Stephen Holden, reviewing Catch Bull At Four for Rolling Stone, wrote that it was “impeccably produced. Its musical contents are like those of Teaser and the Firecat — simple, short-phrased melodies and spare and vibrant arrangements. There are, however, notable differences between Catch Bull and its predecessor. The instrumental repertoire has been widened somewhat: three cuts make minimal use of a synthesizer, and on four cuts Cat plays piano. The result is a definite relaxation from the rigorous simplicity of Teaser.” Les 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 is impeccably produced. Its musical contents are like those of Teaser and the Firecat—simple, short-phrased melodies and spare and vibrant arrangements. There are, however, notable differences between Catch Bull and its predecessor. The instrumental repertoire has been widened somewhat: three cuts make minimal use of a synthesizer, and on four cuts Cat plays piano. The result is a definite relaxation from the rigorous simplicity of Teaser—a simplicity that, for me, was just one step away from monotony, especially since it underscored the shallowness of Cat's appealing but essentially frivolous, unfocused lyrics. Happily, the greatest difference between Teaser and Catch Bull lies in the lyric themes of the songs. Though some of the lyrics retain Cat's fanciful imagery—word poems so dreamily obscure as to defy interpretation—he shows a new emotional directness, especially on side two, the album's "down" side. This is reflected in Cat's singing, which becomes more assured and more emotive with each album. Alas, what is missing throughout Catch Bull is any single tune with the distinction and sweeping grace of "Morning Has Broken," the most memorable cut on Teaser.

Cat Stevens’ 1972 album, Catch Bull At Four, is getting a newly remastered edition for its 50th anniversary. The title, which marked the singer-songwriter’s most successful chart album, is available on vinyl for the first time since its original release. Catch Bull At Four, which includes such favorites as “Sitting” and “Can’t Keep It In,” has also returned to CD for the first time since its reissue in 2000 and the new remaster is also available for streaming in both standard and stunning hi-resolution audio. All formats were released Dec. 2, 2022, via A&M/UMe. The title follows the expanded 50th anniversary editions of Yusuf / Cat Stevens’ seminal albums Mona Bone Jakon, Tea for the Tillerman, and Teaser and the Firecat. allmusic ((( Catch Bull at Four > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com . Retrieved 24 February 2012. Matrix / Runout (Variant 8): [Universal logo]x4 07314 546 886-2 02 ✷ 51045664 MADE IN GERMANY BY EDC C The album was recorded in May, 1972 at The Manor Studio, Oxfordshire; Château d'Hérouville, Hérouville, France, and Morgan Studios, London Matrix / Runout (Variant 9): [Universal logo x 4] 07314 546 886-2 03 + 51045664 MADE BY GERMANY BY EDC G

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Matrix / Runout (Variant 7): [Universal logo]x4 07314 546 886-2 02 ✷ 51045664 Made in Germany by EDC B InfoDisc: Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste: Cat Stevens". infodisc.fr. Archived from the original on 6 May 2013 . Retrieved 24 February 2012. Note: user must select 'Cat STEVENS' from drop-down The Official Charts Company – Cat Stevens – Catch Bull at Four" (PHP). Official Charts Company . Retrieved 24 February 2012. 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. Feel free to give your general thoughts on the album! I'd also appreciate any help posting pics of the album or related materials.

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.” 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. 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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. Side two contains the meat of the album. The mood here is of pessimism, terror, apocalyptic foreboding, a region of Cat's personality that we have not been shown so directly before, and his success in revealing it describes a very promising avenue for future artistic exploration. "18th Avenue (Kansas City Nightmare)," the opener, is the album's most ambitious cut and in every way its best. A vision of insanity and physical and mental deterioration, it accumulates the specific but disjunctive images of a nightmare that makes no literal sense other than forcefully embodying a premonition of metaphysical collapse. The music is also disjunctive, but brilliantly so. In the cut's extended instrumental break, Bel Newman contributes one of his best string arrangements ever, and there is stunning percussion work by Cat and Gerry Conway.

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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 1972, reaching 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. 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.)