Al Stewart - 24 Carrots 40th Anniversary Edition.

Al Stewart
24 Carrots 40th Anniversary Edition
(Esoteric/Cherry Red)
8/10
By Paul Davies

As a folk troubadour who released his first album Bedsitter Images in 1967, Al Stewart made his mark in the folk clubs of London and with his contemporaries Cat Stevens, Roy Harper, Bert Jansch and John Martyn he assisted in creating a modern sound movement for an old genre. This 40th-anniversary release spools forward a little more than a decade finding Stewart now relocated Stateside and rightly basking in the success generated by his still radio-friendly Year Of The Cat release; a success which his Time Passages album consolidated.

Without Alan Parsons in the production chair, but aided by the benefit of a strong band, Shot In The Dark, backing him, 24 Carrots has a surprisingly deft and solid combination of musicianship allowing Stewart’s flights of narrative fancies to fly as Running Man, Merlin’s Time and US chart hit Midnight Rocks, with Stewart’s sophisticated lyrical approach, stand the test of time on this newly remastered release. In many ways, 24 Carrots is the perfect showcase of Al Stewart in US Rock performer mode in the process of being pushed by Arista label boss Clive Davis to be a more permanent fixture in the US charts.

Overflowing with contemporaneous goodies, there’s a whole disc of demos and an entire CD of live recordings from Hammersmith Odeon in December 1980 from the 24 Carrots tour. Still an engaging live artist, this 40th-anniversary triptych of recordings document Al Stewart as an AOR star who created the template and market for artists such as Chris De Burgh to follow.