Al Stewart – Orange (CBS 1972)

On ‘Orange’ everything clicked! First of all: The songwriting is flawless, and every song features melodies you’ll want to hear again and again. The opener, ‘You Don’t Even Know Me’, is catchy as all hell – and it surely sets you in a good mood. That is often the case with this artist. I have often wondered why on earth he never got much bigger commercially speaking (apart from a couple of years at the very end of the 70’s, because of his mega hit ‘Year of The Cat’ and, to a lesser extent, ‘Time Passages’ from the album of the same name), as so much of his music is easy on the ear. But make no mistake: On a musical level, this is sophisticated stuff – with plenty of chord changes and highly developed arrangements. But you won’t notice that, because of his extremely sympathetic voice and all those catchy melodies! My favourite song on the album, and one of my all time favourites by him, has always been ‘The News From Spain’. The dramatic arrangement is to die for, and it doesn’t exactly hurt that the legendary keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman features as a guest musician here. He lifts the song to heavenly hights, and that classically inspired solo by him at the end of the song gives me goodebumps every single time! Incredible stuff. ‘Amsterdam’ is another catchy tune that I’m very fond of, as well as ‘Songs Out of Clay’ – both with wonderful melodies and lyrics in a more confessional style than he would prefer from the next album. The album ends with the fantastic songs ‘Falling’ and ‘Night of The 4th of May’, that I personally regard as one continuos piece. These are both more melancholy songs, obviously about relationships that don’t necessarily turn out the way the protagonist had hoped for (this, I’m sure, we can all relate to), but even these have a driving rhythm and very engaging melodic themes. ‘Orange’ is simply one of my favourite albums ever.