Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ Seminal ‘Catch Bull At Four’ For 50th Anniversary Editions

Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ hugely significant, chart-topping 1972 album Catch Bull At Four will be released in a newly remastered 50th anniversary edition on December 2.

Shop the best of Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ discography on vinyl and more.

A&M/UMe will present the landmark, platinum-selling record on vinyl for the first time since its original release, on both 180 gram black vinyl and limited edition 180-gram orange vinyl, which will be available exclusively on CatStevens.com, uDiscover Music and Sound Of Vinyl. The new remaster will also be available for streaming in both standard and hi-resolution audio, and makes its return to the CD format for the first time since its 2000 reissue.

The release follows the 50th anniversary editions of the quintessential singer-songwriter’s seminal albums Mona Bone Jakon, Tea for the Tillerman, and Teaser and the Firecat. “Contrary to the spiritual nature and theme of the album, Catch Bull At Four went straight to number one and became one of my biggest commercial accomplishments,” says Yusuf/Cat Stevens. “It was scary! I feared it would divert me from my spiritual goal. That’s precisely why I followed it up with an album called Foreigner, which would sacrifice my newly acquired crown for a welcome return to obscurity.”

Catch Bull At Four, first released in the fall of 1972, was Stevens’ sixth studio album and fourth on Island Records (A&M in the US) following 1970’s Mona Bone Jakon and Tea for the Tillerman and 1971’s Teaser and the Firecat. As he joined the vanguard of British artists around the world, his album successes were augmented by a string of hit singles including “Father and Son,” “Wild World,” “Where Do The Children Play?”, “Morning Has Broken,” and “Peace Train.”

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.

The album’s title was inspired by Kuòān Shīyuǎn’s series of short poems “Ten Bulls of Zen,” in which the protagonist sets out in search of a bull, catches and tames him, and, through the experience, finds enlightenment. It reflected the artist’s own search for spiritual enlightenment, after the near-fatal case of tuberculosis that followed his initial success as a 1960s pop star. He began to embrace a stripped-down, folk-rock aesthetic, with increasingly reflective and poetic lyrics.

Catch Bull At Four represented a new creative chapter, with lyrics addressing Stevens’ attempts to come to terms with his fame. The opening track “Sitting,” for example, described that dilemma, as he reflected: “Sitting on my own not by myself/Everybody’s here with me/I don’t need to touch your face to know/And I don’t need to use my eyes to see.” He goes on: “Bleeding half my soul in bad company/I thank the moon I had the strength to stop.”

Catch Bull At Four became Stevens’ first US No.1 album, leading the charts for three weeks and winning platinum certification. It also topped the bestsellers in Canada and Australia and peaked at No.2 in the UK “Sitting” was a Top 20 hit in the US, while “Can’t Keep It In” reached No.13 in the UK.

The original stereo production tapes have been digitally remastered at 24bit/96kHz by Mazen Murad. The 180 gram LP edition is housed in a gatefold jacket, with newly-restored artwork and the CD format includes a new 16-page booklet with photos and press clippings from the era, as well as lyrics.

Pre-order the 50th anniversary editions of Catch Bull At Four, which are released on December 2.

The full tracklist is:

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