Light touch is vintage Stevens

Yusuf Islam

“An Other Cup” (Atlantic)

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THE secular return of the man the 1970s knew as Cat Stevens raises a difficult question: Can the eclectic spiritual mood that once permeated pop (and not just in music, but in movies, beach reads and even hippie fashion) be cultivated amid today’s fundamentalist divides? Can the dedicated Muslim now known as Yusuf Islam, for that matter, recapture the welcoming seeker’s voice he plied so well in nonsectarian hymns such as “Morning Has Broken”? The answer gently conveyed here is yes, despite a few zealous missteps.

Cat Stevens fans loved the curly-haired bard for his playful rhythms and hearty melodies as well as his philosophical ponderings. His gift was for framing heavy sentiments in settings as artless as children’s songs, and he does that again on this exquisitely orchestrated album, produced by Islam and Rick Nowells, who has worked with England’s other pop music mystic, Madonna.

Guests including guitarist Alun Davies, a Cat-era collaborator, and the brilliant Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour help bring back that vigorous, ruddy-cheeked sound, inspired by the Greek folk music of Islam’s childhood and the rhythm and blues of his youth. Slower numbers are rich with strings; his version of the Animals’ “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” could be from a Hal Wilner-produced tribute album.

The tale is in the lyrics, though, as Islam works to present his faith in a unifying light. He does best when he works least hard -- on “Midday” he presents his spiritual practice as a rewarding lifestyle, not a burden, and on “One Day at a Time” he creates a sweet to-do list for achieving religious utopia.

But firm faith, with its hard lines, is rarely as rich for artists as ambivalence. That’s why the best song here contains a “maybe”: “Maybe There’s a World,” a lovely, very English round in which he admits his own shortcomings as well as the world’s. Such vulnerability brings people together, whatever they believe.

Ann Powers

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Albums are rated on a scale of four stars (excellent), three stars (good), two stars (fair) and one star (poor). Albums reviewed are already in stores except as indicated.