Jethro Tull was caught in a bit of a maelstrom by the time
\nWar Child<\/i> came out in 1974. Having survived the critical
\ndrubbing their last album
\nA Passion Play<\/i> took and the rumor that Ian Anderson was so
\nupset with the response to the disc that he disbanded Tull (only to
\nreform the next day), Anderson faced a tough choice. Record a
\nstraight-out album or try another concept piece?<\/p>\n
In truth,
\nWar Child<\/i> was supposed to be a soundtrack to a movie — in
\nessence, becoming the third concept piece in a row for Jethro Tull
\n— but the bottom eventually fell out of that plan. In its place
\ncame this album, complete with scraps from the infamous “Chateau
\nD’Isaster” sessions. If only this album had enough firepower to
\npropel it.<\/p>\n
Make no mistake, Anderson and crew do come up with some classic
\nmaterial on this album (which was re-mastered and released in an
\nexpanded edition in 2002; I’m working with the original album,
\ncheapskate that I am). To this day, “Skating Away (On The Thin Ice
\nOf A New Day)” remains one of my favorite songs. From its simple
\nopening of Anderson’s vocals and acoustic guitar, the
\ninstrumentation slowly is layered in, almost as if the band were
\njoining in an informal jam session. It’s quirky but upbeat, and is
\nstill one of Jethro Tull’s best recorded moments — interestingly
\nenough, it’s also one of three songs from the “Chateau D’Isaster”
\nsessions.<\/p>\n
And while “Bungle In The Jungle” has become a bit overplayed
\nthanks to the tunnel vision of classic rock stations across
\nAmerica, it still is a somewhat enjoyable track, especially when
\nheard in its own natural environment. (Insert your
\nWild Kingdom<\/i> joke here.) In fact, it sometimes feels like
\nthe whole second half of
\nWar Child<\/i> is infallible, what with the classic tracks”The
\nThird Hoorah” (which has the feel of an Irish jig to it) and “Two
\nFingers” livening things up.<\/p>\n
It is the first half of
\nWar Child<\/i>, though, that is the most difficult to get
\nthrough, and seems to be the most bogged down in any plot. The
\ntitle track is decent enough, I will admit, but things nosedive
\nquickly from there. “Queen And Country” almost sounds like Anderson
\nand crew are trying too hard to write a rock-oriented song, while
\ntracks such as “Ladies” and “Back Door Angels” don’t quite seem
\nlike they know what genre they should be in or what they’re
\nsupposed to be about. And let’s not get into the absolute silliness
\nof “Sealion.”<\/p>\n
Maybe – just maybe – some of these tracks would have made more
\nsense had
\nWar Child<\/i> been made into the movie it was supposed to be.
\nBut while there are some definite moments on this disc which show
\nthat Jethro Tull was still a force to be dealt with,
\nWar Child<\/i> remains a disc which is very hit or miss, despite
\nsounding remarkably fresh 30 years after it was released.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5643],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-37875","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jethro-tull","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37875","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=37875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37875"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}