Cat Stevens Izitso Original Master Recording Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab MFSL SS

$ 78

$ 78 Sold For

Mar 28, 2014 Sold Date

Mar 21, 2014 Start Date

$ 70 Start price

2 Number Of Bids

USA Country Of Seller

eBay Auctioned at

save auction

Description

Cat Stevens Izitso Original Master Recording Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab MFSL 1- 254 SS Sealed Special Limited Edition No. 0305 Half-Speed Master new old Stock Unopened! 200 gram Vinyl

Izitso is an album released by the British singer/songwriter Cat Stevens (now Yusuf Islam) in April 1977. After the lackluster Numbers, Izitzo proved to be his comeback. The album updated the rhythmic folk rock and pop rock style of his earlier albums with the extensive use of synthesizers,[5] and otherelectronic music instruments,[6] giving the album a more electronic rock and synthpop style.[7] The track "Was Dog a Doughnut" also anticipated the sound of electro music.[8]

Overview[edit]

Upon release, Rolling Stone praised the album for blending together elements of folk rock and electronic music, "often in apparent opposition to each other", with "the diversity and the maturity to match this seeming incongruity."[3] Izitso was successful, reaching No. 7 on the American Pop Albumscharts.[5]

Izitso included his last top 40 chart hit (until three decades later), "(Remember the Days of the) Old Schoolyard", an early synthpop song[7] that utilised apolyphonic synthesizer; it was a duet with fellow UK singer Elkie Brooks.[6] Linda Lewis appears in the song's video, with Cat Stevens singing to her, as they portray former schoolmates, singing to each other on a schoolyard merry-go-round. This is one of the few music videos that Stevens made, other than simple videos of concert performances. The song "Child for a Day" was featured in the 1977 film First Love, starring Susan Dey and William Katt.

The track "Was Dog a Doughnut", which upon release was criticised for sounding "a bit too robotlike,"[3] has since been considered one of the firstelectro, or techno-pop, songs ever recorded,[8] with elements later associated with hip hop music. The track made early use of a music sequenceralong with synthesizers.[7]

Cat Stevens, who had a strong interest in Islam prior to recording the album, formally converted to Islam later in 1977 and adopted the name Yusuf Islam the following year, when Back to Earth would be the last album he would record[9] for nearly 30 years. The song "(I Never Wanted) To Be a Star" inIzitso references this transition phase of his life. Its lyrics make references to four of his early selections, "Matthew and Son," "I'm Gonna Get Me a Gun," "A Bad Night," and "I Think I See The Light."

Some of the album's unreleased tracks featured Ringo Starr on the drums, during a recording session on 30 September 1976. According to The Beatlesbiographer Kristofer Engelhardt in 1998, "Yusuf said that he met Ringo at a hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark, and invited him down to a recording session for his album Izitso at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen. He recalled that the party atmosphere of the sessions led to a jam of him singing 'Blue Monday' and 'I Just Want to Make Love to You,' with Ringo joining in on drums."[10]