Cat Stevens - Buddha And The Chocolate Box (Remastered 2026) (1974) [Hi-Res]

After the stylistic and personnel changes of the previous album, Foreigner, Buddha and the Chocolate Box saw the return of both Paul Samwell-Smith as producer and Alun Davies on guitar. The album certainly feels like a return to the style of the Tillerman, Teaser era, however, the musical arrangements and production are notably slicker. The album’s title was the result of a plane journey during which Cat found himself to be carrying a small Buddha statue in one hand and a box of chocolates in the other. He reflected that if the plane were to crash he’d be found between these two objects that represented the spiritual and the material.

"Cat Stevens is back with the kind of material he does best, a selection of short, well produced, relatively uncomplicated cuts. In contrast to his Foreigner Suite set, Stevens sticks more to the kind of basics that first gained him his massive popularity here some five years ago. His singing is stronger than it has been in some time, and the background vocals, while noticeable, are unobtrusive. Perhaps the best thing about this set is that it is chock full of potential singles with easy melodies and relatively simple themes. Stevens depends more on keyboards here than he did on his last set, but this adds to the album's lush, full sound." (Billboard, 1974)

"Cat Stevens is coasting on the goodwill he earned for Mona Bone Jakon, Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat. My guess is his audience is becoming progressively younger, with many young men and women responding to him more as a sex star than a musician. The continued success of his records shows that they are oblivious to the decline in the quality of his work. Personally, even when I can tune out the blissed-out homilies about the religion of music and the good works of Jesus and Buddha, I no longer enjoy his voice, which has turned strained and gravelly. And the melodies and arrangements at which he once excelled are now sadly underdeveloped. But the band's musicianship and the production create a stylish sound that helps conceal the larger defects of Buddha and the Chocolate Box -- although my guess is, only for a while." (Jon Landau, Rolling Stone, 6/6/74)

Cat Stevens, vocals, synthesizer, guitar, keyboards
Alun Davies, acoustic guitar, vocals
Bruce Lynch, bass
Jean Roussel, keyboards and string arrangements
Gerry Conway, drums, vocals, percussion
Additional musicians:
Jimmy Ryan, guitar
Mark Warner, guitar
Roland Harker, banjo
Rick McCollum, vocals
Del Newman, string arrangements
Suzanne Cox, vocals
Vocal choir

Recorded February 1974 at Sound Techniques Studios, London, England. Mixed at Sound Techniques, AIR Studios, and Morgan Studios, London
Produced by Cat Stevens Paul Samwell-Smith

Digitally remastered