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Tea for the Tillerman 2
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Tea for the Tillerman 2 Image
Metascore
69

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

  • Artist(s): Cat Stevens
  • Summary: The latest release for the singer-songwriter credited under the names Yusuf/Cat Stevens features re-recordings of the songs from his 1970 album Tea For The Tillerman with new interpretations and arrangements.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. Rolling Stone
    Sep 18, 2020
    80
    Hearing it reimagined 50 years later, the album’s themes — transcendence, renewal, breaking free of materialism — resonate even more than they did all those years ago.
  2. Uncut
    Sep 17, 2020
    80
    Strikingly, Stevens' craggy baritone is virtually identical 50 years later; but whereas in 1970 he sounded prematurely aged, hearing him now we can't help but envision that innocent, introspective 22-year-old. [Oct 2020, p.39]
    All this publication's reviews
  3. Under The Radar
    Nov 2, 2020
    75
    These songs are classics. A traditional covers album could see the songs being royally sullied, but to have the artist himself sully his own classics with subpar reimaginings would be sacrilege. For the most part, Stevens walks the tightrope with the deftness of an artist who has only gotten better with age.
  4. New Musical Express (NME)
    Sep 17, 2020
    60
    Yusuf now far more believably inhabiting the role of the kindly dad offering his offspring life advice, while ‘On The Road To Find Out’ showcases the most impressive transformation, weaving in North African desert sounds against steadfast lyrics of self-discovery. It suggests that Yusuf has now finally found just what he was looking for all those years ago.
  5. American Songwriter
    Sep 17, 2020
    60
    A mixed bag, although one that those who have loved Tea for the Tillerman since it came out might appreciate. Perhaps not surprisingly, the new one doesn’t exude the magic that made Stevens a worldwide star five decades ago. Those who haven’t heard it should start there.
  6. Mojo
    Sep 17, 2020
    60
    The ragtime version of Wild World is perhaps a re-imagining too far. ... Father And Son remains monumental and intensely moving, however. [Oct 2020, p.93]
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  7. AllMusic
    Sep 18, 2020
    50
    A curious misfire that trades strength and confidence for second guessing and stylistic uncertainty.

See all 10 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. MajorBateman
    Sep 27, 2020
    10
    Once in a lifetime opportunity to reimagine a classic album 50 years later. Cat doesn't disappoint
  2. Greenbaum
    Sep 22, 2020
    10
    I've listened to this album 4 or 5 times now and it's just so wonderful. I am a huge fan of the original and it's great hearing his new takeI've listened to this album 4 or 5 times now and it's just so wonderful. I am a huge fan of the original and it's great hearing his new take on these songs. I just found out that he is singing with his younger self on Father and Son which is one of my favorites. I highly recommend this if you like the original but are open to a new interpretation.… Expand
  4. djayarnold
    Oct 1, 2021
    8
    Nothing beats the original, but this album is a thoughtful reimagining that offers much to ponder. And the emotional peak, where, on “FatherNothing beats the original, but this album is a thoughtful reimagining that offers much to ponder. And the emotional peak, where, on “Father and Son,” 20-year-old Cat spars with 70-year-old Yusuf, is almost unbearably affecting. It’s hard not to cry.

    This is not an attempt to one-up the original. Rather, it’s a refreshingly unselfconscious view of today’s artist honestly approaching yesterday’s classic. Not a substitute, but a worthy supplement.

    Surprises: a harder-rocking “Miles from Nowhere,” an expanded “But I Might Die Tonight,” and a “Longer Boats” that starts faithfully but careens through earnest (cloying but brief) guest rapping and triumphant post-Aquarian peace-funk: “Give ’em hell for peace and love!” And more: “On the Road to Find Out” as world-weary gutbucket blues.

    It’s definitely growing on me.    … Expand

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