Cat Stevens - A Classic Concert: Tea For The Tillerman Live
On June 8, 1971, Cat Stevens played eight of his songs live at the studios of Los Angeles television station KCET, accompanied only by guitarist Alun Davies and bassist/conga player Larry Steele. This half-color program comprises the bulk of this disc, and there's very little to fault in this DVD release. The color footage, taken before a small and respectful in-studio audience, is excellent, and performance-wise Stevens has just reached his prime. Alongside the most popular early songs from his early career ("Moonshadow," "Wild World," and "Father and Son") are some lesser-known compositions from his 1970 album Tea for the Tillerman. About the only mild shortcomings you could point out are the short length and the credits that scroll over the screen as Stevens plays the final song (an incomplete performance of "Hard Headed Woman"), neither of which are the fault of the label issuing this DVD, as the original broadcast is all it had to work with. Also included is the early-'70s five-minute animated short "Teaser and the Firecat," a sort of cartoon complement to "Moonshadow" with narration by British comedian Spike Milligan. ~ Richie Unterberger