In the fall of 1970 Cat Stevens came out with an incredible album, “Tea For The Tillerman.”

Many of us who were burgeoning audiophiles were inspired to pursue better audio gear by the song “Where Do The Children Play?”

The acoustic guitar intro is sparse and full of character. It lasts about 30 seconds. It’s unadorned and builds to… just where- we’re not sure.

At about 30 seconds Cat’s coarse voice, yet with smooth delivery, is hauntingly beautiful. He sings with guitar for a couple of minutes, ruminating about the value of our engineering prowess. Just because we can, should we?

At 2:43 we’re treated to a drum segue that changes the tone to challenge where in the world we’re going with all our technology and subsequent control of human behavior.

At 3:12 the emotion expands to beg that we take consider the price we’re paying for such “progress.” His voice carries a painful/thoughtful introspective groan for about five seconds at the end of his query.

The song plays out 20 seconds more with no lyrics, but clearly implores us to think about the result of charging forward without heeding the consequences.

For openers, the guitar prefix is alluring on a fine hi-fi system. You can’t derive the same emotion from a Bluetooth speaker. The better your audio system, the more you can appreciate the voice of this lovely wooden guitar.

The same holds true as Cat’s singing comes in. Every human has a distinct voice (except for Deacon Frey- he sounds exactly like his dad) and a resolving audio system lets you distinguish the unique character of any singer more purely than a less translucent system. You not only hear Cat’s colorful mix of baritone/tenor, but you can detect his angst rising with the dynamic contrast that a fine hi-fi can convey.

For a good many of us in the early 70s, Tea, and Children, helped make the pursuit of hi-fi great fun. Over half a century down the road… it doesn’t have state of the art sound, but it’s still a sweet ride.