''Catch Bull at Four'' is the sixth studio album by

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and musician. He has sold more than 100 million records and has more than two billion st ...

. The title is taken from one of the Ten Bulls of Zen.zen, 10 bulls by Kakuan
/ref> In the United States the album spent three weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200. It also reached number one in Australia and Canada and became Stevens's second consecutive album to reach number two on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. The song "Sitting" was released as a single in July 1972, reaching 16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Critical reception

''Catch Bull at Four'' was well received both commercially and critically. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' was satisfied with the "gorgeous melody and orchestration", while simultaneously disappointed by the lack of a single track comparable to " Morning Has Broken" from '' Teaser and the Firecat''. ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' described "Sitting" as a "magnificently produced up tempo tune" that is "one of tevens'best."

Track listing

All songs written by

except as noted.

Side one

# "Sitting" – 3:14 # "Boy with a Moon & Star on His Head" – 5:57 # "Angelsea" – 4:30 # "Silent Sunlight" – 3:00 # "Can't Keep It In" – 2:59

Side two

"18th Avenue (Kansas City Nightmare)" – 4:21 # "Freezing Steel" – 3:40 # "O Caritas" (Andreas Toumazis,

Jeremy Taylor Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667) was a cleric in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He is sometimes known as the "Shakespeare of Divines" for his poetic style of expression, and he is fr ...

, Stevens) – 3:41 # "Sweet Scarlet" – 3:49 # "Ruins" – 4:24

Personnel

– lead and backing vocals, Grand piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano,

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from 1954 to 1983. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptually similar to ...

, RMI Electra piano, Böhm Diamond organ,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

, Spanish guitar,

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

electric mandolin The electric mandolin is an instrument tuned and played as the mandolin and amplified in similar fashion to an electric guitar. As with electric guitars, electric mandolins take many forms. Most common is a carved-top eight-string instrument fi ...

, pennywhistle, drums, percussion * Alun Davies – acoustic guitar, Spanish guitar, backing vocals *

– Spanish guitar, (assisted in translating "O' Caritas" into the

Latin language Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

used in the song).Connolly, Dav
Review and Information regarding ''Catch Bull At Four''
/ref> *Andreas Toumazis –

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', , from Greek , from Turkish ) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq), Europe and Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey). It is a member of the long-necked lute fam ...

on "O Caritas" *Alan James –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

* Jean Roussel –

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

Electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

Gerry Conway Gerard Francis Conway Thomas, Roy. "Roy's Rostrum" (" Bullpen Bulletins") in '' Marvel Super-Heroes'' #43 and other Marvel Comics cover-dated May 1974. (born September 10, 1952) is an American comic book writer, comic book editor, science ficti ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

*C.S. Choir – backing vocals on "Freezing Steel" and "O Caritas" * Linda Lewis – backing vocals on "Angelsea" *Lauren Cooper – backing vocals on "Angelsea" * Del Newman –

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

arrangements In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing Composition (music), composition. Differences from the original composition may include Harmony (music), reharmonization, Musical phrasing, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or M ...

Production *

Paul Samwell-Smith Paul Granville Samwell-Smith (born Paul G. Smith, 8 May 1943, in Brentford, West London, England) is an English musician and record producer. He was a founding member and the bassist of the 1960s English rock band the Yardbirds, which launched ...

- producer

Chart positions

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

}

References

External links

Album detailsAlbum information
at catstevens.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catch Bull at Four Cat Stevens albums 1972 albums Albums produced by Paul Samwell-Smith Island Records albums A&M Records albums Albums recorded at Morgan Sound Studios Albums recorded in a home studio