, marred only by the inclusion of The Laughing Apple. Cat Stevens would take a break for the remainder of the decade before coming back even stronger in the 1970s with a new innovative musical style.

"This underrated album is to be discovered because of its freshness and maybe for certain nuggets moods, 60s psych shadows. They're not quite easy songs. In certain ways there is a big deal of tasty and groovy sounds in here. I'm So Sleepy captures the fuzziness of the sleepy feeling, Kitty is a beat song and then there is The First Cut Is The Deepest that indeed was just perfect. The rest is something exciting to listen to, with the Cat Stevens voice shaping into the deep tone we all know."

"Not quite as consistent as his first album, the second Cat Stevens album has some excellent tracks - including the best song, First Cut Is The Deepest. It also includes the horror of The Laughing Apple."

"There's a lot to love on this album. First Cut Is Deepest was covered by everyone from P.P. Arnold to Rod Stewart, Kitty was a single and I'm So Sleepy is very familiar. Cat Stevens' pop writing sensibilities were great from the start."

"Topped by the song The First Cut Is The Deepest, this album shows the beginnings of what was to become the landmark sound of the singer Cat Stevens. A unique sound that he would claim as his own. Stevens hits it great with songs like Come On Baby (Shift That Log) and Ceylon City."

"Vastly underrated in comparison to his 70s agonising, which progressively got worse after TFTT. The music here captures the essence of 60s pop better than anything else this side of The Beatles. A real bargain, there's nothing else like this out there."

"I really like these songs because most of them actually have meaning or tell a story. Very importantly they are all catchy and have plenty of hooks. There's no end of diversity on this album, based on an array of true instruments. This is one vastly under appreciated recording and stands as one of his best."