Cat Stevens produced many albums, but the following eight contain what I call his testimonies. For me they were pointers to a better life, a spiritual life, a life in Christ. Not every song on these albums is that kind of testimony. Some are in fact testimonies (if one can call them that) of the call of the world and of the flesh. Cat Stevens was no saint as he was rising up out of the "wild world" that he sang about, but he was honest about that Light that was beckoning to him. The following albums contain the testimonies of Yusuf Islam:
The albums pictured from left to right are:Mona Bone Jakon (April, 1970)
Tea for the Tillerman (November, 1970)
Teaser and the Firecat (September, 1971)
Catch Bull at Four (September, 1972)
Foreigner (July, 1973)
Buddha and the Chocolate Box (March, 1974)
Numbers (November, 1975)
Back to Earth (December, 1978)
Romanos, I find this post to be so true for me as well. Much of my early journey towards Orthodoxy was greatly benefited by my listening to Cat Stevens' music.
ReplyDeleteI think your concept of devoting a blog to Yusuf Islam is brilliant. I have always found it sad that he was raised in incredibly lukewarm Orthodoxy, and didn't find spirituality until he discovered Islam. I myself being half Greek with my other half being mostly Swedish, and having been raised with no faith while having to search through numerous religions, including Islam, have always felt a special closeness to Yusuf Islam.