Roadsinger

Roadsinger offers very similar themes to those that Islam has been singing about since the Cat Stevens days: traveling, soul searching, and finding happiness. Only here, these themes are augmented by a shimmering wash of spirituality that utilizes the sound of Yusuf’s past to promote and encourage the train of thought that propels him today.

Roadsinger really does pick up where Cat Stevens left off back in the late '70s.

When you think of Islam's best music, you think of his talent for direct communication, often with just a guitar to help him out--and those are the moments where Roadsinger comes alive.

Roadsinger is an utterly solid catalog entry under either his adopted spiritual name or his former one. Longtime fans will not be disappointed, and the rest of us should take note, too, because this kind of songcraft is seldom come by anymore.

The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens hasn’t lost his knack for melody. But with clunkers like ”When I hold your hand I could fly a zillion miles with you,” he could use a lyrical refresher course.

Roadsinger is a crowd-pleaser, hewing to Yusuf's classic sound in tight, sweet ballads like "Welcome Home," which pushes his acoustic guitar and ragged voice to the foreground.

Moments of delight, such as Thinking About You, are few, though Boots and Sand, about Yusuf being refused entry to the US, labours hard to inject levity.

Recorded almost entirely live with a small group of players, most of these songs could have sprung from early 70s sessions, such is their alluringly familiar intimacy.

A set of finely crafted folk songs in the style of his 1970 breakthrough TEA FOR THE TILLEMAN ... 60-year-old Yusuf still has a message worth hearing.