Yusuf / Cat Stevens Releases Brand New Studio Album
‘King of a Land’
Out Now via BMG / Dark Horse Records
Set To Make Glastonbury Festival Debut Next Week
Sunday Tea-Time Legends Performance, 25th June, Before Landmark 75th Birthday
(Photo Credit: Aminah Islam)
“King of A Land is an elegant, warmly orchestrated work” – MOJO (4/5)
“Lyrically teasing exercises in self examination…Yusuf breaks ground” – Uncut (8/10)
“A jubilant return to the past from singer-songwriter royalty” – Record Collector (4/5)
“The return of Cat Stevens…is cause for celebration” – The Times
“Yusuf / Cat Stevens’ childlike and zestful King of a Land ranks among his lightest and most optimistic pieces” – The Line of Best Fit
16th June 2023 – Today, Yusuf / Cat Stevens has released his seventeenth studio album ‘King of a Land,’ via BMG / Dark Horse Records. Listen here.
The release arrives amidst a wave of celebratory activity, closely following the announcement of his Glastonbury Festival debut. Set to take place this June 25th, where he will perform the coveted Sunday tea-time legends slot at the Pyramid Stage, the performance will come just one month ahead of Yusuf’s milestone 75th birthday.
‘King of a Land’ is an epic body of work and is already receiving critical praise. In an 8/10 review, Uncut Magazine raves that ‘King of a Land’ presents “Lyrically teasing exercises in self examination…Yusuf breaks ground”, and MOJO Magazine finds “an elegant, warmly orchestrated work” with “royalty in its sights”.
More than a decade in the making, the album’s 12 new songs are full of extraordinary surprises. First single ‘Take The World Apart’ was tipped as “an optimistic work of which this closing track is the hopeful pinnacle” by The Times and saw Yusuf described as “an icon” by the NME; its title-track ‘King of a Land’ coincided with the crowning of King Charles III, alongside which Yusuf shared a respectful message to the King, ‘A Manifesto for a Good King’, and the Travelling Wilburys-styled groove of previous single ‘All Nights, All Days’ with the lyrics railing against how “the rich tax the poor”.
Unique and transportive, Yusuf’s new music, words and melodies paint a vivid picture of a world which embraces the lost lands of truisms and stainless youth, and brings it into touching distance. His poetical storytelling invites the listener on a journey towards the gates of an alternative universe to that which we presently inhabit – where happy endings can possibly happen.
Looking at the jagged journey of my music, beginning as I did in the 60’s, I would say this new record is a mosaic. A very clearly defined description of where I’ve been and who I am.” – Yusuf / Cat Stevens
‘King of a Land’ is out now via BMG / Dark Horse Records. The album is available on green vinyl in a gatefold format with a 36 page booklet featuring illustrations by Peter Reynolds. The CD also features a booklet illustrated by Peter Reynolds – order here. An exclusive edition of the album, pressed on white vinyl, is available from the official Yusuf / Cat Stevens online store along with album merchandise – visit the official store here.
‘King of a Land’ Track Listing
Train on a Hill
King of a Land
Pagan Run
He Is True
All Nights, All Days
Another Night in the Rain
Things
Son of Mary
Highness
The Boy Who Knew How to Climb Walls
How Good It Feels
Take the World Apart
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