Teaser and the Firecat is the fifth studio album by Cat Stevens, released in October 1971.
At the Australian 1972 King of Pop Awards the album won Biggest Selling LP.
Overview
The album contains 10 songs, including the hits "Morning Has Broken", "Moonshadow" and "Peace Train". It is also the title of a children's book written and illustrated by Stevens. The story features the title characters from the album cover, top-hatted young Teaser and his pet, Firecat, who attempt to put the moon back in its place after it falls from the sky. Published in 1972, the book has been out of print since the mid-1970s.
"Rubylove" was released as a single in Greece, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands, but did not chart. "Rubylove" incorporates a verse sung in Greek and utilizes bouzoukis in the instrumentation to give the song a Mediterranean feel.
In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone magazine, music critic Timothy Crouse praised Stevens' distinctive musical style and introspective songs such as "Tuesday's Dead" and "The Wind", but felt that he lacks Van Morrison's evocative quality and James Taylor's refined lyrics: "Cat has become a dependable artist, a good artist, but he appears to be one of those composers who does not develop, who holds no surprises." Croiuse described the singles "Rubylove" and "Peace Train" as being "infectious but basically dreck" and attributed their success to their production values, although he acknowledged that "Rubylove" "as a pleasant enough tune" and that "Peace Train" "delivers its simple-minded message in an appropriately childish tone."
It was voted number 539 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).
Musicologist Franco Fabbri described "Rubylove" as "the first notable English pop song with 'Mediterranean' flavor that doesn't sound Arabic" and also as "the first 'exotic' song related to a nation, a culture, that wasn't part of the British Empire.
Charts
Weekly charts
{|class="wikitable
|-
!scope="col"| Chart (1971/72)
!Peak<br/>position
|-
|Australia (Kent Music Report)
| style="text-align:center;"| 1
|-
|United Kingdom (Official Charts Company)
| style="text-align:center;"| 2
|-
|United States (Billboard 200)
| style="text-align:center;"| 2
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
! scope="col"| Chart (2021)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col" | Chart (1972)
! scope="col" | Position
|-
! scope="row" | German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)
| 33
|}