Izitso is an album released by the British singer/songwriter Cat Stevens

Cat Stevens

Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....

 in 1977. After the lackluster Numbers

Numbers (Cat Stevens album)

Numbers is concept album by singer/songwriter Cat Stevens released in November 1975. Subtitled "A Pythagorean Theory Tale", it is a concept album based on a fictional planet in a far-off galaxy named Polygor and the "Polygons" who inhabit its palace...

, Izitzo – an album of pop/rock songs more in keeping with the style of Stevens' earlier 1970s albums – proved to be his comeback. The song "Child for a Day" was featured in the 1977 film First Love

First Love (1977 film)

First Love is a 1977 romance film. It stars Susan Dey and William Katt and was directed by Joan Darling. The movie is based upon the story Sentimental Education by Harold Brodkey...

, starring Susan Dey

Susan Dey

Susan Dey is an American actress, known primarily for her roles in film and television. Her more prominent parts came as elder daughter, Laurie Partridge, on the 1970s sitcom The Partridge Family, and as Grace Van Owen, a California assistant district attorney and judge on the dramatic series, L.A...

 and William Katt

William Katt

William Theodore Katt is an American film and television actor, best known as the star of The Greatest American Hero. He is also known for playing Tommy Ross, the ill-fated prom date of Carrie White in the film version of Carrie and Paul Drake Jr. in the Perry Mason TV movies...

. "Was Dog a Doughnut" is one of the first electro and hip-hop

Hip hop

Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...

 songs ever recorded.

Side one

1. "(Remember the Days of the) Old Schoolyard" - 2:44 duet with Elkie Brooks
   Elkie Brooks
   Elkie Brooks is an English singer, formerly a vocalist with Vinegar Joe, and later a solo artist. Elkie has been nominated twice for Brit Awards' top female singer. She is known for her powerful husky voice...
   
   .
2. "Life" - 4:56
3. "Killin' Time" - 3:30
4. "Kypros" - 3:10
5. "Bonfire" - 4:10

Side two

1. "(I Never Wanted) To Be a Star" - 3:03
2. "Crazy" - 3:33
3. "Sweet Jamaica" - 3:31
4. "Was Dog a Doughnut?" (Stevens, Bruce Lynch
   Bruce Lynch
   Bruce Lynch, born 1948, New Zealand, is an electric and acoustic bassist, producer and arranger.Arriving in the UK in the mid-70s, he became a highly sought-after studio and session musician touring extensively with Cat Stevens, including the 1976 Earth Tour, as well as appearing on six albums...
   
   , Jean Roussel) - 4:15
5. "Child for a Day" (Paul Travis, David Gordon) - 4:23

Personnel

• Cat Stevens
  Cat Stevens
  Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
  
   - Epiphone casino guitar
  Epiphone Casino
  The Epiphone Casino is a thinline hollow body electric guitar manufactured by Epiphone, a branch of Gibson. It is essentially Epiphone's version of the Gibson ES-330...
  
  , Ovation guitar
  Ovation Guitar
  The Ovation Guitar Company, a holding of Kaman Music Corporation, is a guitar manufacturing company based in New Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Ovation primarily manufactures Steel-stringed acoustic guitars....
  
  , electric
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  , acoustic
  Acoustic guitar
  An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
  
  , and steel guitar
  Steel guitar
  Steel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...
  
  s, guitar synthesizer, bouzouki
  Bouzouki
  The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
  
  , keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  , piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  , celesta
  Celesta
  The celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box . The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators...
  
  , harpsichord
  Harpsichord
  A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
  
  , wurlitzer electric piano
  Wurlitzer electric piano
  Wurlitzer 200A|250px|thumbThe Wurlitzer electric piano was one of a series of electromechanical stringless pianos manufactured and marketed by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, Corinth, Mississippi, U.S. and Tonawanda, New York...
  
  , fender rhodes, polymoog
  Polymoog
  The Polymoog is a polyphonic analog synthesizer that was manufactured by Moog Music from 1975 to 1980. The Polymoog was based on divide-down oscillator technology similar to electronic organs and string synthesizers of the time, and this led to a certain lack of flexibility compared to later...
  
  , moog synthesizer
  Moog synthesizer
  Moog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...
  
  , minimoog
  Minimoog
  The Minimoog is a monophonic analog synthesizer, invented by Bill Hemsath and Robert Moog. It was released in 1970 by R.A. Moog Inc. , and production was stopped in 1981. It was re-designed by Robert Moog in 2002 and released as Minimoog Voyager.The Minimoog was designed in response to the use of...
  
  , arp string synthesizer
  ARP String Synthesizer
  The ARP String Synthesizer, also known as the ARP Solina String Synthesizer or sometimes the Solina String Synthesizer, is an ARP Instruments, Inc. synthesizer. It is a hybrid model which combined both the ARP String Ensemble and the ARP Explorer monophonic synthesizer. It was built in Bodegraven,...
  
  , Yamaha CS-80
  Yamaha CS-80
  The Yamaha CS-80 was a polyphonic analog synthesizer released in 1977. It supports true 8-voice polyphony as well as a primitive settings memory based on a bank of micropotentiometers , and exceptionally complete performer expression features, such...
  
  , sequencer
  Music sequencer
  The music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...
  
  , drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , percussion, harmonica
  Harmonica
  The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
  
  , brass
  Brass instrument
  A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
  
  , arrangements, Vocals
• Jean Roussel - Hammond organ
  Hammond organ
  The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
  
  , piano, Organ, synthesizer, ARP String Synthesizer, Yahama CS-80, keyboards, flute, glockenspiel, vibraphone, string instruments, brass instruments, arrangements
• Chick Corea
  Chick Corea
  Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
  
   - electric piano, keyboards on "Bonfire" and "Was Dog A Doughnut?"
• Barry Beckett
  Barry Beckett
  Barry Edward Beckett was a keyboardist who worked as a session musician with several notable artists on their studio albums...
  
   - piano, electric piano, Organ, keyboards on "Killin' Time" and "Child For A Day"
• Tim Henson
  Tim Henson
  Timothy James Henson is the host of Distorted View Daily, an adult comedy podcast that focuses on bizarre news stories and brief comedic sketches and songs...
  
   - acoustic piano, piano, Organ, keyboards on "Killin' Time" and "Child For A Day"
• Little Brother Montgomery
  Little Brother Montgomery
  Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and blues pianist and singer....
  
   - ARP 2600 on "Was Dog A Doughnut?"
• Broderick Smith
  Broderick Smith
  Broderick Smith aka Brod Smith is an Australian singer-songwriter, harmonica, guitar and banjo player. He was a member of 1970s bands Carson and The Dingoes, 1980s Broderick Smith's Big Combo and performed solo...
  
   - harmonica on "Sweet Jamaica"
• Marjorie Lagerwall - harp
  Harp
  The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
  
   on "Sweet Jamaica"
• Ray Gomez - guitar on "Was Dog A Doughnut?"
• Pete Carr
  Pete Carr
  Jesse Willard "Pete" Carr is an American guitarist. Carr has contributed to hit recordings by Joan Baez, Luther Ingram, Bob Seger, Joe Cocker, Boz Scaggs, Paul Simon, The Staple Singers, Rod Stewart, Barbra Streisand, Wilson Pickett, Hank Williams, Jr., and many more over the past four decades...
  
   - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, steel guitar, ovation guitar, Epiphone Casino, guitar synthesizer, bouzouki
• Jim Johnson
  Jimmy Johnson (musician)
  Jimmy Johnson is an American a member of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section that was attached to FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama for a period in the 1960s and 1970s, and later was the a founder of Muscle Shoals Sound Studio located at first on 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield, Alabama and at...
  
   - rhythm guitar on "Killin' Time"
• Weldon Myrick - steel guitar on "(I Never Wanted) To Be A Star"
• Reggie Young
  Reggie Young
  Reggie Young was lead guitarist in the American Sound Studios Band , and is a leading session musician. He played on various recordings with artists such as Elvis Presley, B.J. Thomas, John Prine, Dusty Springfield, J.J...
  
   - electric guitar on "(I Never Wanted) To Be A Star"
• Bruce Lynch
  Bruce Lynch
  Bruce Lynch, born 1948, New Zealand, is an electric and acoustic bassist, producer and arranger.Arriving in the UK in the mid-70s, he became a highly sought-after studio and session musician touring extensively with Cat Stevens, including the 1976 Earth Tour, as well as appearing on six albums...
  
   - double bass, electbass, bass synthesizer
• David Hood
  David Hood
  David Hood , is a bassist from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He also plays the trombone and is a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame....
  
   - double bass
  Double bass
  The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
  
  , bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , bass synthesizer on "Killin' Time" and "Child For A Day"
• Andy Newmark
  Andy Newmark
  Andrew "Andy" Newmark is an American musician, best known as a popular session drummer, and for playing with the funk band Sly & the Family Stone from 1972 to 1973....
  
   - drums, percussion on "(Remember The Days Of The) Old Schoolyard" and "Kypros" and "Bonfire" and "Sweet Jamaica"
• Bill Berg
  Bill Berg
  William Daniel Berg is a retired Canadian ice hockey player.-Playing career:Playing on both wing and defense, after a minor league apprenticeship with the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League - with whom he won a Calder Cup in 1990 - Berg started his National Hockey League career with...
  
   - drums, percussion on "Life" and (I Never Wanted) To Be A Star" and "Crazy"
• Barry Morgan - drums, percussion "Life" and "Was Dog A Doughnut?"
• Roger Hawkins
  Roger Hawkins
  Roger G Hawkins , is an American drummer best known for playing as part of the studio backing band known as The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section of Alabama...
  
   - drums, percussion on "Killin' Time" and "Child For A Day"
• Elkie Brooks
  Elkie Brooks
  Elkie Brooks is an English singer, formerly a vocalist with Vinegar Joe, and later a solo artist. Elkie has been nominated twice for Brit Awards' top female singer. She is known for her powerful husky voice...
  
   - Vocals on "(Remember The Days Of The) Old Schoolyard"
• Suzanne Lynch
  Suzanne Lynch
  Suzanne Lynch MNZM is a New Zealand singer who has worked professionally under the names Suzanne Donaldson, Suzanne Lynch and Suzanne....
  
   - backing vocals on "(Remember The Of The) Old Schoolyard" and "Life" and "Sweet Jamaica"
• Carla Benson - backing vocals on "Sweet Jamaica"
• Evette Benton - backing vocals on "Sweet Jamaica"
• Barbara Ingram
  Barbara Ingram
  Barbara Jane Ingram was an American R&B singer-songwriter, who was active throughout the early 1970s until the mid-late 1980s, enjoying modest success a backup singer for almost two decades.-Career:...
  
   - backing vocals on "Sweet Jamaica"
• David Campbell - string instruments, brass, arrangements
• Gene Page
  Gene Page
  Eugene Edgar "Gene" Page, Jr. was an influential conductor, composer, arranger and record producer most active from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s....
  
   - string instruments, brass instruments, arrangements

Production

• Producers - Cat Stevens
  Cat Stevens
  Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
  
  , Dave Kershenbaum
  David Kershenbaum
  David Kershenbaum is an American record producer and entrepreneur, born in Springfield, Missouri. He has worked with many artists including Duran Duran, Tracy Chapman, Joe Jackson, Bryan Adams, Supertramp, Cat Stevens, Elkie Brooks, and Tori Amos. As a producer he has earned 75 international gold...
  
  
• Engineers - Harvey Goldberg
  Harvey Goldberg
  Harvey Goldberg was a teacher, historian and political activist.- Biography :...
  
  , Mike Stavros, Ian Boughey, Nigel Walker, Flemming Rasmussen
  Flemming Rasmussen
  Flemming Rasmussen is a Danish engineer, producer, mixer and owner and founder of Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark.-Biography:...
  
  , Tom Jung
  Tom Jung
  Tom Jung is an American advertising art director, graphic designer and illustrator best known for his movie poster art, and a motion picture storyboard artist. -Early life and career:...
  
  , Paul Martinson, Nick Blagona, Mike Ross, Freddy Hansson, Steve Brandon, Jerry Masters, Gene Eichelberger, Dee Robb, John Kelly
  John Kelly
  - People :* John Kelly of Killanne , leader of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 in Wexford* John Kelly , Congregational minister* John Larry Kelly, Jr. , originator of the Kelly criterion...
  
  , Ken Frieson
• Mastering - Ted Jensen
  Ted Jensen
  Ted Jensen is an American recording engineer. Jensen is the chief mastering engineer at Sterling Sound. He started his career as a mastering engineer in 1976 and is currently the most active Mastering Engineer in the industry...
  
  , Bernie Grundman
  Bernie Grundman
  -Biography:He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1983 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chris Bellman, Patricia Sullivan and Brian Gardner, mastered 37 projects which received Grammy Award nominations in 2005.Grundman...
  
  
• Mixing - Claude Dupras
• Design - Mathieu Bitton
• Programming - Cat Stevens
  Cat Stevens
  Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
  
  , Claude Dupras
• Supervisor - Bill Levenson
• Illustrations - Cat Stevens
  Cat Stevens
  Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
  
  
• Cover Designs - Cat Stevens
  Cat Stevens
  Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
  
  , Eckford Stimpson
• Photography - Moshe Brakha
• Coordinator - Beth Stempel

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1977	Pop Albums	7

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1977	(Remember the Days of the) Old Schoolyard	Pop Singles	33
1977	(I Never Wanted) To Be a Star	Pop Singles	44
1977	Was Dog A Doughnut	Pop Singles	53
1977	Sweet Jamaica	Pop Singles	70