Description
To a certain extent, it's not that surprising that certain fans will somewhat write this album off, being as it was, along with "Year Of The Cat", Al's commercial peak--in the US, the album reached the Top Ten on the album charts & went platinum within a year of its original release in September/ October of 1978. Granted, Al has lots of excellent work from before as well as after this album, yet "Time Passages" demonstrates a genius at an absolute peak. Al's songwriting on track after track is so melodically rich & full of outstanding, incisive lyrics, it's hard not to be envious of his abilitymore…. Also, his understated, precisely-phrased, clearly enunciated vocals complement the material perfectly. As much credit as Al deserves, you can't deny the contributions of producer Alan Parsons for the album's lush, warm sound, & all the great musicianship, including guitarist Peter White who co-wrote the beautiful, timeless title track (& the final track--everything in between was written by Al himself). Some fans seem to find the sound of the album too bland/ soft-rockish/ radio-friendly, which is being very harsh. His folkier side is very much represented on "Timeless Skies" and "Almost Lucy", the latter of which is one of his patented 'mysterious woman' songs. Maybe it WAS radio-friendly for its time, but listening today it sounds arguably even more impressive than when first released in the sense that there's none of the overdone, overly slick, lifeless production that's heard all too frequently on much 1990s/ 2000s music. The album is so rich & complete--you could go on at length discussing the individual tracks... The thing that really drives it all home making the album so extra-special is the emotional resonance of the material--the majestic title track, "Timeless Skies" (with a great "rainy" acoustic guitar part), and the relaxed "Song On The Radio" are all wistful, breezy, and wonderful; the haunting story-song "Almost Lucy" is also a terrific, deeply affecting track. "The Palace of Versailles" with its great synthesizer melody, & the punchy uptempo rocker "Valentina Way" are a couple more gems from the album. Al said in an interview over 20 years ago he doesn't expect listeners to fully understand his often historically-based lyrics, and that some of it elludes even himself. Having attended a Stewart concert this past June, playing solo with acoustic guitar, his humbleness is readily apparent, and as much as he clearly enjoys piling in the little details into his lyrics for the fans who love trying to decipher it all and to point out any historical inaccuracies, he is truly effective in his attempts to communicate feeling. This Rhino Records treatment of the album, with the liner notes & outstanding sound quality, take an already must-have album that extra mile. If you're new to Al, this is an ideal starting place--"Time Passages" belongs in any serious listener's collection.
| 1 |
Time Passages |
| 2 |
Valentina Way |
| 3 |
Life in Dark Water |
| 4 |
Man for All Seasons |
| 5 |
Almost Lucy |
| 6 |
Palace of Versailles |
| 7 |
Timeless Skies |
| 8 |
Song on the Radio |
| 9 |
End of the Day |
Info:
- Category:
- Music > Albums
- Case Type:
- CD
- Release Type:
- Retail
- Comments:
- 1 read add
Loading...
Cover Info:
- Title:
- Al Stewart - Time Passages (2004) Retail CD
- Part:
- Front
- Dimensions:
- 2864 x 2841 px
- Size:
- 5,534 KB
- Downloads:
- 591 (0 today)
- Uploaded:
- 13/06/07 by mrtonym
- Quality Rating:
-
- Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
Rated 4.5 of 5 (3 votes). Click CDs to vote!
Only registered users may vote or report covers.
Please login, or register.
Other Available Parts:
Tracks
