Cat Stevens Announces Reissue Of 'Buddha and the Chocolate Box'
(UMe) Yusuf / Cat Stevens' beloved 1974 album Buddha and the Chocolate Box has been newly remastered and is set for reissue on September 4 via Cat-O-Log Records/A&M/UMe, more than fifty years after it first appeared. Cat Stevens' osixth A&M Records LP - one of four consecutive albums to reach the Top 3 on both sides of the Atlantic - will be available on CD, vinyl, and digitally for streaming and download.
Originally released March 19, 1974, Buddha and the Chocolate Box marked the return of both producer Paul Samwell-Smith and guitarist Alun Davies, following their absence on the preceding album, Foreigner. Sonically, the record was a homecoming to the style of the Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat era - but with the arrangements and production reaching a new level of finesse and polish. Billboard welcomed it warmly at the time, writing that "Cat Stevens is back with the kind of material he does best" and praising the album's "lush, full sound."
"Buddha 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 - especially to those who had no faith - that the missing Cat had simply wandered away from home for a while. My principle of independence was asserted as with most cats, don't ever dare think you own them! As far as the critics were concerned, album-wise, it marked
my heralded return to 'Cat Stevens' form."
- Yusuf / Cat Stevens, "Cat on the Road to Findout"
The album's nine original compositions range from the forceful, keyboard-driven opener "Music" - with its rallying message for the ages "there'd be no more wars in the world if everybody joined in the band" - to the tender, piano-led "Oh Very Young," another deeply prescient track and illustrative of Cat's exceptional ability to explore deep emotion and universal experiences through the medium of popular song. Elsewhere, the country-tinged "Ghost Town," the optimistic "Ready," and the closing "Home in the Sky" - with its declaration that "Music is a lady that I still love" - showed a songwriter at the height of his melodic and philosophical powers. And yet, the deeply intriguing lyrics of "Jesus" - which also mention Buddha - gave a clear indication of the artist's broad spiritual leaning.
A GLOBAL SUCCESS - THEN AND NOW
Buddha and the Chocolate Box was a worldwide hit. In the United States it climbed to No. 2 on the Billboard 200, spending three weeks in the runner-up spot - held off the summit only by the soundtrack for the film The Sting - and it was certified Gold within weeks of release (April 8, 1974), later going Platinum (RIAA) for more than one million copies. In the UK it reached No. 3, earning silver and gold certifications on the same day that July, just months after release.
It was a genuine international triumph, reaching the Top 5 across much of the world: New Zealand (No. 2), Canada (No. 3), Austria (No. 3), Australia (No. 5), Norway (No. 5), Finland (No. 6), Italy (No. 6) and France (No. 9). While in Australia in June 1974, Cat Stevens was presented with a plaque marking the sale of 40 Gold Records - at the time, the largest number ever presented to any artist in the country.
The album's singles carried the record around the world. "Oh Very Young" reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on the US Adult Contemporary (Easy Listening) chart, No. 9 in Canada and No. 19 in Australia; follow-up single "Ready" reached No. 20 in Canada and No. 26 on the U.S. Hot 100.
"OH VERY YOUNG" - A NEW GENERATION, FIFTY YEARS ON
In 2025, "Oh Very Young" found a whole new audience when it soundtracked the closing moments of Netflix's hit film "The Thursday Murder Club" - the Chris Columbus adaptation of Richard Osman's best-selling novel, starring Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan and Ben Kingsley. Scoring the film's final dance, the song sent listeners racing back to the original: it re-entered the UK charts at No. 22 on the Official Singles Downloads Chart and No.23 on the Official Singles Sales Chart in September 2025 - becoming Cat Stevens' highest-ever placement on the UK sales chart, and lifting his Greatest Hits back to No. 21 on the Official Album Downloads Chart. A tender meditation on youth and impermanence - famously a gentle answer to Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" - the song has quietly become one of his most enduring.
THE REISSUE
Continuing the acclaimed reissue program, following 2024's Saturnight (Cat Stevens: Live in Tokyo) and 2025's On the Road to Findout: Greatest Hits, Buddha and the Chocolate Box has been meticulously remastered from the original Island UK production tapes and is presented with newly refreshed artwork.
The album will be available on 180-gram black vinyl, CD, and digital HD (96kHz / 24bit) and SD formats. An exclusive 180g Chocolate Brown vinyl edition will be available via the Yusuf / Cat Stevens and uDiscover stores.
Pre-order Buddha and the Chocolate Box here
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