I don’t remember Cat Stevens – err Yusuf Islam – not being famous. I also don’t remember him not being at least vaguely cheese-ball and something of a bummer to listen to. But whatever the cultural baggage is that the guitarist and songwriter has to carry around with him was worth sound-tracking Harold and Maude. There aren’t too many (kinda) mainstream films with such an odd story line and a surprising good set of tunes accompanying it.

My interest in Mr. Islam, though, doesn’t have anything to do with that soundtrack (again, though, hunt it down and take a listen), his political leanings or whatever hits the man might have worked up over the years.

In 1967, the year of his first long playing album, Matthew and Son, which doesn’t really sound too much like what people would associate him with, Islam hit it big with a few songs. Nothing hit number one, but breaking into the top ten of the singles chart is a good sign so early on in one’s career.

Again, the disc might not be all laid back folk stuff, even if a great deal of the lyrical work here jives pretty well with a general conception of hippy song-craft. Tracks like “When I Speak to the Flower” is an effort sporting a rock shuffle not too distant to whatever radio bands were working on. Islam didn’t quite get into Fairport Convention territory, but the two would have fit well together on a live bill.

Darker stuff cropped up, though. And while there’s a current of that throughout his work, “The Tramp” is almost disturbing, but not quite.

Most interesting, though, is the song that Islam worked out with Los Angeles music icon Kim Fowley. The ghoulish task master is known for working with anyone from country rock bands to the Runaways.

Considering Fowley’s past, “Portobello Road” being associated with the producer is a bit of a surprise. It’s one of the most sparsely arranged tracks on Matthew and Son. So it might sit in line with what Islam was going to move on to work with. The jaunty guitar melody is so light that the singer could probably get away with discussing just about anything – although he chooses to figure a life of walking down the road and running into interesting strangers. The whistling added in infuses the track with a playfulness that wouldn’t have cropped up otherwise. And while the song’s just two and a half minutes long, it makes the entire album worth hearing.