This was the album, his next to last, that introduced me to Cat Stevens, and it remains one of my favorites, along with his early albums, TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN and TEASER AND THE FIRECAT. If not for my sentimental feelings toward the album, it might deserve only four stars, but Cat still shows in several spots that he can be a master at penning deep lyrics. My older brother had the album on 8-track (with two or three of the songs chopped in half - how annoying!), and I later owned the album on vinyl, cassette, and finally on CD. This album was quite a musical departure for Stevens, filled with synthesizers and often much more upbeat pop / rock with a bit harder edge than a lot of his work. Cat makes many love / romantic references along the way.

The tracks (in order)

1. (Remember the Days of the) Old Schoolyard - one of my favorite Cat Stevens songs. A catchy, upbeat pop song with Cat longing for his childhood and the simplicity that came with it, including first love. I love the occasional sounds of children playing in the background. This was the big "hit" of the album - I believe it made it to #11 on Billboard.

2. Life - effectively shifts back and forth between a quiet, slow ballad and a faster pop-ish tune, even incorporating some music with a real Greek feel to it. The song has as many shifts as Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. "Life - we make it what it is.

3. Killin' Time - Driving beat synthesizer with horn section and piano (or is it all synthesizer made to sound like horns and piano). The meaning of the lyrics is hard to understand, though the second verse seems to be about how people just kind of float through life, "thinking 'bout the things they might have done."

4. Kypros - a great upbeat, pop instrumental with a real Greek feel to it. The music has lots of layers that blend beautifully.

5. Bonfire - maybe my least favorite, this is a medium-tempo song about love and sex. "Your love is like a bonfire, burning deep within me... I just take off my clothes and jump into the fire again... heat me baby, heat me" A little bit strange.

6. (I Never Wanted) To Be a Star - Cat looks back at his career with several references to earlier songs. "I was seventeen. You were working for MATTHEW AND SON. The Beatles met the queen. And I wrote I'M GONNA GET ME A GUN. It was like a dream in the star machine. Oh no - is it so, IZITSO... Just another bean in the star machine." Looking at it in retrospect, you can see that Cat Stevens is well into his religious conversion at this point. A great song.

7. Crazy - kind of a bouncy Jamaican or Greek feel to this one. A love song - "I'm crazy you baby..."

8. Sweet Jamaica - another love song, this one to "...my Sweet Jamaica, country mama, brown country girl."

9. Was Dog a Doughnut? - a very bouncy synth pop instrumental. Many people would probably find the song a bit hokey, as there is a dog bark several times randomly throughout the song, but the whole thing is catchy, fun, and charming. I remember this got some local airplay after (Remember the Days of) The Old Schoolyard, but I don't think it did anything on Billboard.

10. Child for a Day - This one was co-written by Paul Travis and Cat's brother, David Gordon (interesting that both brothers changed their last names from Georgiou. Someone elsewhere said that Yusuf Islam was born "Cat Stevens." He was actually born Steven [or was it Stephen?} Georgiou, took the stage name of Cat Stevens, and changed to Yusuf Islam when he converted to Islam.). From the music and lyrics, it's very surprising that the song is written by someone other than Cat Stevens, as it seems like trademark Cat Stevens from much earlier albums. A beautiful song with great lyrics. I especially love the lush piano instrumentation that appears at times in this song (probably electric piano or synthesized piano - oh well). The different instruments are masterfully blended throughout.

While this album doesn't have the traditional Cat Stevens sound to it, I think he adapted well to the use of synthesizers. This is a great timepiece of the era. Cat Stevens was a true original, and his presence in the music world is certainly missed.

Other than the first couple (pre-Mona Bone Jakon) album, where he hadn't yet found his style, and his final album, which seems to have a bit of filler at times, I would have to rate the whole Cat Stevens catalog five stars.

cat stevens "izitso" lp includes one of the more unlikely tracks ever to appear on a cat stevens album. the instrumental song, "was dog a doughnut?", has a lot of bouncy synthesizers, and electronic drums and was able to get a lot of airplay on some black stations back in the day, which is how i heard it. up until a couple of weeks ago, i never knew that cat was responsible for this song off the lp, and i got my surprise when i went to youtube and searched this track titled "was dog a doughnut" to hear what it sounded like. when it started, i knew i had hit the jackpot, and finally went on my search to find this lp. and as of yesterday, i was able to locate of copy of "izitso" at a used vinyl store in chicago(thanks, reckless!)! the lp as a whole sounds great, and i now am able to hear the full glory of cat stevens "izitso" as it should be: on my turntable!