Yusuf / Cat Stevens Revisits Tea for the Tillerman Fifty Years On and Turns an Old Classic...Into a New Classic
Photo via laut.de Released near the end of 1970, Tea for the Tillerman by Cat Stevens was wildly popular during 1971, not the least because the single "Wild World" reached #11 on the Pop Chart. The key to the album's success were the compositions, all by British singer-songwriter Stevens, all offering a large dollop of sweet melody along with a unique voice and songs that mixed sense, sensuality, and spirituality. On both the strength of the single, as well as the rest of the album, it went on to sell in excess of 3,000,000 copies, just in the States. By the time I got to college in '71, Tea for the Tillerman had become a standard fixture in many dorm rooms along with Sweet Baby James by James Taylor, Tapestry by Carole King, and Tumbleweed Connection by Elton John, just to name a few. Although he had appeal in certain quarters due to his good looks stemming from his Greek father, Swedish mother, and that British accent, I think that the music on Tillerman tran...