We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
1972 saw singer-songwriter Cat Stevens bring forth another record that his fans sent to #1 on the charts. That it wasnt as strong as Teaser & The Firecat or Tea For The Tillerman didn’t seem to matter although you could sense, if you listen close to the songs that Stevens himself, was getting a bit disaffected with the life of a pop star.
“Catch Bull At Four” doesn have many hits. Only “Sitting” hit the charts and for me, it’s as solid a song as some of his past, best work.
Some of the other highlights include “Angelsea” and “Can’t Keep It In” which feature some great music and the tale of “The Boy with a Moon & Star on his Head” which tells an interesting story and features some quality acoustic guitar work.
The band is led by his long-time collaborator Alun Davies along with Jeremy Taylor, Alan James, Jean Roussel, Gerry Conway and Andreas Toumazis.
Stevens himself is listed as playing 14 different instruments including six different keyboards and five different stringed instruments.
The surprise of the record lands on side 2. It’s a rousing tune called “O Caritas”, sung partly in Latin and led by some sterling Spanish guitar from Taylor and bouzouki from Toumazis who both were co-writers on the song with Stevens.
He still had some interesting albums coming up in the next few years, but you could tell, if you listened closely, that he yearned for something different.
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