Harold and Maude (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

今なおカルト的な人気を誇り、近年の再評価も著しいハル・アシュビー監督による1971年ブラック・コメディ映画『ハロルドとモード』の映画の＜50周年記念版＞公開に合わせて、イスラム教への改修に伴いユスフと改名したキャット・スティーヴンスが全面的に制作したサウンドトラック・アルバムの50周年特別版も登場。

自殺狂言を繰り返す愛に飢えた19歳の若者と、自由で破天荒な発言や行動で周囲を驚かす79歳の女性の奇妙な出会い、そして年齢差を超えたプラトニック・ラヴ・ストーリーをユーモラスに描き、1971年の公開時から賞賛と物議を醸してきた舞台劇が原作。

ユスフが1970年代に発表した7曲のオリジナル曲である「On The Road To Find Out」、「I Wish, I Wish」、「Miles From Nowhere」、「Tea for the Tillerman」、「I Think I See The Light」、「Trouble」、「Where Do The Children Play?」や、アルバム未収録の「Don't Be Shy」、「If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out」の2曲に加えて、新規制作のインストゥルメンタル曲を含む全曲をユスフが担当。これらが一つの作品に収められるのは史上初。

■180g重量盤ブラック・ヴァイナル
■アビー・ロード・スタジオによる最新リマスター

Cat Stevens score for the 1971 cult classic Harold and Maude was more or less a compilation of highlights from his two 1970 albums, Mona Bone Jakon and Tea for the Tillerman. The singer/songwriters introspective folk missives brimmed with coming of age romanticism and an earthy charm that complemented the films existentialist themes while offsetting its quirky black humor. Additionally, he added two newly written songs, the affirmational "Dont Be Shy" and the eternally hummable "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out," and stripped some of his existing material down to instrumental or alternate versions to serve as incidental music. Stevens songs are big part of Harold and Maudes appeal and for many fans, songs like "On the Road to Find Out" and "Trouble" are eternally linked to the movies free-spirited narrative about the unlikely romance between a melancholic 19-year-old and a woman 60 years his senior. Like most cult classics, the film was a commercial failure in its day and perhaps for licensing reasons, the only soundtrack that was offered omitted the two new songs and the alternate versions which basically turned it into a brief compilation of previously released Jakon and Tillerman cuts. "Dont Be Shy" and "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" eventually found their way onto the 1984 anthology Footsteps in the Dark: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2., by which time Stevens had already undergone a religious conversion as Yusuf Islam and the film was slowly accruing its reputation as a misunderstood gem. In 2007, director Cameron Crowe issued the first complete soundtrack to Harold and Maude in a very limited, vinyl-only edition. Fourteen years later, a remastered and slightly augmented version of the soundtrack (including snippets of dialogue) received a more widespread release from Island/A&M and coincided with the films 50th anniversary. ~ Timothy Monger