Cat Stevens - Catch Bull at Four

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Music reviews of Catch Bull at Four

Music Review: Cat Stevens shifts toward prog-rock
Rating: 4 Stars

The usual remarks about the change in Cat Stevens's vocal style strike me as overstated. Yes, he gets pretty growly on much of this album, but he got pretty growly on some of his earlier songs too (like "Changes IV"); we just didn't notice because the songs were played on acoustic guitar rather than electric keyboards.

The latter point _is_ a key difference between his earlier work and this. Both the heavier reliance on keyboards and the shift toward somewhat "darker" themes are part of Cat's attempt to move away from the acoustic-troubador stereotype and show a bit more of his range.

I think he mostly succeeds, although I'm never going to like this stuff as well as I like, say, "Into White." On some of his later albums there are lots of false steps -- but this album is a pretty even collection of his harder-edged material.

Personal favorites (as usual, not the hits): the nightmarish "Eighteenth Avenue" and the haunting "Sweet Scarlet." (Yes, I like "The Boy with the Moon and Star on His Head," but his older acoustic stuff was better.) Also of interest: "Freezing Steel" marks his first (and last? I think so) recorded performance on electric guitar. (It's also, for whatever it's worth, his second song about UFOs, "Longer Boats" being the first.)

And here's a little history for the uninitiated:

"Cat Stevens" was the stage name of Steven Georgiou, who was born in the U.K. in 1949 of a Cypriot father and a Swedish mother. Something of a musical prodigy, he released his first two albums well before he was twenty years old as was on his way to becoming a "pop star." He then fell victim to a terrible case of tuberculosis. When he returned to singing and songwriting, he had taken a decidedly more reflective turn and found himself delivering absolutely beautiful stuff with no apparent commercial potential. That was fine with him; he was no longer particularly interested in commercial success. But, perhaps ironically, his delicate confessional songs and his deliberate avoidance of "commercial-ness" turned him into a huge international star.

Well, he eventually (1977) became a Muslim and adopted the name "Yusuf Islam" (after the biblical dream-interpreter Joseph). At about that time he also left the music industry. He has since recorded a couple of albums about Islam, but his last collection of commercial music was _Footsteps In The Dark_ (ostensibly a second volume of his "greatest hits," but in fact a set of lesser-known favorites and a handful of tunes not available elsewhere).

You can feel safe in ignoring the comments from people who think he has become "rigid" and/or "intolerant." The simple fact is that nearly every Cat Stevens album (the exceptions being his first two) is filled with "spiritual seeking," and he eventually found what he was looking for in Islam. His "recent" (actually, 1989-90) remarks on Salman Rushdie were not what you probably think they were (and in particular he didn't call for Rushdie's death). He's no more "rigid" or "intolerant" than the rest of us; he's simply a religiously observant Muslim, that's all. There's a problem here only for people who think seekers should never get around to finding, or that traditional religion is more "dogmatic" than irreligion.

His songs don't need to "transcend" their creator in order to be great; there's no need to run down Yusuf in order to elevate Cat. And since they _were_ written during his "seeker" stage, they're suitable for everybody -- future Muslims or not.

Description of Catch Bull at Four

Classic Rock CDs

• Music > Styles
• Folk
• Pop
• Rock