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Alastair Ian Stewart, commonly known as Al Stewart (born in Glasgow, Scotland on September 5, 1945) is a British singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for his 1976 single "Year of the Cat" and its 1978 follow-up "Time Passages" (both produced by Alan Parsons). Many of Stewart's songs are inspired by history; indeed, he is credited with creating his own genre, "historical folk rock".
Stewart was born in Glasgow, Scotland but grew up in the coastal resort town of Bournemouth, Dorset, England.
He emigrated to the United States as his career took off in the mid 1970s, and still lives in California. While studio albums are now few and far between, he still tours extensively in the United States, and, most years in Europe. Recordings of concerts are often made available through his fan clubs.
Recording career
Stewart's first record was a single, "The Elf/"Turn Into Earth", which was released in 1966 on Decca Records. He then signed to CBS, with whom he released six albums. The first four of these attracted only minor interest within the British music scene, although they contain some of Stewart's most incisive songwriting. The songs on Stewart's debut album, Bedsitter Images (1967), were somewhat stifled by the dramatic string orchestration (Stewart premiered the album with an orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in London). Love Chronicles (1969) was a distinct improvement, and was notable for the 18-minute title track, an anguished autobiographical tale of sexual encounters which was the first mainstream release ever to include the word "fucking". It was voted "Folk Album of the Year" by the UK music weekly Melody Maker. Orange (1972) was very much a transitional album, combining songs in Stewart's confessional style with early examples of the historical songwriting that he would increasingly come to adopt.
The fifth release, Past, Present and Future, was a substantial step forward. It contained the song "Nostradamus," a long (9:43) track in which Stewart tied into the re-discovery of the claimed seer's writings by noting selected possible predictions about twentieth century people and events. While too long for major-market radio airplay at that time, the song became a hit on many US college/university radio stations, which had formats that allowed for such songs.
Stewart followed Past, Present and Future with Modern Times, whose songs were lighter on the historical references and more like short stories set to music.
Stewart's contract with CBS expired at this point and he signed to RCA Records. This move coincided with his music becoming less like folk-rock and more in the realm of "adult orientated rock". His first two albums for RCA, Year of the Cat and Time Passages, set the style for his later work, which many feel is less incisive than his early 1970s work with CBS.
Stewart himself claims to have never really cared for "Time Passages". In an interview with Acoustic Storm, he stated the following:
The overwhelming success of the songs "Year Of The Cat" and "Time Passages" — both of which still receive substantial radio airplay on classic-rock/pop format stations — overshadows the depth and range of Stewart's songwriting work. Stewart managed to take the old folk-song tradition, of singing about real events, and produced very contemporary songs in that style.
Stewart's work includes songs such as:
- "Fields of France", from the album Last Days of the Century, about World War I pilots
- "Old Admirals", from Past, Present, and Future, inspired by Admiral Sir John Fisher of the World War I Royal Navy
- "Roads To Moscow", from Past, Present, and Future, about the German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II
- "In Red Square", from Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, about the Soviet Union
- "Sirens of Titan", from Modern Times, a musical precis of Kurt Vonnegut's novel of the same title
- "Lord Grenville", from Year of the Cat, about Sir Richard Grenville
- "The Palace of Versailles", from Time Passages, about the French Revolution
One entire album, Between The Wars, covers major historical and cultural events from 1918 to 1939, such as the Versailles Treaty, Prohibition, the Spanish Civil War, and the Great Depression.
On occasions Stewart has set poems to music, as was the case of "My Enemies Have Sweet Voices" (lyrics by the poet Pete Morgan) on the 1970 album Zero She Flies. During his 1999 UK tour, Stewart invited Morgan to read the lyrics as he performed this song in the City Varieties Theatre show at Leeds on 7 November 1999.
Discography
- Bedsitter Images (1967)
- Love Chronicles (1969)
- Zero She Flies (1970)
- Orange (1972)
- Past, Present and Future (1973) #133 US
- Modern Times (1975) #30 US
- Year of the Cat (1976) #5 US
- Time Passages (1978) #10 US
- 24 P/Carrots (1980) (with Shot In The Dark) #37 US
- Live/Indian Summer (1981) (with Shot In The Dark) #110 US
- Russians and Americans (1984)
- Last Days of the Century (1988)
- Rhymes in Rooms (1992)
- Famous Last Words (1993)
- Between the Wars (1995) (with Laurence Juber)
- Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time (1996)
- Down in the Cellar (2000)
- A Beach Full of Shells (2005)
References
External links
de:Al Stewart
fr:Al Stewart
nl:Al Stewart
no:Al Stewart
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