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I Was A Cat From A Book

James Yorkston Audio CD
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
Price: £9.80 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Biography

James Yorkston is a singer songwriter from Fife, Scotland.

James' next album is to be a 17hr long song cycle based on the history and legend of the Cruich Babbler, a Mythical Fife storm ... Read more in Amazon's James Yorkston Store

Visit Amazon's James Yorkston Store
for 16 albums, 3 photos, discussions, and more.

Frequently Bought Together

I Was A Cat From A Book + Moving Up Country [10th Anniversary] + When The Haar Rolls In
Price For All Three: £22.47

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Product details

  • Audio CD (13 Aug 2012)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Domino Records
  • ASIN: B00861J3S0
  • Other Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 28,424 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

1. Catch
2. Kath With Rhodes
3. Border Song
4. This Line Says
5. Just As Scared
6. Sometimes The Act Of Giving Love
7. The Fire & The Flames
8. A Short Blues
9. Spanish Ants
10. Two
11. I Can Take All This

Product Description

Product Description

His first album since 2008's When The Haar Rolls In, I Was A Cat From A Book finds James playing with a new band comprised of members of Lamb & The Cinematic Orchestra alongside old friends. The album was produced by James Yorkston and Dave Wrench and mostly recorded live during 5 wintry days in Bryn Derwen Studios, North Wales. It's an album full of energy and great musicianship, and contains James' strongest and most bewildering set of songs yet.

Product Description

CD

Customer Reviews

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is James Yorkston's 5th album in some 10 years, and it is up there with his strong debut, Moving Up Country, as one of his best efforts to date. This Fife based singer songwriter who is associated with the Fence Collective generally has a quiet hushed vocal style, low key and subdued, almost conversational. Songs are often personal, the arrangements sometimes feel a bit woozy, but give this album a few listens and the songs grow on you, and there is a lot of charm, the album gradually envelops you like a favourite old blanket,the arrangements are subtle and organic,growing on you to leave a warm glow.
For this album he has recorded with a different set of musicians from his usual band, and it was all recorded over just a few days in a Welsh studio, with largely live recordings. Another well known hushed vocalist, Kathryn Williams, provides supporting vocals on one track Kath with Rhodes, a pleasant dreamy gentle song subtley embellished with abstract electronics to good effect. 2 of the tracks are for him more raucous and relatively rock out, Border Song has stream of consiousness lyrics, a long narrative with no chorus,with the words almost spat out at great haste , while closing track I Can Take This All sounds quite angry, with a more full on band sound. This contrasts with his usual more introspective mode that is his typical default setting. He sings a more upbeat duet with Jill O'Sullivan, on Just As Scared, which is bright, breezy, catchy, with a chorus of "You've Really got a Hold on Me", and the clarinet of Sarah Scutt on this and some of the other tracks deserves a special mention for creating a sublime sound to quality arrangements. This is one of my favourite tracks, but rather atypical of the album as a whole.
A keynote track is The Fire and the Flames, written when one of his children was seriously ill, expressing his love for them and wanting them to get well again , interweaved with an anecdote about a starling he finds with a broken wing that he dispatches to put it out of its misery. The song A Short Blues refers to bouts of depression he sometimes suffers. As you can see, the subject matter can be somewhat melancholy, but the arrangements are pleasantly warming ,sometimes almost jazzy, with double bass , piano, violin, and his quality finger picked guitar .
The album cover is an interesting collage of a Cat and birds made from fancy patterned material. He is a distinctly different artist who seems to be here for the long term, creating a varied body of work over the last decade, who seems to take a great deal of time and effort over crafting his songs, and this album along with his debut are 2 highlights of his career to date, well worth a listen. A rather understated , modest and unique talent who deserves to be heard by a wider audience.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars The year of the cat ? 21 Aug 2012
By Arthur Dooley VINE™ VOICE
Format:Audio CD
It's fair to say that as an artist, James Yorkston is a bit of a cult....that's c..u..l..t! In common with other fellow Yorkstonians, I have enjoyed all of James's album releases. Naturally,some more than others and 'Cat' falls so far in the 'others' category. Not as instantly accessible as 2008's 'When the Haar rolls in' nor falling into the minor classic category of-to me anyway- James' finest album 'the year of the leopard'. But it's reet grand all the same! Sitting quite happily with 'moving up country, 'just beyond the river' 'roaring the gospel and 'folksongs'.
I notice that he has been getting a lot more publicity in the news and music media recently. Hopefully,more people will be prompted to investigate his impressive catalogue.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Best from JY since Moving Up Country 11 Feb 2013
By JanW-B
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Nothing else to say really but if you liked Moving Up.. you'll probably like this too. I understand the lyrics are very personal to James and his family, but frankly I'm a bit of a philistine when it comes to lyrics and subtlety and just tend to listen to the overall sound.
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