Cat Stevens sixth album ‘Catch Bull At Four’ turned 50 in September and a 50th anniversary edition will be released in December.
The album found Cat Stevens reuniting with producer (and former Yardbird) Paul Samwell-Smith and guitarist Alun Davies, who collaborated with the artist on his previous three records. Joining them in the studio was drummer Gerry Conway, who appeared on Teaser and the Firecat, plus bassist Alan James, and keyboardist Jean Roussel.
‘Catch Bull At Four’ was a number one album in Australia and the USA and reached no 2 in the UK. The title came from one of the Ten Bulls of Zen, a Chinese series of poems and drawing to describe the progress to enlightenment.
Four ‘Catching The Bull’ reads,
I seize him with a terrific struggle.
His great will and power
are inexhaustible.
He charges to the high plateau
far above the cloud-mists,
Or in an impenetrable ravine he stands.
‘Catch Bull of Four’ followed ‘Teaser and the Firecat’ in 1971and ‘Tea For The Tillerman’ in 1970 but unlike the two predecessors, ‘Catch Bull At Four’ didn’t generate any hit singles although the tracks ‘’Sitting’ and ‘Can’t Keep It In’ received airplay at the time.
CATCH BULL AT FOUR
1LP 50th ANNIVERSARY REMASTER
Side A
1. Sitting
2. Boy with a Moon & Star on His Head
3. Angelsea
4. Silent Sunlight
5. Can’t Keep It In
Side B
1. 18th Avenue (Kansas City Nightmare)
2. Freezing Steel
3. O’Caritas
4. Sweet Scarlet
5. Ruins
50th ANNIVERSARY REMASTER (1CD, 24bit/96kHz Hi-Res Digital, Standard Digital)
1. Sitting
2. Boy with a Moon & Star on His Head
3. Angelsea
4. Silent Sunlight
5. Can’t Keep It In
6. 18th Avenue (Kansas City Nightmare)
7. Freezing Steel
8. O’Caritas
9. Sweet Scarlet
10. Ruins
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