Best known to mainstream audiences for the seductive growl of the mid-70s hit “Year of the Cat,” Al Stewart has had a long, multi-faceted career that’s now settled on his being an historical singer-songwriter. His songs are tales influenced and sometimes informed by history. With his easeful, conversational singing voice and a dexterous but never intrusive folk-based backing group, Stewart immerses himself into these intense storysongs that tell complex tales. The album is bookended with songs about political isolationists both in the U.K. and U.S. (“Lord Salisbury,” “Like William McKinley”) and political lessons can be discerned in “Shah of Shahs,” while “(A Child’s View of) The Eisenhower Years” provides a novel take on the long-gone 1950s. “Football Hero” recounts an aging soccer player’s greatest moments. “The Loneliest Place On The Map” turns the idyllic island escape on its head even as it offers Jimmy Buffett-like sea breezes. “Elvis at the Wheel” is haunted by hallucinations brought on by the Las Vegas Heat (or something more chemical).