Catch Bull at Four

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All told, I think that Catch Bull At Four is more interesting than Teaser, though tune for tune it is far less memorable. With Mona Bone Jakon and Tea for the Tillerman I was content to bask in gorgeous melody and orchestration. The economy and simplicity of Teaser I admired more than I liked. But what could come next, if Cat continued in this direction? Though Catch Bull doesn't answer this question definitively, I think it represents Cat's challenge to himself to transcend poetic eccentricity and come out front with a clearer, more unified, more emotionally direct expression of what he is about. I hope he continues to wrestle with this challenge, even if its outcome is more truth and less beauty. amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br 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The album’s title derives from Kuòān Shīyuǎn’s Ten Bulls, a narrative representing the ten stages of Zen enlightenment. This clearly speaks to Cat’s sense of the progress he was making upon his own inner journey, which in many ways was at odds with the album’s tremendous commercial success.

Cat Stevens, today known as Yusuf, marked the 50th anniversary of his first three Island/A&M albums (1970's Mona Bone Jakon and Tea for the Tillerman, and 1971's Teaser and the Firecat) with a variety of releases including expansive super deluxe box sets. For 1972's Catch Bull at Four, the troubadour is taking a distinctly slimmed-down approach. On December 2, Island and A&M will reissue Stevens' classic album on CD, LP, and digitally, newly remastered from the original tapes but with no additional material. a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. The tone of side one is tentatively happy. It begins with "Sitting," which has Cat on piano and electric mandolin, and Davies on guitar. The song's circular melodic patterns aptly express a resigned but not hopeless personal philosophy: "Just keep on pushing hard, boy, try as you may/You're going to wind up where you started from.""The Boy with the Moon and Star on His Head" is a silly narrative "legend," styled after a typical "olde" English country ballad, about a luminescent illegitimate "love child.""Angelsea,""Silent Sunlight," and "Can't Keep It In" are celebratory meditations, the first two carrying Cat's elusive, sometimes shimmering visual imagery. Sound effects—muted synthesizer on "Angelsea" and penny whistle on "Silent Sunlight"—are used with delicacy and taste. "Can't Keep It In," the most openly joyous cut, fittingly closes the side. The propulsive energy generated by Stevens' and Davies' dual acoustic guitars is considerable, as Cat sings his outbursting message with infectious gusto. Matrix / Runout (Variant 7): [Universal logo]x4 07314 546 886-2 02 ✷ 51045664 Made in Germany by EDC BLes Albums (CD) de 1972 par InfoDisc" (in French). infodisc.fr. Archived from the original (PHP) on 9 February 2012 . Retrieved 11 February 2012.

Catch Bull at Four is the sixth studio album by Cat Stevens. The title is taken from one of the Ten Bulls of Zen (a series of short poems and accompanying drawings used in the Zen tradition to describe the stages of a practitioner's progress toward enlightenment, and their return to society to enact wisdom and compassion.) Joining him again, as on the previous three LPs, were producer, and former member of the Yardbirds, Paul Samwell-Smith and guitarist Alun Davies. The studio band also featured drummer Gerry Conway, who played on Teaser and the Firecat, bassist Alan James, and keyboardist Jean Roussel. Matrix / Runout (Variant 9): [Universal logo x 4] 07314 546 886-2 03 + 51045664 MADE BY GERMANY BY EDC G Fans also speak with great fondness of the simple, acoustic tale of “Boy with a Moon & Star on His Head,” in which the truth is spoken by the child, not the adults. “Children are closer to it, whatever it is, that we are from,” Stevens mused to Rolling Stone the following year. “I hate it when they are ruined by things like fashion.”Pennanen, Timo (2021). "Cat STEVENS". Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p.246 . Retrieved 15 June 2022.

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 song "Sitting" was released as a single in July 1972, reaching 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. allmusic ((( Catch Bull at Four > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com . Retrieved 24 February 2012. Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. Feel free to give your general thoughts on the album! I'd also appreciate any help posting pics of the album or related materials.Simultaneous with the release of Cat Stevens' new album on A&M;, Columbia has released a pleasing first solo effort by Alun Davies, second guitarist on Cat's records from Mona Bone Jakon on. Matrix / Runout (Variant 8): [Universal logo]x4 07314 546 886-2 02 ✷ 51045664 MADE IN GERMANY BY EDC C