University of Florida Performing Arts

presents

Al Stewart

Saturday, April 20, 7:30 p.m.

University Auditorium

ProgramThe program will be announced from the stage.

About Al StewartLike the fine wines that are his hobby, Al Stewart’s gifts as a singer and songwriter have matured and ripened over the course of his musical career, stretching from the early ’60s to the present and beyond.

Stewart was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1945, and moved with his family to Bournemouth, a seaside town in the South of England, at an early age. It was in Bournemouth that Stewart bought his first guitar — from Andy Summers, future lead guitarist of The Police — and learned his first guitar licks — from Robert Fripp, later the leader of King Crimson.

Leaving school at 16, Stewart headed toward his future by playing guitar in various local bands. “In 1963, The Beatles were breaking out in England,” Stewart explained in the liner notes to his Greatest Hits collection issued by Rhino Records last year. “I wanted to be Al Beatle. Along came the Rolling Stones and I wanted to be Keith Richards.” But a strong dose of Bob Dylan’s original songs shifted his focus from instrumentalist to lyricist and vocalist.

In 1965, Stewart moved to London and became the emcee at the famed Les Cousins folk club, rubbing shoulders with young talents like Paul Simon, Ralph McTell, Bert Jansch and Cat Stevens. He started writing and performing his own songs, first at Les Cousins, later at other folk clubs and colleges across England, frequently appearing with folk-oriented groups like the Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention and The Pentangle.

Stewart’s first album, Bedsitter Images, was released in England in 1967 (and years later in the U.S.), followed by 1969’s Love Chronicles, which featured Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and a pseudonymous Richard Thompson on lead guitars and a 19-minute title song that recounted his romantic adventures and contained a then-shocking synonym for “fornicating.”

After several more albums written in autobiographical mode, Stewart shifted his lyrical gaze outward, into history, literature and current events, an approach debuted on 1973’s Past, Present & Future (released on the Janus label in 1974). The follow-up, Modern Times, cracked the U.S. Top 40 album charts in 1975 and drew Stewart and his backing band to the States for a full-length tour. With groundwork laid and touring dues paid, Stewart’s next album exploded in America: Year of the Cat, released in 1976, spawned two Top 20 hits (the title song and On the Border), and itself became a million-selling record album. After Stewart relocated to California, where he still resides, his next album, 1978’s Time Passages, repeated the success of its predecessor, selling another million copies and spinning off the Top 10 title track and Top 30 single, Song on the Radio.

Despite high-quality songs and performances, subsequent Stewart albums in the ’70s and ’80s didn’t receive as much popular attention, as punk rock and other new musical movements pushed their way into public consciousness. In the early ’90s, Stewart returned to his folk roots with a solo tour of the U.K., his first in 15 years, and Famous Last Words, which utilized acoustic instrumentation and traditional folk and classical styles. Between the Wars (1995), focusing on the ’20s and ’30s, marked Stewart’s first collaboration with former Wings guitarist Laurence Juber; their next effort, Down in the Cellar (2000), was a concept album, incorporating Stewart’s knowledge of fine wines into his you-are-there songs of personal and historical vignettes; the CD was only released in Europe.

Now the long drought of new Stewart songs has been broken by A Beach Full of Shells, Stewart’s first CD for Appleseed, which finds him at the peak of his songwriting powers, still conjuring other times and distant places with well-chosen words and evocative music. This is a Beach full of gems.