Cat Stevens' Rare 1974 Concert Album Receiving First-Ever U.S. Release

Yusuf / Cat Stevens’ little known 1974 concert album, Saturnight: Live From Tokyo, will be released in the U.S. in multiple formats for the first time ever, more than 50 years after it was originally released only in Japan, due to contractual restrictions. The record has been remastered from the original production master at the world-famous Abbey Road Studios and will be available on CD, vinyl and digitally for streaming and download May 2 via Cat-O-Log Records/UMe.

The CD will be packaged in a digisleeve with a 16-page booklet featuring lyrics and new retrospective recollections from those who were there, including bassist Bruce Lynch and the band’s 1974 tour manager Carl Miller, and additional notes. The vinyl will be available on 140-gram black vinyl or as a limited edition pressing available only via CatStevens.com, uDiscover Music and Sound of Vinyl on 140-gram lava splatter vinyl, both packaged for the first time in a gatefold sleeve with the aforementioned liner notes. Saturnight was released in a super limited edition as an “RSD First” for last year’s Record Store Day Black Friday event exclusively on 180-gram orange splatter color vinyl.

Cat Stevens’ first-ever live album, Saturnight, was recorded on June 22nd, 1974, at Sun Plaza Hall in Nakano, Tokyo, Japan on the Japanese leg of Cat’s 1974 “Bamboozle World Tour.” The tour comprised 50 shows across North America, Europe, Australia and Japan to support the release of Buddha and the Chocolate Box. Cat had long felt an affinity with the aesthetic elegance and spiritual depth of Japanese culture, especially the principles of meditation and reflection upon which their traditions of poetry, design and craftsmanship are founded.

Saturnight, which is being previewed with an impassioned performance of “King Of Trees” from Buddha and the Chocolate Box features Cat at his peak, performing an incredible concert of songs from that then newest album such as “Oh Very Young” and “A Bad Penny,” alongside some of his greatest hits which dominated the charts in the early ‘70s. These include the classics “Lady D’Arbanville” (Mona Bone Jakon - 1970); “Wild World,” “Where Do The Children Play?” “Hard Headed Woman,” “Father & Son” (Tea for the Tillerman - 1970); “Peace Train,” “Bitterblue” (Teaser and the Firecat - 1971); and “Sitting” (Catch Bull at Four - 1972).

Also included is a soulful cover of Sam Cooke’s “Another Saturday Night.” Cat and his band were fresh from recording the song at a studio in Tokyo using a Japanese brass section – the very same version that would go on to become a hit single later that year. The performance on Saturnight captures the first time they ever played “Another Saturday Night” live.

Although Saturnight never received a full global release – due to contractual reasons between A&M and Island Records – Cat arranged for the proceeds to be donated to UNICEF. He had recently become a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and with their help, had visited Ethiopia and Kenya earlier in 1974. There, he saw firsthand some of the utter devastation caused by drought and famine, but also witnessed the remarkable resilience and nobility of the human spirit. The experience moved him profoundly and had a truly lasting impact on his life and career, so much so that his humanitarian efforts would soon overtake his personal musical ambitions.

As Cat redirected more of his individual success towards helping those in need, he would eventually leave the music industry altogether. Dedicating himself to charity and advocacy work, he would use the status and rewards that music had brought him in the service of equality and a just world. In many ways Saturnight represents a significant early step on that incredible journey.