''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 multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later in ...

. 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 a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. 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, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' was satisfied with the "gorgeous melody and orchestration", while simultaneously disappointed by the lack of a single track comparable to "

Morning Has Broken "Morning Has Broken" is a Christian hymn first published in 1931. It has words by English author Eleanor Farjeon and was inspired by the village of Alfriston in East Sussex, then set to a traditional Scottish Gaelic tune, "Bunessan". It is often ...

" from ''

Teaser and the Firecat ''Teaser and the Firecat'' is the fifth studio album by Cat Stevens, released in October 1971. At the Australian 1972 King of Pop Awards the album won Biggest Selling LP. Overview The album contains 10 songs, including the hits " Morning Has ...

''.

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 the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptua ...

RMI Electra piano Rocky Mount Instruments (RMI) was a subsidiary of the Allen Organ Company, based in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, active from 1966 to 1982. The company was formed to produce portable musical instruments, and manufactured several electronic piano ...

, Böhm Diamond organ,

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

, 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 amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

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 fit ...

pennywhistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...

, 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 a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

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

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

on "O Caritas" *Alan James – bass,

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 use ...

Jean Roussel Jean Alain Roussel (born 1951 in Port Louis, Mauritius) is a Musician, Composer, Record Producer, Arranger, Educator and 'Music and Life Coach'. He is best known for keyboard work from the 1970s through today, playing regularly with Cat Stev ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

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

Electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

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, screenwriter, t ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

*C.S. Choir – backing vocals on "Freezing Steel" and "O Caritas" *

Linda Lewis Linda Ann Fredericks (born 27 September 1950), better known as Linda Lewis, is an English vocalist, songwriter and guitarist. She is the eldest of six children, three of whom also had singing careers. She is best known for the singles "Rock-a- ...

– backing vocals on "Angelsea" *Lauren Cooper – backing vocals on "Angelsea" *

Del Newman Derrick Martin "Del" Newman (5 October 1930 – 10 August 2020) was a British conductor, orchestral arranger and music producer. His orchestral arrangements appeared on songs by many rock and pop artists from the 1960s to the 1990s, including Ca ...

– string

arrangements In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

Production *

Paul Samwell-Smith Paul Granville Samwell-Smith (born Paul Smith, 8 May 1943, in Richmond, Surrey, 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 leading g ...

- producer

Chart positions

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

}

External links

Album detailsAlbum information
at catstevens.com

References

{{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