Cat Stevens to Release 1974 Concert Album, ‘Saturnight: Live From Tokyo’

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Yusuf / Cat Stevens’ little known 1974 concert album, Saturnight: Live From Tokyo, will be released in the U.S. in multiple formats for the first time ever, more than 50 years after it was originally released only in Japan, due to contractual restrictions. The record has been remastered from the original production master at Abbey Road Studios and will be available on CD and vinyl on May 2, 2025, via Cat-O-Log Records/UMe. It’s available for pre-order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.

The CD will be packaged in a digisleeve with a 16-page booklet featuring lyrics and new retrospective recollections from those who were there, including bassist Bruce Lynch and the band’s 1974 tour manager Carl Miller, and additional notes. The vinyl will be available on 140-gram black vinyl packaged for the first time in a gatefold sleeve with the aforementioned liner notes. Saturnight was released in a super limited edition as an “RSD First” for 2024’s Record Store Day Black Friday event exclusively on 180-gram orange splatter color vinyl.

Stevens’ first-ever live album, Saturnight, was recorded on June 22, 1974, at Sun Plaza Hall in Nakano, Tokyo, Japan on the Japanese leg of his “Bamboozle World Tour.” The tour comprised 50 shows across North America, Europe, Australia and Japan to support the release of Buddha and the Chocolate Box.

Saturnight includes many of his greatest hits from the early ‘70s such as “Wild World,” “Where Do The Children Play?” “Hard Headed Woman,” “Father & Son,” “Peace Train,” “Bitterblue,” “Sitting” and “Oh Very Young.”

Listen to “King Of Trees” from Saturnight

Also included is a soulful cover of Sam Cooke’s “Another Saturday Night.” Stevens and his band were fresh from recording the song at a studio in Tokyo using a Japanese brass section – the very same version that would go on to become a hit single later that year. The performance on Saturnight captures the first time they ever played “Another Saturday Night” live.

Although Saturnight never received a full global release – due to contractual reasons between A&M and Island Records – Stevens arranged for the proceeds to be donated to UNICEF. He had recently become a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and with their help, had visited Ethiopia and Kenya earlier in 1974. There, he saw firsthand some of the utter devastation caused by drought and famine, but also witnessed the remarkable resilience and nobility of the human spirit. The experience moved him profoundly and had a truly lasting impact on his life and career, so much so that his humanitarian efforts would soon overtake his personal musical ambitions.

Cat Stevens Saturnight: Live From Tokyo Tracklist
Wild World
Oh Very Young
Sitting
Where Do The Children Play?
Lady D’Arbanville
Another Saturday Night
Hard Headed Woman
Peace Train
Father & Son
King Of Trees
A Bad Penny
Bitterblue

Stevens is one of the opening acts for Neil Young at London’s Hyde Park on June 11. It’ll be his first scheduled concert performance since June 2024. If he announces a tour, tickets will be available here and here.