So just how long
\nhas<\/i> Jethro Tull been searching for their place in the music
\nindustry? In a sense, one could argue that Ian Anderson and company
\nhave been on that never-ending road a la
\nTravels With Charley<\/i> since their debut release in 1968. Tull
\nhas constantly re-worked its sound to meet their own criteria, not
\nsimply to be pigeonholed into a specific musical genre.<\/p>\n
Yet Anderson and crew had found themselves stylistically
\nrudderless since around 1982’s
\nBroadsword And The Beast<\/i>, and a musical environment as
\nstable as nuclear waste wasn’t helping their case much. So, on
\n1991’s
\nCatfish Rising<\/i>, it’s not surprising to hear Jethro Tull fall
\nback onto two styles they knew rather well — edgy rock and
\nintrospective acoustic numbers. While it was a marked improvement
\nover their last studio effort
\nRock Island<\/i>, it still suggested that Jethro Tull was getting
\ntired.<\/p>\n
To be sure, there are some numbers on this disc which should
\nplease longtime Tull fans (of which I consider myself to be one),
\nbut there’s no way that Anderson and his ever-revolving band of
\nminstrels (save for guitarist Martin Barre) were going to revisit
\nAqualung<\/i> for the umpteenth time. Tracks like “This Is Not
\nLove,” “Thinking Round Corners” and “Doctor To My Disease” all
\nsuggested that Jethro Tull could finally be back on the right road.
\nIn terms of rockers, these tracks are some of Tull’s best work in a
\nlong time (not to slight numbers like “Steel Monkey” off
\nCrest Of A Knave<\/i>). When it’s time to turn the volume down a
\nnotch, the more acoustic-based tracks like “Roll Yer Own,” “Rocks
\nOn The Road” and “Still Loving You Tonight” all shine. In fact, for
\nthe first half of this album, only “Occasional Demons” falls under
\nthe category of weak effort.<\/p>\n
Yet
\nCatfish Rising<\/i> is not able to maintain that level of
\nsuccess; the second half of the disc collapses under its own
\nweight. Musical ideas are repeated so often in songs such as on
\n“Like A Tall Thin Girl” and “Sleeping With The Dog” that the
\nlistener has to wonder whether these tracks were thrown on to pad
\nthe disc. Where the first half of this album generates the most
\nexcitement for Tull in a long time, the second half quickly sounds
\ntired and trite, almost as if Anderson was content to throw
\ntogether random thoughts he had and tied them up by repeating the
\nsong’s title several dozen times. As for “Sleeping With The Dog” –
\none has to wonder just what Anderson was thinking, creating one of
\nthe worst tracks Tull has ever cut.<\/p>\n
The breaking moment for this disc, though, comes on the track
\n“White Innocence,” a song which maybe could have been something
\npretty had it been about four minutes shorter (and if Anderson
\ndidn’t keep repeating “white innocence” like a mantra — dude,
\nenough is enough). This particular track runs out of fresh ideas
\nrather quickly, and ends up sounding like the band kept playing it
\nfor lack of anything better to do. Tull once was known for being
\nable to write long songs without having them sound stale right out
\nof the gate. Maybe someone needs to send Anderson a copy of
\nThick As A Brick<\/i> to remind him of what he was once capable
\nof.<\/p>\n
Make no mistake, there are moments on
\nCatfish Rising<\/i> that will have you grinning from ear to ear,
\nand it is a step in the right direction for the band. If only that
\nstep weren’t so tentative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5643],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-38043","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\/38043","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=38043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38043"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}