{"id":524335,"date":"2026-07-13T19:37:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T19:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/524335\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T19:37:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T19:37:17","slug":"ready-cat-stevens-buddha-and-the-chocolate-box-returns-to-cd-lp-digital-formats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/524335\/","title":{"rendered":"Ready: Cat Stevens’ “Buddha and the Chocolate Box” Returns to CD, LP, Digital Formats"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\"Cat<\/a>PRE-ORDER FROM OFFICIAL STORE<\/p>\n

Cat Stevens\u2019 Buddha and the Chocolate Box, originally released in 1974, is the latest title in the singer-songwriter\u2019s venerable cat-o-log to get the remastered reissue treatment.\u00a0 One of Yusuf\u2019s four consecutive LPs to reach the top three in both the United States and Great Britain and his sixth A&M release overall, Buddha returns September 4 on CD, vinyl, and digital formats.<\/p>\n

In many respects, Buddha and the Chocolate Box was a homecoming for Stevens.\u00a0 After retreating to Jamaica to self-produce the R&B-influenced Foreigner (also reissued as part of the Cat-o-Log series), he returned to old colleagues Paul Samwell-Smith and Alun Davies (producer and acoustic guitarist, respectively) to recapture the feel of their earlier efforts together.\u00a0 Supported by bassist Bruce Lynch, keyboardist Jean Roussel, and drummer\/percussionist Gerry Conway, Stevens crafted the album\u2019s nine songs to reflect upon both the material and spiritual worlds.<\/p>\n

The gentle \u201cOh Very Young\u201d returned him to the higher reaches of the singles charts, peaking at No. 10 Pop and No. 2 AC \u2013 his highest placement on both charts since \u201cMorning Has Broken\u201d from 1972\u2019s Teaser and the Firecat.\u00a0 (Like \u201cPeace Train\u201d from the same album, \u201cMorning\u201d reached No. 1 on the AC survey.)\u00a0 The bright, upbeat \u201cReady\u201d made it to No. 26 on the Hot 100.\u00a0 The album itself spent three weeks at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, kept from the top spot by Marvin Hamlisch\u2019s soundtrack of Scott Joplin adaptations to The Sting.\u00a0 It\u2019s since been certified Platinum, and \u201cOh Very Young\u201d experienced a recent renaissance when it appeared in the Netflix film The Thursday Murder Club, based on U.K. author and television quiz show presenter Richard Osman\u2019s best-seller.\u00a0 The song re-entered the U.K. charts and goosed sales of Stevens\u2019 Greatest Hits LP, as well.<\/p>\n

Cat\/Yusuf reflected in his recent memoir On the Road to Findout, \u201cBuddha and the Chocolate Box reopened the doors of my familiar melodious soft delivery and sentiments. Although still experimental in compositional terms, it was what most of my fans desperately wanted to hear next. Following on from Foreigner, the Buddha album proved \u2013 especially to those who had no faith \u2013 that the missing Cat had simply wandered away from home for a while. My principle of independence was asserted as with most cats, don\u2019t ever dare think you own them! As far as the critics were concerned, album-wise, it marked my heralded return to \u2018Cat Stevens\u2019 form.\u201d<\/p>\n

While no bonus tracks have been included, Buddha and the Chocolate Box has been remastered for this release from the original Island Records U.K. production tapes.\u00a0 The original artwork has been \u201crefreshed,\u201d as well.\u00a0 In addition to CD, Buddha will be available on 180-gram black vinyl and both high-res and standard digital formats.\u00a0 An exclusive \u201cchocolate brown\u201d vinyl pressing is up for pre-orders at Cat\u2019s official storefront.\u00a0 Look for all editions on September 4 from A&M\/UMe\/Cat-o-Log.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find the track listing and pre-order links below; we\u2019ll update with Amazon links as soon as they are available.\u00a0 (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)<\/p>\n

Yusuf\/Cat Stevens, Buddha and the Chocolate Box (A&M SP 3623, 1974 \u2013 reissued A&M\/UMe\/Cat-o-Log, 2026) (Amazon U.S.<\/a> \/ Amazon U.K.<\/a> \/ Amazon Canada<\/a>)<\/p>\n

All Formats: Official Store (U.S.)<\/a>
Exclusive Chocolate Brown Vinyl: Official Store (U.S.)<\/a><\/p>\n

Music
\nOh Very Young
\nSun \/ C79
\nGhost Town
\nJesus
\nReady
\nKing of Trees
\nA Bad Penny
\nHome in the Sky<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PRE-ORDER FROM OFFICIAL STORE Cat Stevens\u2019 Buddha and the Chocolate Box, originally released in 1974, is the latest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-524335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}