Al Stewart - Time Passages

Time Passages

This album is Al Stewart at his best. I first purchased this on vinyl when it first came out. I have loved this ever since, putting it aside for a while then "rediscovering" it. This album marks the end of the collaboration between Al Stewart and Allan Parsons, and they seemed to have saved the best for last.

Time Passages is the follow up album to the hugely successful Year of the Cat, and while it may not have had the imact of its predecessor, it still is well worth a listen to. Each song is crafted as if it could be released as the main single from the album. Each musician is in sync with the others, and the orchestrations compliment every song where they are utilized. It's not surprising that the title song still receives air play 30 years after it was released.

Unfortunately things went sour for Al after this effort. Perhaps he lost his touch, or the partnership with Allan Parsons could not be duplicated. In any event this album marks a distinctive turning point in Al's career. Luckily he was able to build a fan base with this and other earlier efforts and this has what's cemented Al into modern music history. April 14, 2008

Classic

Liked Al Stewarts style of music and lyrics in the late 70's, early 80's and wanted to have them on CD..... January 14, 2008

Sounds more like an Alan Parsons album than an Al Stewart album

I would have presumed that producer Alan Parsons was less intimately involved with this record than with its predecessor, "Year of the Cat". His own project had released a record the year earlier and he was likely devoting most of his time to that. Nevertheless, "Time Passages" sounds far more like an Alan Parsons record than his previous collaborations with Al Stewart do.

That's not a complaint, just an observation. Whereas "Year of the Cat" (abbreviated hereafter as YotC) is at heart a beautiful acoustic folk record that is merely enhanced by Parsons' production, "Time Passages" seems to have been transformed, resulting in a whole new sound. The title track is the most similar to YotC, using many of the same elements that made the title track from YotC a huge hit such as a mellow piano - or in this case, keyboard - intro, culminating in a loud and passionate sax solo near the end. But the heart of this album is progressive, spacey, trippy, synthesizer-powered, mellow rock. Not only that, there is also some very slick electric guitar playing on this record (played by the same guy who did the amazing acoustic guitar part on YotC's "On the Border".) There are even moments on the third track that sound ripped straight from a Pink Floyd album.

I find that Al Stewart's voice fits in very well with all of this, strangely enough. Apart from "Time Passages" title track, I don't think the songwriting is as good here as it was on YotC. Still, the production value is amazing and the album has a great sound. This remastered Rhino disc sounds great, this is a good buy.

In addition to Al Stewart fans, I think the album would be enjoyed by many fans of Pink Floyd, fans of the Moody Blues albums of this period (Octave, Long Distance Voyager, etc.), and even some fans of contemporary downtempo groups Air and Zero 7. November 29, 2006

One Of Al Stewart's Best

TIME PASSAGES is one of Al Stewart's best albums ever. His music from this period has come under fire from the reviewers at MUSICHOUND, but it's their loss. Stewart had found a sympathetic producer in Alan Parsons, who added much-needed muscle to Stewart's music, and Stewart's folkie leanings also prevented Parsons from overdoing things. The second verse of the title track makes the point that living in the past can make it hard to focus on the present, a theme which I've expressed in putting my dream of looking good for any number of pretty actresses as a higher priority than going to Thanksgiving dinner and Graduation luncheon at my old school. "Song On The Radio" is also great, and if nothing else quite matches these two peaks, the rest of the album is nevertheless quite consistent. Stewart would put out two more great albums, 24 CARROTS and LIVE- INDIAN SUMMER, and then hit a dry patch musically before coming back in the last eighteen years with a series of excellent releases, including RHYMES IN ROOMS and FAMOUS LAST WORDS. The fact that some of Stewart's work has dated poorly takes nothing away from the lyrical power of this album and its direct predecessor, YEAR OF THE CAT. May 17, 2006

MR. ALAN PARSONS, PLEASE STEP FORWARD AND TAKE A BOW...

Sigh... if only Al Stewart and Alan Parsons were working together again - they were perfect musical soulmates not unlike Lennon/McCartney. When you get right down to it, Al is really a folkie troubadour; as such, I'm convinced that these tunes wouldn't be anywhere near as fleshed out if it weren't for Alan Parsons' musical guidance and sound expertise - and the end result is a sonic masterpiece. If you were to get only two Al Stewart CDs, it would have to be the ones where AP was working the soundboard - "Year Of The Cat" and this one. Highly recommended. June 8, 2005

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