50 – Novim’s Nightmare – Cat Stevens – 1975

Novim's Nightmare - Cat Stevens

            When Numbers came out in late 1975 I was at Blackburn College, eagerly looking forward to its release (as I eagerly awaited anything new from Cat). I bought it at an appliance store on the Carlinville square I can no longer recall. It wasn’t a record store; it just had records for sale.

            I took it back to my room, put it on my Garrard Zero-G turntable, turned up my Pioneer SX424 receiver, put on my big red Koss headphones, dropped the stylus, and sat back to listen.

            “A Pythagorean Theory Tale”… what the heck was that about? It was a concept album with a children’s book to follow (which never appeared as far as I know). The first song was an instrumental (“Whistlestar”).

            The music was very pretty on the next song (“Novim’s Nightmare”), but what did the lyrics mean? (I always listened the first few times with the album cover (with lyrics) in hand).

            “Once I had a dream, that worried me
                        Like a drunken guillotine
                        Lingering just above my head
                        Why, why, why, why?
                        Why was I born "The Nine"
                        Cursed repeatedly
                        Who would know if I should die.
                        No one needed me     

                                    ***

            All at once my bones began to change
                        I was tall and young again,
                        Sweet as rain falling on the snow
                        Who, who, who, who?
                        Who is he, who am I, and
                        What laid in between?
                        How can I say goodbye? No one let me in
                        Can't see no need for Nine no more
                        Now it's too late to open the door.      

            Ohhhhkaaaay….

            The Rolling Stone review was brutal “… an album so breathtakingly stupid that even the most loyal fan (Hey, I resemble that!) could count its merits without using any of the fingers on either hand.”

            And it went downhill from there, “Sententiously subtitled “A Pythagorean Theory tale,” Numbers , ostensibly the story of some numerically named extraterrestrials, really isn’t about anything at all- no minor flaw in what purports to be a concept LP.”

            I guess he didn’t like it.

            I like “Novim’s Nightmare,” but I can honestly say I’ve not listened to the whole album since the 70s, but even the worst Cat album has one song worth listening to.

            I then made the mistake of going to YouTube and looking at the video for “Banapple Gas.”

            Here’s the link. Banapple Gas

            Yikes!! 

            By itself, the song is a little weird. Watch the film and you can see why he stayed away from recording for 30 years. (though he did two more albums after Numbers, which maybe was his repentance) .