- Mona Bone Jakon
-
Mona Bone Jakon 
Studio album by Cat Stevens Released July, 1970 [1] Recorded January - February 1970,
Olympic Studios, London;
Abbey Road Studios, LondonGenre Folk Rock
Soft rockLength 35:15 Label A&M (U.S.)
Island (UK)Producer Paul Samwell-Smith Professional reviews Cat Stevens chronology New Masters
(1967)Mona Bone Jakon
(1970)Tea for the Tillerman
(1970)Back Cover 
Mona Bone Jakon back coverMona Bone Jakon is the third album released by singer-songwriter Cat Stevens. The album was released In July, 1970[1] on the Island Records label in the United Kingdom, and A&M record label in the United States and Canada. After a meteoric start to his career, surprising even his original producer at Deram Records with the hit singles "I Love My Dog", "Matthew and Son" and "I'm Gonna Get Me a Gun", Stevens' debut album, Matthew and Son began charting as well. However, after the pressure for a repeat album of the same calibre, Stevens, considered a young teen sensation, was overwhelmed by a new lifestyle, as well as the demands of writing, recording, performing, publicity appearances, and touring. In the fall of 1968, he collapsed, with the diagnosis of tuberculosis and a collapsed lung. For over a year, while recovering, Stevens virtually disappeared from the British pop scene. Mona Bone Jakon is notable not only for his return, but for the emergence of a very different artist. The album was certified Gold for sales/shipments of more than 500,000 copies in the United States.
Contents
Background
During his hospital-dictated year of bedrest, he began writing a catalogue of songs to fill far more than his next album. After his recovery, Stevens negotiated out of his contract with Deram Records and joined with former Yardbirds bassist Paul Samwell-Smith with a stripped down sound, with songs played in spare arrangements on acoustic guitars and keyboards and accompanied by a spare backing band, consisting only of three other performers: second guitarist Alun Davies, bassist John Ryan, and drummer Harvey Burns—and on one song, "Katmandu"—Peter Gabriel on the flute. Stevens began to make the transition from pop star to a folk-rock performer, when the term "singer-songwriter" was just being coined.
The songs themselves were darker in tone: the madrigal-inspired ballad "Lady D'Arbanville" elevated the tragedy of a lost lover (in this case, Stevens' former girlfriend Patti D'Arbanville) to that of a deceased one; "Trouble" was a plea to stave off death. There were also lighter songs; "Pop Star" showcased Stevens' dramatic change in voice by satirizing the triviality of celebrity.
Though "Lady D'Arbanville" would reach #8 on the British charts, Mona Bone Jakon was only a modest success upon its initial release. The album attracted attention, however, in the wake of the commercial breakthrough of its follow-up, Tea for the Tillerman, and with the inclusion of three of its songs ("Trouble", "I Wish, I Wish", and "I Think I See the Light") in Hal Ashby and Colin Higgins's black comedy Harold and Maude in 1971.
Origin of title
According to Stevens, the inspiration for the title was a name he created to describe his penis:
""Mona Bone Jakon" is another name for my penis. It's the name I give it. It's not some sort of secret vocabulary, it's just something I made up."[2][3][4]
Robert Chalmers, in a 2003 interview with Islam for The Independent on Sunday, wrote: "When [Stevens] re-emerged in 1969, he had more than 40 new songs and released three triumphant albums in 15 months on Chris Blackwell's Island label: Mona Bone Jakon (his pet word for penis), Tea For The Tillerman and Teaser And The Firecat."[5]
Track listing
All songs written by Cat Stevens.
Side one
- "Lady D'Arbanville" – 3:45
- "Maybe You're Right" – 3:25
- "Pop Star" – 4:13
- "I Think I See the Light" – 3:55
- "Trouble" – 2:49
Side two
- "Mona Bone Jakon" – 1:42
- "I Wish I Wish" – 3:50
- "Katmandu" – 3:22
- "Time" – 1:26
- "Fill My Eyes" – 3:00
- "Lilywhite" – 3:41
Personnel
- Cat Stevens – guitar, piano, keyboards, drums, strings, vocals
- Alun Davies – guitar, backing vocals
- John Ryan – bass
- Nicky Hopkins - keyboards
- Harvey Burns – drums, percussion
- Peter Gabriel – flute on "Katmandu"
- Del Newman - strings, arrangements
Production
- Producer – Paul Samwell-Smith
- Engineer - Michael Bobak
- Mixing - Paul Hicks
- Supervisor - Bill Levenson
- Coordinator - Beth Stempel
- Mastering - Ted Jensen
- Design - Roland Young, Mike Diehl
- Illustrations - Cat Stevens
- Photography - Grazia Neri, Richard Stirling
Charts
Album
Year Chart Position 1971 Pop Albums 164 Singles
Year Single Chart Position 1970 Lady D'Arbanville Pop Singles 8 Certifications
Organization Level Date RIAA – USA Gold January 15, 1976 Notes
- ^ a b Bogdanov, Vladimir, et.al (2002). All music guide to rock: the definitive guide to rock, pop, and soul. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 1076–7. ISBN 0-87930-653-X.
- ^ "Popmusique interview c. 1972". Majcat - Cat Stevens scrapbook. http://www.majicat.com/articles/popmusique.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-22.[dead link]
- ^ This site has a forum entry from 13 August 2003 with a longer version of the Popmusique quotation:
Cat Stevens - "Mona Bone Jakon" is another name for my "penis". It's the name I give it. It's not some sort of secret vocabulary, it's just something I made up. "Tea for the Tillerman" ... "tillerman" is guy who tills the land, a sort of peasant. This has a direct connection with the drawing on the cover. I loved that drawing so much, it brings back many elements of the song, that I thought that the title was perfect to go along with the album.
taken from http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:9wW1XDDCZmIJ:www.majicat.com/articles/popmusique.htm+Mona+Bone+Jakon+penis&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Retrieved 2 May 2010. - ^ Popmusique was quoted here on 9 March 2001.
Retrieved 2 May 2010. - ^ The Robert Chalmers Interview: Back on the Peace Train The Independent on Sunday 10.12.2003.
Retrieved 2 May 2010.
Categories:- Cat Stevens albums
- Island Records albums
- A&M Records albums
- 1970 albums
- Albums produced by Paul Samwell-Smith
- English-language albums
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
