To capitalise on Cat’s swift rise to stardom Deram rushed out a second album in 1967, New Masters. However, some artistic differences had begun to emerge between between Cat, who was starting to yearn for a simple acoustic sound and more artistic control over his career, and producer Mike Hurst, who wanted to push Cat as a pop crooner and who favoured the more lavish orchestral arrangements that characterise on the first two albums. New Masters features The First Cut is the Deepest which was a hit for P.P. Arnold in 1967 and would go on to become one of the seminal heartbreak songs of all time with notable covers by Rod Stewart, Sheryl Crow, and Keith Hampshire.
