Cat Stevens' 'Buddha and the Chocolate Box' Gets Remastered Release

(UMe) Yusuf / Cat Stevens' beloved 1974 album Buddha and the Chocolate Box has been newly remastered and is now available via Cat-O-Log Records/A&M/UMe, more than fifty years after it first appeared.

Cat Stevens' sixth A&M Records LP - one of four consecutive albums to reach the Top 3 on both sides of the Atlantic - is available once again on CD, vinyl, and digitally for streaming and download. Stream/purchase Buddha and the Chocolate Box here

Originally released March 19, 1974, Buddha and the Chocolate Box marked the return of both producer Paul Samwell-Smith and guitarist Alun Davies, following their absence on the preceding album, Foreigner. Sonically, the record was a homecoming to the style of the Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat era - but with the arrangements and production reaching a new level of finesse and polish. Billboard welcomed it warmly at the time, writing that "Cat Stevens is back with the kind of material he does best" and praising the album's "lush, full sound."

"Buddha and the Chocolate Box reopened the doors of my familiar melodious soft delivery and sentiments. Although still experimental in compositional terms, it was what most of my fans desperately wanted to hear next. Following on from Foreigner, the Buddha album proved - especially to those who had no faith - that the missing Cat had simply wandered away from home for a while. My principle of independence was asserted as with most cats, don't ever dare think you own them! As far as the critics were concerned, album-wise, it marked my heralded return to 'Cat Stevens' form." - Yusuf / Cat Stevens, "Cat on the Road to Findout"

The album's nine original compositions range from the forceful, keyboard-driven opener "Music" - with its rallying message for the ages "there'd be no more wars in the world if everybody joined in the band" - to the tender, piano-led "Oh Very Young," another deeply prescient track and illustrative of Cat's exceptional ability to explore deep emotion and universal experiences through the medium of popular song. Elsewhere, the country-tinged "Ghost Town," the optimistic "Ready," and the closing "Home in the Sky" - with its declaration that "Music is a lady that I still love" - showed a songwriter at the height of his melodic and philosophical powers. And yet, the deeply intriguing lyrics of "Jesus" - which also mention Buddha - gave a clear indication of the artist's broad spiritual leaning.

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