What is this, concept album week? Yesterday Bill Ziemer looked
\nat Queensryche’s opus
\nOperation: Mindcrime<\/i>; today, same idea, different group and
\nalbum.<\/p>\n
British group Jethro Tull’s first attempt at a concept album
\n(Ian Anderson has repeatedly said that
\nAqualung<\/i> was not a concept album), their 1972 effort
\nThick As A Brick<\/i> features some of the best performances this
\ngroup ever did – but they can only maintain that level of expertise
\nfor so long.<\/p>\n
The concept is that the song is based on a controversial poem by
\nchild prodigy Gerald Bostock (in reality written by Anderson). The
\ngroup carried the idea to a whole new level by designing the album
\njacket to resemble a 16-page newspaper. (Some may call this a
\nstroke of genius, others may see it as having way too much free
\ntime. You be the judge.)<\/p>\n
The album opens with a folky sound, featuring Anderson’s vocals,
\nacoustic guitar and flute, with just a touch of drums, bass and
\nelectric guitar. This movement is one of the best-known on the
\nalbum, having been featured on two of Tull’s best-of collections.
\nBut just when you think the album will feature the band delving
\ninto their folk roots (which they would do about five years later),
\nthe album explodes into a jazzy beat that is hypnotizing and
\nfrenzied. Martin Barre’s guitar work and John Evan’s keyboards
\nprovide a solid foundation for the band, with bassist Jeffrey
\nHammond-Hammond and drummer Barriemore Barlow rounding out the
\ntroupe.<\/p>\n
This is where it becomes difficult to review the album. Because
\nThick As A Brick<\/i> is essentially a two-sided song, it is hard
\nto determine criteria for judging the work. (Was that last portion
\nmovement seven, eight or twelve?) So, we’re left to see if the
\nwhole piece flows smoothly and does not become tiring to listen
\nto.<\/p>\n
And for the first side, the album succeeds. The different
\nmovements are solidly written and performed, and the side quickly
\npasses for the listener. However, the second side sounds more
\nforced than the first, possibly showing that Anderson and crew were
\nrunning out of ideas near the end. The first warning sign comes
\nwhen Barlow kicks into a mini-drum solo frenzy, backed by
\nAnderson’s flute and percussion. The second side should be
\napproached with caution.<\/p>\n
The experience obviously didn’t sour Jethro Tull on concept
\nalbums; they tried again the following year with
\nA Passion Play<\/i> – with disastrous results.<\/p>\n
\nThick As A Brick<\/i> is not an album that listeners will
\nimmediately warm up to. But if you give it several listens, you’ll
\nfind some of Jethro Tull’s best work – as well as some of their
\nweakest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5643],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-24291","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jethro-tull","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/24291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/24291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24291"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=24291"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=24291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}