It’s an unwritten rule in the world of rock and roll: no matter
\nhow hard you try, the album you release after a blockbuster is
\nalmost always viewed as a disappointment. This is not always the
\nartist’s fault — after all, they can’t control the expectations of
\nthe fans. Worse yet, they can’t please all of the fans.<\/p>\n
For Ian Anderson and crew, they faced this dilemma for the
\nsecond time in 1978. Coming off of the wonderful disc
\nSongs From The Wood<\/i>, it was hard to imagine how Jethro Tull
\ncould top this effort. The answer: they couldn’t. The follow-up
\ndisc,
\nHeavy Horses<\/i>, contains some fantastic material, combining
\nthe worlds of folk and harder-edged rock (kind of like merging
\ntheir two previous albums into one), but otherwise falling short of
\nthe target.<\/p>\n
Anderson and his bandmates do try to build on the folk basis
\nthey created with
\nSongs From The Wood<\/i>, and they often do well heading in this
\ndirection. “One Brown Mouse” might be a throwaway idea, but it is a
\ncharming little song and remains a hidden gem in the Tull
\ndiscography. Likewise, the title track brings back memories of
\n“Songs From The Wood,” mixing gentle, harmonized vocals and
\ndrifting melodies in with some solid rock (thanks in no small part
\nto the guitar work of Martin Barre).<\/p>\n
Indeed,
\nHeavy Horses<\/i> starts out strong enough with the one-two punch
\nof “And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps” and “Acres Wild.” And while
\n“No Lullaby” sometimes feels like it overstays its welcome, it is a
\ndecent enough track to keep the listener’s interest for most of the
\nsong.<\/p>\n
But much of
\nHeavy Horses<\/i> sounds like Jethro Tull is growing a little
\nlistless in their musical direction. Tracks like “Moths,”
\n“Journeyman” and “Weathercock” don’t seem completely comfortable in
\ntheir musical skins, even sounding a tad forced. Whereas
\nSongs From The Wood<\/i> was an organic experience which
\noverflowed with joy in the performances,
\nHeavy Horses<\/i> features performances which sound labored at
\ntimes. And while the strong tracks are well worth the listener’s
\ntime, they just aren’t enough to salvage the entire disc.<\/p>\n
Does this mean that
\nHeavy Horses<\/i> is a bad album? No. But it has become one of
\nthe “forgotten” Jethro Tull albums, most likely because it contains
\nno hit singles or tracks which get played ad nauseam on classic
\nrock radio. The disc still has plenty going for it, and does
\ndeserve some attention. Maybe, had
\nSongs From The Wood<\/i> not come out, this disc would be seen in
\na brighter light, since there would be no comparisons drawn. But
\nwhile
\nHeavy Horses<\/i> tries to follow in its predecessor’s footsteps,
\nit occasionally stumbles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5643],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-38026","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jethro-tull","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38026","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=38026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38026"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}