Al Stewart - BBC Sessions, Volume 5: In Concert, Reading University, Reading, Britain, 12-4-1976

Guest poster Mike Solof has put together a couple of interesting Al Stewart albums, which I plan on posting very soon. Listening to those reminded me that I've been remiss in posting more of Al Stewart's BBC stuff. So here's another one. This is yet another in the concert format.

It's not too surprising that Stewart was on the BBC in 1976, because that was the year he became a star with his hit "Year of the Cat." Prior to 1976, he'd never had a hit reach the Top 100 charts anywhere, but "Year of the Cat" was a Top Ten hit in the US and a Top Forty hit in Britain.

Not only that, but his sound had evolved quite a lot from his acoustic folkie style of the first few BBC albums in this series. Working with a full band, he'd developed a much more rocking and poppy sound. That resulted in his "Year of the Cat" album being a big hit too.

The concert uses that new style, with all of the songs sounding lively. He managed the difficult trick of keeping sophisticated and lengthy lyrics, but matching them with catchy melodies and full productions.

This album is 59 minutes long. As with so many BBC concerts, this probably was edited down to fit the time slot, which in this case must have been an hour.

01 Apple Cider Re-Constitution (Al Stewart)
02 talk (Al Stewart)
03 The Dark and the Rolling Sea (Al Stewart)
04 talk (Al Stewart)
05 One Stage Before (Al Stewart)
06 talk (Al Stewart)
07 Soho [Needless to Say] (Al Stewart)
08 talk (Al Stewart)
09 On the Border (Al Stewart)
10 talk (Al Stewart)
11 Broadway Hotel (Al Stewart)
12 Roads to Moscow (Al Stewart)
13 talk (Al Stewart)
14 Sirens of Titan (Al Stewart)
15 talk - As Time Goes By (Al Stewart)
16 Year of the Cat (Al Stewart)
17 talk (Al Stewart)
18 If It Doesn't Come Naturally, Leave It (Al Stewart)
19 talk (Al Stewart)
20 Carol (Al Stewart)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15998854/AlStwt_1976_BBSessonsVolum5InConcrtReadngUnivrsityReadngBrtain__12-4-1976_atse.zip.html

The cover photo is from a concert at the New Victoria Theatre in London, Britain, in November 1976.