"A Beach Full Of Shells" is the seventeenth album by Al Stewart, released in 2005. Like most of Stewart's later works, much of the content of the CD alludes to people or moments in history. Al Stewart has always had a distinctive vocal style -- making his radio hits like "Year of the Cat" immediately recognizable -- while also possessing a knack for writing tuneful pop songs. A Beach Full of Shells qualifies as his first U.S. release since 1995, and while it's been some time since the singer conquered the pop charts, both his vocal style and craftsmanship remains intact. It would be a mistake, however, to view Stewart as no more than the maker of pop confections specially designed for a mass radio audience. The cover of A Beach Full of Shells offers the first clue of a playful mind that enjoys the weight of words: there are two types of shells on the beach, one from the sea, the other for use in a gun. The complexity of his approach is best experienced on "Somewhere in England 1915," a lengthy song (nearly seven minutes) with shifting dream imagery. Weaving fantasy with brief references to World War I, the narrator eventually wakes up 90 years later to find himself on the edge -- the song seems to suggest -- of yet another war. Stewart accomplishes all of this without ever being obvious, giving the song a subtle quality as it reveals its surprises to the listener. This, however, is only one of many moods on A Beach Full of Shells. "Katherine of Oregon" is as light as air, a pleasant, flowing ballad with nice acoustic guitar and light percussion, while "Mona Lisa Talking" shifts through a number of intriguing chord changes to offer a little common sense advice. Stewart originally wrote the song "Class of '58" as 13 minutes long. When the record company rejected it, he rewrote it to the truncated 4-minute version on the album.[citation needed] The long version was subsequently released as a single. In the blurb on the single, it is suggested that the album A Beach Full of Shells was originally intended to focus around this song, which describes the life of a musician on the 1950s rock and roll scene.
Track List:
01. "The Immelman Turn" - 4:39
02. "Mr. Lear" - 3:00
03. "Royal Courtship" - 4:10
04. "Rain Barrel" - 4:00
05. "Somewhere in England, 1915" - 6:56
06. "Katherine of Oregon" - 3:07
07. "Mona Lisa Talking" - 4:26
08. "Class of '58" - 4:10
09. "Out in the Snow" - 2:51
10. "My Egyptian Couch" - 2:18
11. "Gina in the Kings Road" - 3:49
12. "Beacon Street" - 2:20
13. "Anniversary" - 2:53
Released: 2005
Recorded: Capitol Studio B, Hollywood, CA, The Sign Of The Scorpion, Studio City, CA
Genre: Folk
Label: EMI
Playtime: 48:39
Producer: aurence Juber
Audio Mixer: Greg Townley
Arranger: Laurence Juber
Personnel:
Al Stewart (vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards)
Eric Gorfain, Daphne Chen (violin)
Leah Katz (viola)
Richard Dodd (cello)
Jim Cox (piano, Hammond b-3 organ)
Domenic Genova (bass guitar)
Steve Forman (bodhran, percussion)
Steve Lively (background vocals)
Laurence Juber (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, percussion, programming)
Dave Nachmanoff (acoustic guitar, background vocals)
Novi Novog (viola)
Michael Jochum (drums, percussion)
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