Nineteen seventy-one is probably best known (musically speaking)
\nfor the release of three magnum opuses (opi?) by three of the
\ngreatest rock and roll bands ever to grace vinyl. They are, of
\ncourse, Led Zeppelin’s
\nIV<\/i>, Black Sabbath’s
\nParanoid<\/i>, and Jethro Tull’s
\nAqualung<\/i>. The former two are probably the most famous, yet,
\nin my honest opinion, Aqualung is head and shoulders above them
\nboth.<\/p>\n
This would be Tull’s breakout album. They had gained a fairly
\nlarge following in Britain with their three previous releases,
\nThis Was<\/i> in 1968,
\nStand Up<\/i> in 1969, and
\nBenefit<\/i> in 1970. However, with the release of
\nAqualung<\/i>, they would explode into the rock scene, not only
\nin their native England, but also into North America.<\/p>\n
The album starts off with probably one of the most renowned
\nprog-rock anthems of all time, the title track. The musical
\ncomposition is simply astounding here. It shifts from balls-out
\nrock, to a more placid pop sound, to speedy, melodic rock, and
\nfollowed up with one of the greatest guitar solos in musical
\nhistory. In all, the album starts off with one of the pinnacles in
\nrock and roll.<\/p>\n
Anderson and co. had a very obvious message on this album. They
\nbelieved in the Christian God, but were not for the church. This is
\nvery apparent on such songs as “My God,” “Hymn 43” and “Wind Up.”
\nThe album seems to be divided into two separate parts. My
\nunderstanding (which isn’t a lot) is that the first half is devoted
\nto the
\nAqualung<\/i>, a fictitious group of people made up by Anderson,
\nand his quest for love; while the second half is all about the
\nfaults of the church.<\/p>\n
Definitely one of the best aspects of this album (and there are
\na lot) is the trademark flute. Some of Anderson’s best passages
\nwould be on this album, seen in tracks like “Cross-Eyed Mary,”
\n“Mother Goose” and “My God.”<\/p>\n
To me, every song on the album is brilliant in its own way, but
\nthere are highlights even among them. Track seven, the epic “My
\nGod,” starts out with a haunting acoustic guitar line, followed
\nwith Anderson’s dark and mysterious singing. It rapidly builds up,
\nand then takes the listener onto a wild, twisting ride, filled with
\nchorus backgrounds and flute solos aplenty.<\/p>\n
However, the absolute best moment on this album would be track
\nten, “Locomotive Breath,” which begins with a jazzy little piano
\nintro. What follows is probably one of the best rock songs to date.
\nThe memorable palm-muted riff, Anderson’s fantastic singing, and
\nsome of the greatest lyrics ever (okay, now I’m just being biased,
\nbut who doesn’t get a goosebumps every time you hear “In the
\nshuffling madness\/of the Locomotive Breath\u2026”?) make this
\nsong a pure, undiluted masterpiece.<\/p>\n
The album then winds down with the last track, ironically titled
\n“Wind Up.” It’s another classic tune that starts out slow, builds
\nup momentum, and then slows down once more.<\/p>\n
In the 1996 re-release (which I have), there are a nice couple
\nof bonuses on the album. They include a nice prog track called
\n“Lick Your Fingers Clean,” a polished and better-sounding version
\nof the
\nThis Was<\/i> hit “A Song for Jeffery,” and an interview with Ian
\nAnderson on the making of and his thoughts on
\nAqualung<\/i>. The only extra track that I find unnecessary is a
\npoorer-quality version of “Wind Up.”<\/p>\n
To me, as well as tens of thousands of others, this is Tull’s
\nbest album. While they would come close to it a couple other times
\n(
\nThick As A Brick<\/i> and
\nMinstrel In The Gallery<\/i>), they would never quite top this
\nalbum, which is arguably the best album of the 70s, and also one of
\nthe best albums ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":26750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5643],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-38015","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jethro-tull","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38015","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\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38015"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}