Once in a while an artist steps up into the "super" class of musicians. "Tea for the Tillerman" is Cat Stevens's seminal album. Its folky nature mixed with Stevens's unique nasal vocals makes for a hazy, wonderfully relaxed series of songs, each complementing the previous and following tracks. Like Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon", it is not an album to pick and choose from. Play the whole lot in one sitting and you will find yourself whistling "Father & Son" or "Miles from Nowhere" all day.

"Where do the Children Play?" echoes a theme that runs through all of the album right up to the last song. Stevens's reluctance to be drawn into a simple explanation of his philosophy can make some of the songs hard to read but his belief in a simpler life flows through the entire work. It turns up in every song, including the powerful "Wild World", the bitter sweat "Sad Lisa", the forceful "On The Road to Find Out" and transcendental "Into White". His fight against the complexity that adulthood brings is reflected in "Hard Headed Women"; he demands a return to simplicity and childhood in "Father & Son". This latter song has been butchered by several appalling covers but fortunately Stevens's purity and sincerity save the original, making it still a shining gem. It seems strange that "But I might die tonight" and "Longer boats" don't normally raise a mention. It is through these fantastically thoughtful songs that it becomes clear, even many years before his conversion to Islam, that his internal religious concepts were being deconstructed and reassembled. He faces up to that horror facing us all; the obliteration of who we are. He does not shy away from the question of death. Whether you have a belief system or not, his honesty in these songs makes them stand out. For me, "Miles from Nowhere" and "Tea for the Tillerman" are the icing on the cake. "Miles from Nowhere" is remarkable, remarkably tuneful and with ridiculously catchy lyrics, it is a real favourite. "Tea for the Tillerman" is the ultimate finishing song, tying up all the loose ends, delivering a thundering conclusion in a simple, short (almost under a minute long) and truly wonderful wave of sound. Don't worry about Stevens's religious ponderings or uncertainty, just bath in his undoubted lyrical genius, his ability to construct a harmony and the production of a song. In truth, a beautifully crafted album.