Catch Bull at Four

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Catch Bull at Four
Studio album by Cat Stevens (now Yusuf)

Publication
(s)

1972

Label (s) Island Records / A&M Records

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

pop

Title (number)

10

running time

39:40 (LP / CD)

occupation
  • Cat Stevens - Spanish Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Electric Mandolin, Piano, Electric Piano, Boehm Diamond Organ, RMI Keyboard, Synthesizer, Drums, Percussion, Vocals, Backing Vocals
  • Alun Davies - acoustic guitar, Spanish guitar, backing vocals
  • Jean Roussel - piano, organ
  • Alan James - bass, backing vocals
  • Del Newman - string arrangement
  • CS Choir - choral singing

production

Paul Samwell-Smith

Studio (s)

Manor, Oxfordshire; Chateau d'Herouville, Paris, France; Morgan Studios, London

chronology
Teaser and the Firecat
(1971) 		Catch Bull at Four Foreigner
(1973)

Catch Bull at Four is the sixth studio album by the singer and songwriter Cat Stevens and was released in 1972.

history

The sixth album by Cat Stevens (now Yusuf) was released in September 1972. The album continued the commercial success of the last two LPs, so it reached first place in the American charts, which it held for three weeks, the album recorded 48 weeks in the album charts. In Great Britain the album reached number 2 and stayed in the top 10 of the album charts for 20 weeks. In the Federal Republic of Germany the album landed at number 17. In Great Britain Can't Keep It In and in the USA Sitting as Single decoupled. The single Sitting reached number 16 in the US charts.

Cat Stevens first used a synthesizer ; Overall, the sound of the album was produced less acoustically than the two previous albums ( Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat ). The title Catch Bull at Four refers to the "Ten Levels of Enlightenment" of Zen Buddhism , the fourth level being "Catch the Bull". Stevens saw the album as his fourth, not counting his first two on Deram Records.

Robert Christgau writes in his review of the album that he was initially impressed by the metaphor of the lyrics, but that on closer inspection, weaknesses in the rhymes would appear and the linguistic images of the lyric poetry of the Elizabethan age would be imitated too much . Finally he gives Stevens some advice: "Forget it, Cat."

The album was re-released in 2000 in a version remastered by Ted Jensen.

Track list

All songs (except O 'Caritas ) were written by Cat Stevens.

  1. Sitting - 3:14
  2. The Boy with a Moon & Star on His Head - 5:57
  3. Angelsea - 4:30
  4. Silent Sunlight - 3:00
  5. Can't Keep It In - 2:59
  6. 18th Avenue (Kansas City Nightmare) - 4:21
  7. Freezing Steel - 3:40
  8. O 'Caritas (Andreas Toumazis, Jeremy Taylor, Stevens) - 3:41
  9. Sweet Scarlet - 3:49
  10. Ruins - 4:24

Web links

Catch Bull at Four on Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ US catalog number: A&M 4365. Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Albums 1955-1996 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1996, p. 744
  2. ↑ Ehnert, Günter (Ed.): Hit Records. British Chart LPs 1962-1986 . Hamburg: Taurus Press, 1987, p. 118
  3. ↑ GB order number: Island WIP 6152. The single reached number 13. Rice, Jo / Rice, Tim / Gambacini, Paul / Read, Mike: The Guinness Book Of The Hits Of The 70s . London: Guinness Superlatives Ltd., 1980, p. 160
  4. ^ US catalog number: A&M 1396. Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1994, p. 571
  5. ^ Christgau, Robert: Rock Albums Of The 70s. A critical guide . New York City, New York: Da Capo Press Inc., 1981, p. 372