Numbers (Cat Stevens album)

Numbers is concept album by singer/songwriter Cat Stevens released in November 1975. Subtitled "A Pythagorean Theory Tale", it is a concept album based on a fictional planet in a far-off galaxy named Polygor and the "Polygons" who inhabit its palace. The album includes a booklet with excerpts from the book of the same name, written by Chris Bryant and Allan Scott, and contains pen-and-ink illustrations by Stevens.^[2]

The idea shaped into a fantastic, spiritual musical set on the planet Polygor. In the story, there is a castle with a number machine. This machine exists to fulfill the sole purpose of the planet: to disperse numbers to the rest of the universe—1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 (but notably, not 0). The nine inhabitants of Polygor, called "Polygons", are Monad, Dupey, Trezlar, Cubis, Qizlo, Hexidor, Septo, Octav, and Novim. As the last lines of the book say, they "followed a life of routine that had existed for as long as any could remember. ... It was, therefore, all the more shocking when on an ordinary day things first started to go wrong." The change takes the form of Jzero, who comes from nowhere as a slave and eventually confuses everybody with his simple truth.^[2]

The album was released along with the albums Izitso and Back to Earth in a box set called Three from the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab label. It is now out of print.

Track listing

All the tracks were written by Cat Stevens. The original LP broke with tradition and called the second side "Side 0", a reference to Jzero.

Side 1

1. "Whistlestar" – 3:46
2. "Novim's Nightmare" – 3:50
3. "Majik of Majiks" – 4:30
4. "Drywood" – 4:53

Side 0 (2)

1. "Banapple Gas" – 3:07
2. "Land o' Freelove & Goodbye" – 2:50
3. "Jzero" – 3:44
4. "Home" – 4:09
5. "Monad's Anthem" – 2:43

Personnel

• Cat Stevens – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, twelve string guitar, Fender Stratocaster, piano, electric piano, synthesizer, keyboards, vocals
• Jean Roussel – piano, organ, electric piano, synthesizer, harpsichord, hammond organ, ARP String Synthesizer, keyboards, vocals, vibraphone
• Alun Davies – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, twelve string guitar, Fender Stratocaster, bass, vocals
• Gerry Conway – drums, vocals
• Bruce Lynch – bass

Additional personnel

• Simon Nicol – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, twelve string guitar, Fender Stratocaster
• Chico Batera – percussion
• Gordie Fleming – accordion
• David Sanborn – saxophone
• Magic Children of Ottawa – vocals
• Barbara Massey – vocals
• Carl Hall – vocals
• Tasha Thomas – vocals
• Art Garfunkel – vocals
• Lewis Furey – vocals
• Melba Joyce – vocals
• Carmen Twillie – vocals
• Brenda Russell – vocals
• Vennette Gloud – vocals
• Suzanne Lynch – vocals
• Anna Peacock – vocals
• Vincent Beck – vocals

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ ^{a b} (1975) Album notes for Numbers by Cat Stevens. A&M Records.