Customer Reviews

Orange

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
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70's Folk Rock

This is Al Stewart's 4th album and he is really coming into his own. His first song, a plaintif balad, "You don't even know me" will ring a chord with anyone who's felt alone and unheard in a relationship. I originally owned the record and am happy to replace it, but realize that I've changed over the years. His love songs still speak to me, but perhaps now that I'm in my sixties from a farther distance. The songs are his original lyrics except for "I don't believe you" written by Bob Dylan.

"Amsterdam" is his lyrical experience of Holland and, in my opinion, the weakest song of the album. In "Songs Out of Clay", Stewart's guitar speaks louder than his lyrics. The theme reminds me of Leonard Cohen's "Sisters of Mercy". "The News from Spain" speaks of his lost love who's in Spain and not returning because she's found another. His voice hits dicant notes unusual for a man creating a sense of his angst. "Orange", an instrumental has a classical flavour. "I'm falling" draws a picture of Stewart in bed with his lover at the onset of a relationship. My favourite "Night of the 4th of May" is a clear picture of love in the sixties when "freedom was everything to me" and yet his lyrics draw the listener into his pain of betrayal. Freedom cost him, his lover. It was a time of hard choices when love was everything, yet so was freedom. "Soho" is an upbeat tune with gut-wrenching lonliness, "I'm going nowhere with nowhere to go". I like it. Maybe you had to be there. This is the only song filled with social commentary and a female chorus of accompanying voices.

This is not one of his socio-political albums, on Orange, Stewart speaks from his heart and I think a person would have to be made of stone not to resonate with his lyrics. What can I say -- I'm a fan!

Before Year of the Cat (when Al had commercial success) he produced many albums that were not commercial successes but contained wonderful songs by a serious songwriter. Among these "Past,Present and Future" and "Modern Times" are probably his best but I would put Orange right up there. I have long since discarded my Year of the Cat album as I found it downright boring pop/bubblegum. If you are and Al fan get this one now, personally it is one of my favourites

Before Year of the Cat (when Al had commercial success) he produced many albums that were not commercial successes but contained wonderful songs by a serious songwriter. Among these "Past,Present and Future" and "Modern Times" are probably his best but I would put Orange right up there. I have long since discarded my Year of the Cat album as I found it downright boring pop/bubblegum. If you are and Al fan get this one now, personally it is one of my favourites

Here we find Al in 1972. He's almost to that point of really really great songwriting all the way around (He took brief moments in earlier albums on songs like "Clifton In The Rain" and "A Small Fruit Song"). On ORANGE, his songs are still mostly love confessions, but still well worth hearing as he is beefing up his sound. Highlight songs "Songs Out of Clay", "The News From Spain" and "Amsterdam".