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According to the press release:

Last Days Of The Century follows the metaphysical path that Al Stewart forged in 1973, with the release of Past Present And Future, that dealt with such topics as the prophesies of Nostradamus and the First World War. His lyrics show a conscious desire to translate literature into a musical form.

"I'm more of a folk rock historian," notes Stewart. "Last Days Of The Century" came about from reading a lot of Barbara Tuckman, specifically 'A Distant Mirror'. She was making a comparison between the calamitous 14th century and the 20th century." While Stewart agrees that the new album is the best work he has compiled in a while, he sees it as a throwback to one of his most popular efforts.

"Last Days Of The Century reminds me of Year Of The Cat, basically because it's more of a bright album, with more of an up-tempo feel to it," says Stewart. "In the way that Year Of The Cat didn't have a central theme, it dealt with the usual historical things like Lord Grenville and On The Border, this one does the same thing. The only difference that's happened in the last ten years is that I've become more geographical because there is a woeful lack of supplying information on it in the American education system."

While Past Present And Future remains a favourite of Stewart's faithful followers, he is a bit leery of how the general public would accept a sequel "Eventually I guess I'll go back and do Past Present And Future, Part II. I have accumulated enough historical material."

Audio CD 29 September, 1997