Cat Stevens

The album is an epic body of work. More than a decade in the making, its twelve new songs are full of extraordinary surprises. Unique and transportive, Yusuf's music, words, and melodies paint a vivid picture of a world that embraces the lost lands of truisms and stainless youth and brings it into the touching distance. His poetical storytelling invites the listener on a journey toward the gates of an alternative universe to that which we presently...

ALMOST FAMOUS won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. Long before he became a world famous director, Cameron Crowe cut his teeth on the road as a teenage reporter for Rolling Stone magazine. In his fourth directorial role, Crowe uses this personal experience to create a fictional account of his real-life adventures. In co-producing the accompanying soundtrack with partner...

"One of the interesting shifts in pop music during the early 1970s was a return to the kind of acoustic-oriented songs that had been associated with the folk revival of the previous decade. As an alternative to the mounting decibel of hard rock, as well as an emotional respite from the late '60s, the gentler sounds of folk-based music turned out to be just the right tonic for a generation hoping to lighten its load. Not surprisingly, then, a good...

"Popular music has always been a reflection of the culture from which it emerged -- expressing in song the hopes, fears, dreams and desires of the people. In the process, the music has often served as an important influence, both foreshadowing and shaping significant changes in the collective attitudes and habits of generations of listeners..."