This is my favorite Cat Stevens album, and in many ways his best. Fresh on the heels of Tea for the Tillerman (1970) and Teaser and the Firecat (1971), Catch Bull at Four was Stevens' first No. 1 album--although it produced only two hit singles: "Sitting" (No. 16) in the U.S. and "Can't Keep It In" (No. 13) in the U.K. [Both of these songs and 18 others are included on the recent The Very Best of Cat Stevens.]

Stevens was still writing lovely melodies, but unlike the preceeding albums his vocals would at times take on a rougher edge, especially on "Can't Keep It In." He was also broadening his musical palette by playing mandolin and keyboards as well as guitar. In addition, he recorded the album with the help of Alun Davies (guitar), Jean Roussel (piano, organ), Alan James (bass) and Gerry Conway (drums). Other standout tracks include "18th Avenue" and the mystical "Boy with a Moon and Star on His Head."

This album contains all the elements that made his previous two albums so successful--good songwriting and the ability to connect personally with his fans through his music. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

If you like Cat Stevens, you can't NOT like this album. If you liked his "Tea for the Tillerman" (TFTT) and/or the "Buddha and the Chocolate Box" (BATCB) albums, then you will be pleasantly blown away by "Catch Bull at Four". The first song, "Sitting", is one of those introspective raw human feeling and interaction songs. You will like it if you liked songs of a similar vein, such as "Father & Son" (from TFTT) or "Oh Very Young" (from BATCB). "Angelsea" has that same light hearted charm tempo as "Longer Boats" (TFTT). "Can't Keep It In", which I feel is the best and most musically powerful song on the album, has the strong, positive, up tempo, thigh slapping and toe tapping beats of "Music" and "Sun 79", both from BATCB. I especially enjoy "The Boy With Moon & Stars On His Head". The Buddhist imagery in the lyrics is superb and the storyline is very "spiritual free love" oriented. If you like songs that sort of tell a story, this is a good one. I could go on and on, as every song on this album is fantastic. It's classic Cat. "Catch Bull at Four" is a fantastic choice for any Cat fan, or even for any fan of the general era. Cat is in a class by himself.

It is unfortunate that many reviewers of `Catch bull at four' have tended to regard it as a poorer quality album than its two predecessors `Tea for the tillerman' and `Teaser and the Firecat'. I feel that this does the album a great injustice; no artist should be expected to remain unchanging in style, and if he had simply stayed with a winning formula after the success of `Teaser' Cat Stevens could rightly have been criticized. However, Stevens demonstrated integrity and vision throughout the early years of the 1970s, with each of his first five Island Records albums showing a clear progression and artistic development, even if on occasions (perhaps most notably `Foreigner') this was not always commercially successful.

After achieving a very focused and concise style on `Teaser', Cat Stevens understandably wanted to experiment with more unusual song structures and ambitious arrangements, and the result is a somewhat more stylistically diverse album than its predecessors. As a result it is, if anything, a stronger, more musically satisfying album, and includes new elements such as electric guitar, synthesizer, female backing vocalists and the accomplished keyboard work of Jean Roussel. At the same time, the album retains much of what made Cat's earlier work appealing, and also includes the welcome re-appearance of the bouzouki to add its distinctive sound to `O Caritas'.

The mood of the album is at times somber, reflecting Stevens' continuing spiritual pilgrimage at this time, and his deep feelings perhaps show through most in the opening track `Sitting' and the bleak closing song `Ruins'. Though there are a couple of weaker tracks (such as `Boy...' which has a pleasant arrangements but a rather tedious, over-long lyric, and `Angelsea' which is perhaps too dominated by synthesizer sounds), these can be appreciated as valid musical experiments, and are more than compensated for by other very appealing up-tempo tracks (such as `Sitting', `Can't keep it in' and `O Caritas'). The album contains several lovely ballads, such as `Sweet scarlet' and the madrigal-like `Silent sunlight', whilst the more complex song structure of `18th avenue', with its orchestral interlude and changing rhythms, hints at the direction Cat would take with his next album `Foreigner'. The whole package is enhanced by the crystal clear remastering, and restoration of the stylish original album artwork. Altogether, `Catch bull at four' can be regarded as a very satisfying album which, along with `Tillerman' and `Teaser' ranks among Cat Stevens' best work.

When I was 13 my Dad's friend Terry Crenshaw hired me to work on his gillnetter in Alaska. We would pick up groceries then go out fishing in remote areas, just the two of us, for 3 day stretches every week, working 'round the clock. The boat had an 8 track player with speakers in the cabin and on deck, but Terry had only two cassettes -- one I don't remember a thing about -- and "Catch Bull at 4." They got equal time, but I swear that one or the other was almost always playing. I learned all the words to Catch Bull at 4, and Terry and I used to sing along to our favorite parts. Then he would laugh and say "we need some new tapes on this boat." The other tape was filler in between each two or three cycle session of Catch bull at 4.
The thing is, if you just listen to it, and don't analyze it or compare it to "Teaser and the firecat" or whatever (give me a break) it will move you. If you listen to it a few hundred times you will find that first one song, then another, then another, is your favorite -- until they are all good. This album is on my all time top ten list. It can be appreciated as a period piece, 70's fluff, or as a collection of ballads that mean whatever you want them to mean. In 1973 I wanted them to mean that Terry and I were pals and always would be, and that someday I would be as cool as he was. None of those wishes came true, but whenever I hear a song from this album I can see us on the boat, having fun not catching any fish.

Originally released in 1972, this was Cat Stevens' sixth album and it was his most commercially successful. It's a very good CD and it certainly deserved its success. That success came in part from the merits of this album but also because it followed on from Tea For the Tiller Man and Teaser and the Firecat which had both been very well received.

Fans can argue long and hard over the merits of the three albums but the truth is that, whichever is the best, they are all very fine indeed and together they represent the peak of the artist's output. Catch Bull at Four has a harder edge than the other two. It is most noticable in the vocals and lyrics but the music too is a little heavier.

The best known song on the album is "Can't Keep It In" but that is mostly because it is the easiest one to play on the radio as it is catchy and sticks in the mind. For me, the highlight of the CD is "The Boy With The Moon And Star On His Head" a lyrical and romantic fantasy that is as good as anything else that Cat Stevens has ever recorded. It deserves a place alongside the finest English folk ballads from the days of "Greensleeves" and John Dowland.

Highlighting any of the songs on this CD means not mentioning others and that is sure to do an injustice to many songs. Everything here is memorable and distinctive and the only answer is to buy the CD, concentrate on the songs and appreciate one of the true highlights of seventies music.