🐂 Cat Stevens – Catch Bull at Four is the artist’s sixth studio album, released on 27 September 1972 by Island Records (UK) and A&M Records (US/Canada). The title references the fourth stage in the Ten Bulls of Zen, symbolizing spiritual awakening and self-realization—a theme woven throughout the album’s introspective lyrics and evolving sound.

📀 Album Details

• Label: Island Records / A&M Records

• Format: Vinyl LP, Gatefold Sleeve

• Genre: Folk Rock / Soft Rock

• Length: 39:40

• Producer: Paul Samwell-Smith

• Studios: The Manor (Oxfordshire), Château d'Hérouville (France), Morgan Studios (London)

• Certification: Platinum (US)

• Chart Performance:

  • #1 US Billboard 200 (3 weeks)

  • #1 Australia & Canada

  • #2 UK Albums Chart

🎶 Tracklist

Side One:

1. Sitting – 3:14

2. 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

Side Two:

6. 18th Avenue (Kansas City Nightmare) – 4:21

7. Freezing Steel – 3:40

8. O Caritas – 3:41

9. Sweet Scarlet – 3:49

10. Ruins – 4:241

Sitting and Can't Keep It In were released as singles, with Sitting reaching #16 on the Billboard Hot 100.

🎼 Musicians & Credits

• Cat Stevens – vocals, piano, guitars, mandolin, organ, percussion

• Alun Davies – acoustic & Spanish guitar, backing vocals

• Jean Roussel – piano, Hammond organ

• Gerry Conway – drums, percussion

• Alan James – bass

• Linda Lewis & Lauren Cooper – backing vocals on Angelsea

• Jeremy Taylor & Andreas Toumazis – co-writers and translators for O Caritas

• Del Newman – string arrangements

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

🌟 Legacy

• A sonic shift from Stevens’ earlier acoustic style, with more electric instrumentation, synths, and complex arrangements

• Themes of spirituality, environmental concern, and personal transformation