CAT STEVENS
Harold And Maude (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 50th Anniversary Edition Perfect soundtrack to cult masterpiece.
Released in a decade that is arguably more stuffed with great works of cinema than any other, 1971’s Harold And Maude remains a cult classic commercially eclipsed by the Taxi Drivers, Godfathers and Clockwork Oranges of the era — but even more beloved by fans than all of the big guns put together.
Following the blossoming love story between troubled, death-fixated 20-year-old Harold (played with stunning wide-eyed cynicism by Bud Cort) and lifeseizing, idealistic, 79-year-old force of nature Maude (the magnificent Ruth Gordon, who previously stole a scene from Satan himself in Rosemary’s Baby), it’s a gloriously beautiful, strange, thought-provoking, moving and sometimes achingly funny work of genius.
A huge part of the film’s success, though, is the soundtrack, made up entirely (apart from perfectly selected classical works by Tchaikovsky and Strauss) of the music of the great Cat Stevens (now known, of course, as Yusuf Islam). There’s an almost nursery-rhyme purity to songs like Where Do The Children Play?, with Stevens’s voice unerringly kind, clear and soulful, creating the perfect mismatched foil for the gravesides, funeral chapels, scrap-metal yards and dangerously driven stolen cars our heroic couple choose as their sunflower-strewn playground. Central theme If You Want To Sing Out,
Sing Out in particular is a jubilant call-to-arms for the weird, lost and disenfranchised to embrace their peculiarities, celebrate them as shining badges of honour, and wring every last drop of joy out of every single day before it’s too late.
It’s very much a product of the flower-power era, but remains a timeless nugget of joy to be cherished. This 50th-anniversary edition stitches in dialogue from the film for the first time, adding further depth to an already flawless collection. Buy it, love it, and be more Maude.