Pushkin

Since debuting in the late 60s,

Yusuf Kat Stevens has made a sizable contribution to the folk canon,

with a tender contemplative song like Wild World, Moon Shadow and The Wing.

Yusuf Kat Stevens' journey as a seeker and a musician is closely tied to his near-death experience,

fighting to burculosis as a young man in 1969.

After spending a year recovering, Stevens began to write songs at a staggering rate.

By the mid-70s, he had released eight studio albums and become one of the defining singer-songwriters of the decade.

Teas are in the firecat, one of those classic 70s albums,

was recently reissued to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

The new addition features remastered versions of the original album,

along with 41 previously unreleased demos and alternate mixes.

On today's episode, Bruce Hellum talks to Yusuf about what it was like to perform his old songs after he converted to Islam in the late 70s.

They also talk in detail about how Stevens wrote and recorded teaser in the firecat,

and they talk about how he came to love some of the rough versions of his songs that appeared on the soundtrack for the movie Harold and Mod,

which was also just recently re-released for its own 50th anniversary.

This is Broken Record, liner notes for the digital age, I'm Justin Richmond.

Here's Bruce Hellum with Yusuf Kat Stevens.

I want to talk about everything in this whole new package for Teas are in the firecat,

it's got demos and nice little remembrances from Rick Wakeman and Carly Simon.

But before that, I just would like to know what was your life like?

You'd had a couple albums, but then you had your big album, Teeth for the Tillerman.

...