Music review-Yusuf

Yusuf's new CD "Roadsinger (To Warm You Through the Night)" is in stores today. In another lifetine, Yusuf sold 60 million records as Cat Stevens. The hit songs he recorded then, "Wild World," "Peace Train," "Moonshadow," "Morning has Broken," and "Father and Son" transcend time and place and have become iconic. The singer's quiet passion, tender lyrics and vocals are still very much in evidence on "Roadsinger," Yusuf's second album since resuming his music career in 2004.

Yusuf's last album "An Other Cup" had lots of Eastern musical influences that blended beautifully with the western folk idiom to produce a well woven tapestry. On "Roadsinger" Yusuf is performing straight up Western folk music with no chaser. This may be in part due to Yusuf's rediscovering Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Neil Young, Elton John and others while listening to a playlist on a transatlantic flight. These classic songs and artists reminded Yusuf how great the L.A. singer-songwriter sound had been and pushed him in this direction.

The production of "Roadsinger" is sparse with few overdubs resulting in an organic and slightly gritty feel. This serves the songs perfectly with immediacy and warmth coming through every performance.

The arrangements are what you'd expect from Yusuf...anchored with his tasteful understated guitar work and breezy vocals. A few songs are beautifully layered with cellos and violins or accented with horns.

The songs themselves show deep personal emotion. A beautiful love song such as 'Thinking about You" fits perfectly with "Roadsinger" a track that illustrates the power of music to bring people together. "To Be What You Must" is deep and philosophical and illustrates pointedly "To be what you must you must give up what you are." "World of Darkness" is the album's bleak moment...dwelling on just how much has gone wrong in recent years. The juxtaposition of this song with the other love songs and "All Kinds of Roses" a song about the beauty of nature all around is stark contrast...and absolutely right. "In This Glass World" illustrates the fragile nature of our world and gently nudges the listener toward the best solution-peace. This could be summed up as the albums overriding theme-peace-most importantly inner peace. This is clearly a classic album in waiting from the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens and will no doubt in time be as highly regarded as his iconic 70's catalog.

"Roadsinger"-Four and one half stars out of 5. Buy this one today!