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Thick as a Brick

Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick Audio CD

A fair review of the Jethro Tull "Thick as a Brick" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Jethro Tull reviews here, or go back to the Jethro Tull tabs.

Band: Jethro Tull
Title: Thick as a Brick
Rating:

Release Date: 1997-06-16
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Thick as a Brick 2: Thick as a Brick 3: Thick as a Brick (Live at Madison Square Garden 1978) [Live] 4: Interview With Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, Martin Barre and Jeffery Ha

'and the love that I feel is so far away'
To be very honest I was mostly listening to entire albums of their music as they were coming out and I was growing up in the 70's and early 80's. This is by far my most favorite album of Jethro Tull. Thick As A Brick was not only my first Jethro Tull album, but it was one of the very first albums in my collection. Thick as a Brick was a concept album, basically one song unlike anything else they have done, mixing hard rock with classical and folk music. It is a very strong piece of music of great structure and complexity and to me it is one of the most interesting pieces of its kind. Thick As A Brick was a true statement by Jethro Tull and it still speaks volumes today in 2009. Ian's vocals are great and the lyrics supposedly written by the 8th year old Gerald Milton Bostock are very intriquing and great to sing along to as they never age. There is so much meaning in them that I find it hard to believe they were really written by an 8th year old. . . Anyway, if some of you are, like me, attracted to the softer side of Jethro Tull's music, I have picked their short acoustic jewels and mixed them with some of my favorite songs and saved it as Short Acoustics Of Jethro Tull:
1. Requiem
2. Elegy, intro (1:05)
3. From A Dead Beat To An Old Greaser
4. Elegy
5. Thick As A Brick, part 2 (5:56)
6. edit
7. Aqualong, part (2:34)
8. Wond'ring Aloud
9. Moths
10. Thick As A Brick, part 1 (3:04)
11. The Chequered Flag
12. Home
13. edit
14. Fly By Night
15. Heavy Horses, part 1 (3:57)
16. Cheap Day Return
17. Heavy Horses, part 2 (2:51)
18. Nursie
19. Slow Marching Band
20. Thick As A Brick, part 3 (6:54)
21. Cherio
22. Reasons For Waiting
23. Too Old For Rock'n'Roll Too Young To Die
24. Grace.
I know it is silly to break it like that, but I am in the mood for softer music more often than not these days (Porcupine Tree is changing it lately) and this way I can listen to Jethro Tull at our office/showroom even when clients walk around. There was a period of at least 7 years in my life when i did not listen to any music of Jethro Tull and when I picked up Thick As A Brick back in 1998 I was glad to find that their music was a part of me and I did not forget a single word of the lyric, perhaps because that album was one of my English teachers back in 1974 and 1975, when I listened to it the most. This is such a great record to sing along to, one of the best I know. If you have not experienced it yet. . . you should.

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Tull's Most Progressive Masterpiece
Thick As A Brick - (1972) 4 Tracks (2 bonus) (55:40) *****

This was very adventurous indeed. .

I can now say that Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" is a definite Prog Masterpiece. But, I will admit that this revelation only came recently. I was just a casual fan of Ian Anderson's music while growing up, having only "M. U. - the Best of Jethro Tull" on vinyl. I did like the music on that album very much, and later bought "Aqualung" on compact disc. Those were the only two albums I had by Tull for many years until I began exploring progressive rock further in just the past five years. Thick as a Brick (TaaB) kept showing up on many music fans top progressive rock picks that I was researching on the web.

Since almost everyone, it seemed, was recommending this album as such an outstanding example of 70's era "progressive rock", I decided to go ahead and give it try and bought one of the newly remastered versions and listened to it a few times. Now, I had heard parts of TaaB. There is a short "edit" of TaaB on the M. U. Best of album. On first listen I realized this wasn't the most accessible album I had ever listened to, and wasn't that impressed at first. There is a lot of music being played on this thing, and it can be a little over-whelming at times. But, after a few more listens, I began to really appreciate it for the music it contained. I already knew its status as a ground-breaking piece of work, with a song that basically plays non-stop across two sides of an album. Most people would imagine this as an unattainable feat. Surely this thing must begin to repeat itself and become boring. Surprisingly, No; In fact, this piece of music is so long and so complex, that it seems like with each listen you will hear something new or at least pay more attention one part or another as your mind tries to "soak it all in". Eventually, Thick as a Brick begins to reward the listener with each successive spin of the album. It is very interesting music and I recommend it as an integral piece of the Jethro Tull catalog.

The remastered version of TAAB has a bonus Live track of TAAB recorded at Madison Square Gardens in 1978 running approximately 12 minutes and an interview with Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, and Jeffrey Hammond which is over 16 minutes long regarding the writing and recording of the album.
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A puzzling epic, yet nicely put together
They probably figured that's what would draw readers' attention to the themes that the album is centered on. I admit it was creative and considerate for them to make the album cover look like the front page of a newspaper. Just imagining the Society For Literary Advancement disqualifying the boy for reading a controversial poem, because it is considered unwholesome towards life, his God and country signals to readers what this might be about. The lyrics are extremely difficult to comprehend with countless metaphors and imagery, but I'm still trying my best. Other than that, the composition is brilliant.

Unique entry to the Prog canon
) The 'greats' put out a challenge: "Stop slamming us! You can't criticise our concept albums and epic songs if you can't even make one of your own!" Tull respond by playing TAAB. Imagine a fictional "show down" with Jethro Tull on one side (the *haters* of prog rock that they are), and all the prog 'greats' on the other side (Yes, ELP, Genesis etc. By the end, all the greats have tip-toed home, tail between their legs. . .

Tull released this 40-minute song in 1972, meaning that it actually predates many other 'super-epics' such as Tales From Topographic Oceans and Karn Evil 9, both of which were released the following year. This song (/album) is a parody of progressive rock, which Ian Anderson conceived because he hated people calling Aqualung a "concept album". His goal was to blow concept albums out of the water by sending them up - he actually compares this album to Monty Python in the interview included on this disc. Therefore anyone who calls it 'pretentious' or who thinks Tull are 'taking themselves too seriously' has totally missed the point.

How can you call a song pretentious when it contaions the lyrics "Fluffy duck, oh, fluffy duck. We walked through the maternity ward and saw 218 babies wearing nylons"???

There will be many who hate a work of art for being what it is: "This play is too melodramatic"; "This pop song is too predictable"; "This landscape photo is too contrasty" - in other words, people who criticise the very aspects that the artist tried the hardest to achieve. Such is the case with TAAB - it's *meant* to be overblown and impenetrable; it's taking the mickey. The fact is that this super-epic is *not* really that 'progressive' at all - it lacks multi-instrumental virtuosity, it's signature changes are clunky, riffs are overly repetitive, and the keyboard work is muted. . . It has plenty of prog 'flourishes', of course, but Anderson (like Robert Fripp) hated the prog labels his band was being given, and he seeks to undermine all of them here. So what style is it, then? Anderson was right - there's really nothing to compare it to other than Monty Python.

In my estimation, the song is a success on every (af)front. It is listenable and catchy, at least for people who really don't mind listening to extended pieces (and if you don't, Anderson makes very clear that he "really don't mind if you sit this one out" - in the opening line, in fact). It mixes the humourous with the sublime and haunts you with war narratives before letting you off the hook and singing about comic books. It is framed by a fictional and often hilarious small-town newspaper (nearly unreadable in CD-size unfortunately) and it moves in and out of the surreal and the tangible.

In other words, it's a great listen and I love giving it a spin from time to time. It stands apart not only from Tull's other work, but from the Prog canon as a whole, since it is really a rock parody. The more that you visualise that roadies would literally walk across the stage wearing animal heads during performances, the more you will be able to appreciate what Anderson is trying to do here. He's trying to worm his way 'inside' the prog genre in order to wreck it from within. There may well be some filler and awkward moments throughout this song, but the simple fact that they set out to 'show up' super-epics by making a brilliant one of their own deserves true admiration.

And the fact that they came so close to doing it so damn well gives it a firm five stars from me. That, and the fact that the "Soft Venus" section mesmerises me.

Oh - This is Fun, Fun Fun
Here we are reading about a great album. . . Ian' s best Thick as A Brick and I'm listening to Pandora on the internet as it just bumped against it and now it has to play the whole recording. . . . I love it. Rememeber. . . . there are NO BREAKS in this entire piece. . . . so it's going to play all the way. . . . I love it. . . . OK here it is. . . bought this lucious piece of vinyl at one of those little boutique record stores on the south side of Chicago on 79th & Pulaski in 1972 as am import. . . does anybody remember IMPORTS. . . . but do you remember this one???? It was very unique. It was actually a newspaper with a big ol' slab of vinyl in the middle of it. . . and lo & behold it was . . . . you got it. . . Tull's - Thick as A Brick. . . . so being a Tull fan. . . . we had to check it out. . . . Friday nite. . . . I still remember it. . . a bit warm (still playing) a little rain. . . . (wasn't this released in the Spring)Perfect for a new Tull. . . . LET's GO! So my buddy Ray and I take off. . . to his house. . . put it on the turntable. . . Dual 1229. . . . lite it up . . . and YES! This is great stuff. . . . it's Fun. . . . call the girls. . . let's party. . . . bring the Boone's Farm. . . . but just get over hear and listen to the new Tull! It's FABULOUS!
iT NEVER STOPS. . . IT'S JOYOUS. . . ITS WONDERFUL. . . ITS UPLIFTING. . . MAN WHAT A GREAT ALBUM. ( btw: Still Playing) progressive. . . . hard rock or whatever. . . if you were around in those days it was GREAT FUN! Glad I lived it. .

You can see a complete list of all Jethro Tull discography, or go back to the Jethro Tull tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.