Of the many prog-rock albums that are out there, few of them are
\nas well-renowned, as unique, or as flat-out good as Jethro Tull’s
\n1972 follow-up to the wildly successful
\nAqualung<\/i>.
\nThick As A Brick<\/i> is different from most because the entire
\nthing, clocking in at about 43:36, is just one song. Because of the
\nsuccess of the aforementioned album,
\nThick As A Brick<\/i> was able to catapult its way to No.1 on the
\nU.S. charts, solidifying Tull’s position as a rock giant for
\nseveral years to come. But beneath its commercial success is an
\nalbum lyrically, structurally, and musically complex and
\nbrilliant.<\/p>\n
To me, the high point of this album is its opening. A great folk
\nriff plays in the background to a stunning vocal performance by
\nAnderson that’s extremely catchy, and will stay stuck in your head
\nfor days.<\/p>\n
However, instead of continuing on a folky path, the album
\nexplodes into one that leads the listener down several different
\nmusical paths. At times it can be super-jazzy and lively, at other
\ntimes soft and slow, and at others a culmination of the two. Flute
\npassages permeate the album, making it all that much more
\nenjoyable, as is Martin Barre’s guitar licks, which, as usual,
\nnever fail to disappoint.<\/p>\n
The lyrical imagery of this album is damn near overwhelming. For
\nexample:<\/p>\n
“The Poet and the painter casting shadows on the water- as the
\nsun plays on the infantry returning from the sea- The doer and the
\nthinker; no allowance for the other- as the failing light
\nilluminates the mercenary’s creed.”<\/p>\n
Along with it go a boatload of vivid symbols and social
\ncommentary, making it quite possibly Tull’s most intricate album to
\ndate.<\/p>\n
My only quibble with this album is that it starts to drag around
\nthe 26-minute mark, when some odd little quotes seem to pop up out
\nof nowhere. Fortunately, it gets back on track shortly after that
\nto deal out another 17 minutes or so of musical brilliance. The
\nalbum ends like most concept albums do, with the beginning being
\nplayed again. This symbolizes that things have come full circle,
\nand to me, they couldn’t have ended the album in a better way.<\/p>\n
In all, this would be Tull’s apogee for their writing and
\nplaying skills. While this writer tends to enjoy the more
\nlaid-back, balls-out, hard rocking of
\nAqualung<\/i>, for many prog-rock fans, this disc is their Holy
\nGrail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":24062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5643],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-38017","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\/38017","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=38017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38017\/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=38017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38017"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}