Cat Stevens New Masters

To capitalise on Cat's swift rise to stardom, 'New Masters' was released in the same year as his debut album 'Matthew & Son'. However, some artistic differences had begun to emerge between Cat, who was starting to yearn for a simple acoustic sound and more artistic control over his career, and producer Mike Hurst, who wanted to push Cat as a pop crooner and who favoured the more lavish orchestral arrangements that characterise his first two albums. 'New Masters' features 'The First Cut Is the Deepest' which was a hit for P.P. Arnold in 1967 and would go on to become one of the seminal heartbreak songs of all time with notable covers by Rod Stewart, Sheryl Crow, and Keith Hampshire.