New Masters - WikiHQ

New Masters is the second studio album by British singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, released on 15 December 1967 by Deram Records. Stevens had established himself as a successful pop star by the summer of 1967, with top-ten singles such as "Matthew and Son" (1966) and his highly successful debut album Matthew & Son (1967). Stevens wanted to branch out from the musical style that made him successful, much to the dismay of Deram and producer Mike Hurst, the latter of whom got into a legal feud with Stevens. Nonetheless, New Masters was recorded amidst this legal trouble primarily between October and November 1967 with a session spanning back to July. Most of the album was recorded at Decca Studios, although several songs were recorded at Olympic Studios. The sessions also produced the non-album single "A Bad Night" (1967).

Conceived as a "darker album" than the predecessor, New Masters was intended a more self-conscious and serious album than Matthew & Son. It contains a plethora of different genres, primarily his previously established folk-pop and baroque pop style but also songs inspired by the Wild West, songs written with influences from the British Museum alongside re-writes of Stevens' previous hit singles and protest songs. All of the album's tracks were written by Stevens', including his rendition of "The First Cut Is the Deepest" which had been originally recorded by P. P. Arnold.

Preceded by the single release of "Kitty", Deram released New Masters on 15 December 1967 in the United Kingdom and in January 1968 in the United States. Decca Records was unwilling to promote the album due to the legal troubles between Hurst and Stevens', which means it failed to chart upon initial release in both territories. Deram re-released New Masters in 1971 after which it reached number 173 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, and the album has since been re-issued on both CD and vinyl. Upon original release, New Masters received primarily positive reviews, with a focus on the strength of Stevens' songwriting. Retrospective assessment has been mixed, with critics finding it overproduced. Stevens parted ways with Hurst shortly after the album's release, and it was also his final album for Deram.

Background

By the summer of 1967, Cat Stevens had achieved immense commercial success in the United Kingdom. His singles "Matthew and Son" (1966) and "I'm Gonna Get Me a Gun" (1967) had both reached the Record Retailer top-ten, as had his debut album Matthew & Son (1967). According to writer John Tracy, Stevens' had "arrived in triumphant style" by the span of less than 8 months. In addition to having become a teenage idol, he had also established himself as a respected songwriter when the Tremeloes rendition of "Here Comes My Baby" (1967) also became a worldwide hit, which additionally had made him wealthy in the form of royalties. Although he made upwards of £1,000 a week solely by performing, his career was "about to take a nosedive". Stevens' had started experiencing the downsides of stardom and began drinking and smoking heavily to cope with his loneliness; in a later interview, Stevens stated that he "needed at least a bottle of brandy or wine" to get him onto stage.

At the time, Stevens was signed to Deram Records and was produced by former Springfields-member Mike Hurst. At the time, Stevens' sound was largely influenced by the Beach Boys Pet Sounds (1966), an album that Hurst had a "permanent infatuation with". However, Stevens' had started being torn between being viewed as an "expandable pop idol" and the continued development of his music, particularly after the Beatles' released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band during the summer of 1967. Stevens' had ambitions of being a "proper singer-songwriter", which made him stand at odds with Hurst, who wanted to continue to do "the bigger arrangements" and refused to let him part from this sound. Stevens' had also grown tired with Deram Records, who also refused to let him branch out from his baroque pop-sound in fear that the endeavour would not be commercially successful. The entire endeavour led to Stevens, his brother David and Hurst meeting behind closed doors, where Hurst was accused of profiting "unduly" from Stevens' music, which he vehemently denied. This in turn led to a long, complicated legal fight between Stevens and Hurst; their next appointment was with a lawyer.

Recording

Cat Stevens and producer Mike Hurst finally convened together at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London on 3 July 1967 together with music director Arthur Greenslade. This was Stevens' first studio session in almost half a year, following his 1 February recording of "Here Comes My Baby", which had appeared on Matthew & Son. Stevens' recorded two songs that would appear on New Masters at Olympic; "Moonstone and "The Laughing Apple". A third song, "A Bad Night", was aimed as a single release. Following this, Stevens garnered a preference for Olympic Studios, compared to Decca Studios in West Hampstead where most of his other Deram output was recorded.

left|thumb|Most of New Masters was recorded at [[Decca Studios, despite Stevens' preference for Olympic Studios.]]

According to both Stevens and Hurst, the recording of New Master was "horrendous"; the latter admitted that lawyers were present in the studio during the recording sessions. Due to the contractual problems with Stevens, Decca believed the album might "have been their last shot with him", and thus forced him to record the rest of it at Decca Studios, despite his objections as he wanted "to use Olympic again". Despite this, Stevens wouldn't enter a recording studio for another few months to allow for Deram to release "A Bad Night" as a single, which they did on 28 July.

"A Bad Night" reached number 20 on the Record Retailer chart, which prompted Decca to rush him into Decca Studios as it was descending the charts on 24 September to cut an early rendition of "Come on Baby (Shift That Log)", which was ultimately discarded. The released recording of "Come on Baby" was ultimately recorded on 4 October, together with another outtake titled "Sing!" On 5 October, "The First Cut Is the Deepest" and "I Love Them All" were recorded, with "I'm So Sleepy" and "Ceylon City" following during later dates in October. "Kitty", "Smash Your Heart" and "I'm Gonna Be King" were all taped in November, with the final recording session of songs aimed for album release occurred on 3 November when "Northern Wind" and "Blackness of the Night" were committed to tape.

Stevens played guitar and was backed by several session musicians during the recording sessions, as he had been for his debut album. Although most documentation regarding musicians on the tracks have been lost to time, it is known that it included Herbie Flowers and John Paul Jones (bass), Big Jim Sullivan (guitar), Nicky Hopkins (keyboards), Chris Hunt (drums), alongside a plethora of string- and woodwind players; Hurst estimated 35 performers to be present during the Olympic recording session. In addition to producing the album, Hurst also contributed with rhythm guitar and backing vocals. In contrast to Matthew & Son, which was entirely orchestrated by Alan Tew, New Masters features five different music directors present: Tew Phil Dennys, David Whitaker, Ivor Raymonde, Des Champ. This reflected the conflict Stevens was facing during the album's recording process.

Musical content and style

New Masters is musically generally similar to its predecessor Matthew & Son, containing the same "quirky folk pop". Virtually all tracks on the album feature string- and brass arrangements in "overblown proportions", despite Stevens' disdain for them. Thus, the album is largely baroque pop, even though certain songs have "large, big orchestral pop" arrangements to them. According to writer Bill DeYoung, New Masters was a "deeper and darker" album than Matthew & Son, something which was reflected through songs such as "The First Cut Is the Deepest" and "Kitty". According to Charlesworth, the album was conceived as a more serious effort during a point in which Stevens' career stood at a crossroads between being a teenage pop idol and a serious, well established singer-songwriter. This was reflected by the album cover, which depicted Stevens in a "Regency-style jacket" with a white frilly shirt in the manner of a "restoration aristocrat"; this earnestness was also exemplified by the lack of liner notes in addition to naming side one and side two of the album "Canvas one and Canvas two", respectively.

Canvas one of the album opens with "Kitty", which was the sole single release from New Masters. it features backing vocals inspired by Wild West movies such as A Fistful of Dollars (1964). Owing to the arrangement, Neill compares "The Laughing Apple" to Love's album Forever Changes (1967), due to the "similarly ambitious production value". According to Stevens, the lyrics were a metaphor for letting "life take its course".