If there ever was a negative definition of a “transition album,”
\nit would have to be applied to
\nStormwatch<\/i>, the 1979 release from Jethro Tull.<\/p>\n
This transition was not the fault of band leader Ian Anderson.
\nDuring the tour for
\nHeavy Horses<\/i>, bassist John Glascock became too sick to
\nperform, and eventually had to undergo open heart surgery. It was
\nhoped that Glascock would recover to be a viable part of the band
\nagain when it came time to record the next album but, alas,
\nGlascock’s health became worse. He appears on only three of the
\nsongs on
\nStormwatch<\/i>, and passed away in 1979 at the age of 28. (To
\nthe best of my knowledge, at the time of this writing, Glascock was
\nthe only member of Tull to die.)<\/p>\n
So, with Anderson taking over most of the bass work (along with
\nvocals, flute and acoustic guitar),
\nStormwatch<\/i> was recorded — and much of the music sounds like
\nit was written with a very heavy heart. In a sense, this helps to
\nproduce some of the most beautiful music that Jethro Tull has ever
\nrecorded. While the album is still a little tentative, it does have
\nsome fantastic moments.<\/p>\n
I have to, at this stage, give severe props to the song “Dun
\nRingill.” Had it not been for the Slipstream home video, I might
\nhave forgotten about this track at a young age. But after watching
\nthe video for this song, it has never left my conscience. If I were
\nto name my favorite Jethro Tull song, it would have to be this
\nsimple, acoustic guitar-driven song.<\/p>\n
Yet after digging
\nStormwatch<\/i> out of the depths of the Pierce Memorial
\nArchives, I have to admit there are other songs which come very
\nclose to “Dun Ringill” in terms of sheer beauty. One is “Home,” a
\nsong that seems to take on an entirely different meaning with the
\nknowledge of Glascock’s death. (It’s only fair to note that
\nGlascock died after the release of the album.) Likewise, the
\nalbum’s closer “Elegy” suggests a mournful mood, despite the power
\nand loveliness of the arrangements.<\/p>\n
In a slightly different vein, the instrumental “Warm Sporran”
\nhas a more upbeat mood to it, and also stands out among the tracks
\non this disc.<\/p>\n
Yet
\nStormwatch<\/i> does have its tentative moments. “Dark Ages”
\ntries hard to be the focal piece of the disc, but it doesn’t quite
\nfeel like it’s strong enough to carry that momentum. Likewise,
\n“Orion” is a respectable enough effort, but it seems to suggest
\nthat Jethro Tull didn’t quite know which way to take their music,
\nespecially in a time when the whole definition of popular music was
\nin flux.<\/p>\n
This is by no means suggesting that
\nStormwatch<\/i> is a weak album. Tracks like “North Sea Oil,”
\n“Flying Dutchman” and “Something’s On The Move” all show that
\nAnderson and company still knew how to keep the listener’s
\nattention and how to write quality songs.<\/p>\n
This disc turned out to be a farewell for more than just
\nGlascock; also making their final appearances with Tull were David
\n(now Dee) Palmer, John Evan and Barriemore Barlow, thanks to the
\ncorporate decision to make Anderson’s planned solo album in 1980
\nthe next Jethro Tull disc. Fortunately for these players, they make
\ntheir swansongs on a high note.<\/p>\n
It really isn’t fair to Anderson and crew that
\nStormwatch<\/i> is one of their most ignored albums in the modern
\nday. It seems like if a disc doesn’t have a song which is
\noverplayed on the radio, it doesn’t get any notice. Granted,
\nStormwatch<\/i> has some tentative moments on it, but for the
\nmost part it is a disc that deserves a lot more attention than it
\never has gotten. With the re-issue of this disc finally in the
\nstores, now is the perfect time for this album to experience its
\nown renaissance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5643],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-38027","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\/38027","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=38027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38027"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}