Soho feeds the needs and hides the deeds

Thursday music corner: British folk-rock performer Al Stewart (b. Scotland, 1945) grew up in Dorset after moving there with his mother; his father died in an RAF training crash before he was born. After securing a weekly solo performing slot at a Soho coffee house in 1965, he later became the regular compere at the Les Cousins Folk Club, also in Soho. Well-connected across the contemporary arts scene, he flatted in London with Paul Simon and befriended Yoko Ono. 

He released his first album, Bed Sitter Images, in 1967 and released several more albums before he started to gain traction with the release of his 1975 album Modern Times, which reached number 30 in the US charts. His next release, the album and single Year of the Cat in 1976, is his most recognised recording, but the subsequent Time Passages album (1978) was a hit too, reaching number 10 in the US, number 15 in Australia, and just grazing the UK top 40.

 

Soho (Needless To Say) appeared on Stewart's fifth studio album, 1973's Past, Present & Future, and documents the London songwriter's home away from home, the grimy, cosmopolitan streets of Soho.

Al Stewart - Soho (Needless To Say) (original 1973, live performance 1978)

See also:

Music: Al Stewart - Song on the Radio (1979)

Music: Al Stewart w/ Tori Amos - Year of the Cat (live, 1991)

Music: Al Stewart w/ The Empty Pockets - Time Passages (2022)