Lifeline
-
1 9 6 9
February : February 23.
Opens for The Who at Chalk Farm benefit concert, the Roundhouse, London. For the first time, Cat Stevens ‘the star’ appears onstage playing his new accoustic black Gibson guitar with an electric pick-up.April : April 15.
Informed that one more single is owed on the Deram deal, Steve meets Mike Hurst in the studio for the last time to record “Where Are You.” Hurst has not seen his one–time protégé since Steve had been sick.June : June.
Single: Where Are You/The View From the Top. “I’m also working on an album of originals,” Steve tells Melody Maker. “I think I will just use guitar as backing. I’m not doing a traditional folk thing, but a contemporary thing – my own version of folk, if you like.”His year out of the limelight has given him time to think deeply and re–examine his pop star lifestyle; inspired by Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Tim Hardin and Van Morrison he decides to take a more organic approach to his music – the orchestrations and session men of the Hurst era will not return.
New manager Barry Krost has a background in theatre, and he encourages Steve’s proposed musical about the Romanovs, “Revolussia.” A script is prepared with co-writer, Nigel Hawthorn, and Steve writes a handful of songs for the project, including “Maybe You’re Right,” “The Day They Make Me Tzar” and “Father and Son.”
By the year’s end he will be signed with Chris Blackwell’s Island Records and working feverishly at Olympic Studios with former Yardbirds bassist Paul Samwell–Smith at the console. He has more than 30 new songs either finished or in significant pieces. And he’s grown a beard.
July : July 21.
America’s Apollo 11 astronauts become the first men to walk on the moon. It is Steve’s 21st birthday and also a full moon. -
