Consumer Guide Album

Cat Stevens: Mona Bone Jakon [A&M, 1970]
As an admirer of "Matthew and Son" and "I Love My Dog," two rock songs we should have heard more of in 1967, I made Cat my token singer-songwriter when this came out--the melodies were memorable, the dry intimacy of the singing had a nice post-creative-trauma feel, and I liked "Katmandu," which was about the physical (rather than spiritual) geography of a religious quest. Only later did I notice "Lady D'Arbanville" (his girlfriend), "Trouble" (too much for him), and "I Wish, I Wish" (a map of his soul). B-