This is a transitional Al Stewart album.
After stretching the boundaries of song length and language with Love Chronicles, he was in a something of a holding pattern on Orange, without any obviously profound inspiration or moments of daring.
"Songs Out of Clay," however, does reveal the first signs of the mix of acoustic and electric guitar sounds that he would perfect on his next album, Past, Present and Future, two years later, while "The Fourth of May," a six-minute personal story-song, gets something of the beat and the sound that Stewart would refine in achieving his subsequent success -- he just needed subject matter other than busted relationships.
Orange also introduced Tim Renwick, whose lead guitar would become central to the sound on Stewart's subsequent albums.
His singing, however, is still of a rather mournful and even monotonous nature, except on those two songs; he hadn't yet found sufficient variety in his tone and delivery, and even the presence of Rick Wakeman's elegant, classically based, arpeggio-laden piano accompaniments couldn't rescue most of these songs.
There's also a pretty cool cover of Bob Dylan's "I Don't Believe You," cut as a warm-up for the rest of the album.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | You Don't Even Know MeAl Stewart | Al Stewart | Play | 03:59 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 2 | AmsterdamAl Stewart | Al Stewart | Play | 02:56 | 6 MB | 18 MB |
| 3 | Songs Out Of ClayAl Stewart | Al Stewart | Play | 04:15 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 4 | I Don't Believe YouBob Dylan | Al Stewart | Play | 03:36 | 8 MB | 22 MB |
| 5 | Once An Orange Always An OrangeAl Stewart | Al Stewart | Play | 04:18 | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| 6 | I'm FallingAl Stewart | Al Stewart | Play | 04:29 | 10 MB | 26 MB |
| 7 | Night Of The 4th Of July | Al Stewart | Play | 06:25 | 14 MB | 41 MB |
| 8 | Soho (Needless To Say) | Al Stewart | Play | 04:00 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 9 | Elvaston Place | Al Stewart | Play | 02:51 | 6 MB | 17 MB |
| 10 | It Doesn't Matter Anymore | Al Stewart | Play | 02:25 | 5 MB | 15 MB |
| 39 mins | 89 MB | |||||
| 39 mins | 247 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bob Andrews | Keyboards, Organ |
| 2 | John Anthony | Producer |
| 3 | Cal Batchelor | Guitar |
| 4 | John Donelly | Vocals (Background) |
| 5 | John Donnelly | Vocals |
| 6 | Bob Dylan | Composer |
| 7 | David Henshall | Engineer |
| 8 | Graham Hunt | Drums |
| 9 | Colin Irwin | Liner Notes |
| 10 | Keef | Photography |
| 11 | Marcus Keef | Cover Photo |
| 12 | Brian Odgers | Bass |
| 13 | Roger Pope | Drums |
| 14 | Kevin Powers | Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 15 | Tim Renwick | Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Spanish Guitar |
| 16 | Brinsley Schwarz | Guitar (12 String), Guitar (Acoustic) |
| 17 | Al Stewart | Composer, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Keyboards, Primary Artist, Vocals |
| 18 | Bruce Thomas | Bass |
| 19 | Rick Wakeman | Keyboards, Organ, Piano |
| 20 | Tim Walker | Guitar, Spanish Guitar |
| 21 | Mick Welton | Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 22 | John Wilson | Drums |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |