Year of the Cat

Glasgow-born Al Stewart found success in America when this album's title song reached No. 8. Produced by Abbey Road Studios engineer Alan Parsons, it is a lucid pop album. Beyond the melodic songs themselves, its transparent sonic texture, akin to the AOR of the same period, probably helped it catch on in the United States. The album, as well as the single, became a million-selling hit.

When Stewart debuted in 1967, he was a more delicate, private singer-songwriter. Here, in the mid-1970s, that sense of intimacy receded in exchange for the commercial success of music in step with its time. The nearly seven-minute ‘Year of the Cat’ was written about British comedian Tony Hancock. Beautiful yet possessed of a depth of feeling found nowhere else, it retains its appeal through the years. Tim Renwick's lyrical guitar solo is outstanding too.