Mona Bone Jakon

Mona Bone Jakon
Studio album by
Cat Stevens
Released24 April 1970
RecordedJanuary–February 1970
Studios
GenreFolk rock
Length35:15
LabelsIsland (UK/Europe)
A&M (US/Canada)
ProducerPaul Samwell-Smith
Cat Stevens chronology
New Masters
(1967)		 Mona Bone Jakon
(1970)		 Tea for the Tillerman
(1970)

Mona Bone Jakon is the third studio album by singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, released in April 1970 on the Island Records label in the United Kingdom and on A&M in the United States and Canada.

Overview

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. 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. His second album was a commercial failure and in the autumn of 1968, he was hospitalized, with a 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 sold slowly (at first) but over time has been certified Gold for sales/shipments of more than 500,000 copies in the United States.[1]

Background

During his year of doctor‑ordered bed rest, Stevens wrote a large number of new songs. After recovering, he negotiated his release from Deram Records and began working with former Yardbirds bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, who encouraged a stripped‑down sound. In contrast to his first two albums, the new material featured sparse arrangements built around acoustic guitar and keyboards, supported by a small backing group that included guitarist Alun Davies, bassist John Ryan, and drummer Harvey Burns; Peter Gabriel contributed flute to the track "Katmandu". Samwell‑Smith produced the sessions, with an emphasis on high‑fidelity clarity and a more prominent low‑end presence, reflecting the growing audiophile market of the period.[2] These recordings marked Stevens's transition from pop to a more folk rock‑oriented style at a time when the term "singer‑songwriter" was beginning to enter popular usage.[3] 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, and "Trouble" was a plea to stave off death. There were also lighter songs: "Pop Star" showcased Stevens' dramatic change in voice by satirising the triviality of celebrity.

Though "Lady D'Arbanville" would reach No. 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 1971 black comedy, Harold and Maude.

Origin of title

According to a 1972 interview with 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."[4]

Journalist Robert Chalmers reiterated this point for a 2003 interview with Yusuf Islam for The Independent on Sunday when he 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]

The symbolism of the cover artwork was related to Stevens' original intended title for the album, The Dustbin Cried the Day the Dustman Died.[6]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Christgau's Record GuideB−[7]

In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a B+, noting that "this one has a nice post-creative trauma feel, intimate and sensitive. Recommended to singer/songwriter specialists."[8] Later, he revised his review to a B− and expressed a newfound dislike for the songs "Lady D'Arbanville", "Trouble", and "I Wish, I Wish".[7]

In a retrospective review, AllMusic's William Ruhlmann called it "a group of simple, heartfelt songs played in spare arrangements on acoustic guitars and keyboards and driven by a restrained rhythm section". He added that "Stevens' craggy voice, with its odd breaks of tone and occasional huskiness, lent these sometimes sketchy songs depth".[9]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Cat Stevens.

Side One
No.TitleLength
1."Lady D'Arbanville"3:45
2."Maybe You're Right"3:25
3."Pop Star"4:13
4."I Think I See the Light"3:55
5."Trouble"2:49
Side Two
No.TitleLength
6."Mona Bone Jakon"1:42
7."I Wish, I Wish"3:50
8."Katmandu"3:22
9."Time"1:26
10."Fill My Eyes"3:00
11."Lilywhite"3:41

Personnel

  • Cat Stevens – acoustic guitar (all tracks), keyboards (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10), lead vocals (all tracks), congas (track 6), percussion (track 10)
  • Alun Davies – acoustic guitar (tracks 1–5, 7, 10), backing vocals (tracks 3–5, 7, 10)
  • John Ryan – double bass (tracks 1–3, 5, 8), bass guitar (tracks 4, 7), backing vocals (track 3)
  • Harvey Burns – drums (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 7), percussion (track 3)
  • Peter Gabriel – flute (track 8)
  • Del Newman – string arrangements (tracks 1, 2, 11)
  • Paul Samwell-Smith - backing vocals (tracks 1, 3–5, 7, 11), vocal sound effect (track 10)

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

Chart (1970/71) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[10] 25
United Kingdom (Official Charts Company) 63
United States (Billboard 200) 164

Certifications and sales

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
France (SNEP)[11] Gold 100,000*
Germany (BVMI)[12] Platinum 500,000^
United States (RIAA)[13] Gold 500,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Notes

  1. ↑ "Mona Bone Jakon". Retrieved 29 April 2026.
  2. ↑ Charlesworth, Chris (1985). Cat Stevens: The Biography. Omnibus Press.
  3. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Oxford University Press.
  4. ↑ "Majicat – Cat Stevns [sic] in a French Magazine Pop Musigue [sic]", Pop Musique interview, trans. Michael Valenzuela, Majicat: Cat Stevens Scrapbook, c. 1972, retrieved 24 February 2012{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. ↑ "The Robert Chalmers Interview: Back on the Peace Train", The Independent on Sunday, 10 December 2003, archived from the original on 24 February 2005, retrieved 2 May 2010
  6. ↑ Mona Bone Jakon turns 51. twitter.com. 24 April 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  7. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: S". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved 13 March 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  8. ↑ Christgau, Robert (19 November 1970). "Consumer Guide (14)". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  9. ↑ Mona Bone Jakon at AllMusic
  10. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 293. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  11. ↑ "French album certifications – Cat Stevens – Mona Bone Jakon" (in French). InfoDisc. Retrieved 16 November 2021. Select CAT STEVENS and click OK. 
  12. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Cat Stevens; 'Mona Bone Jakon')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  13. ↑ "American album certifications – Cat Stevens – Mona Bone Jakon". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.