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Minstrel in the Gallery

Jethro Tull - Minstrel in the Gallery Audio CD

A fair review of the Jethro Tull "Minstrel in the Gallery" 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: Minstrel in the Gallery
Rating:

Release Date: 2002-11-05
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Minstrel In The Gallery 2: Cold Wind To Valhalla 3: Black Satin Dancer 4: Requiem 5: One White Duck/O10=Nothing At All 6: Baker St. Muse: Pig-Me And The Whore/Nice Little Tune/Crush-Barrier Waltzer/Mother England Reverie 7: Grace 8: Summerdays Sands 9: March The Mad Scientist 10: Pan Dance 11: Minstrel In The Gallery (Live) 12: Cold Wind To Valhalla (Live)

Minstrels? You Mean Medieval, Codpiece Wearing Minstrels?
Ian Anderson and some of the heaviest riffs by Martin Barre you will ever hear. Minstrel in the Gallery - (1975) 12 Tracks (5 bonus) **** (58:02)

The opening track is a monster of a song, clocking in at over 8 minutes, it's got a traditional acoustic guitar start before it moves into an electric rockin' wonderland of sounds provided by the whole band going at full tilt! Powerful vocals by Mr. Another stand out track is Baker Street Muse, which is a 16+ minute medley of songs. The rest of the album has some decent songs on it, but I was just not familiar with them. The remastered version of this disc contains 5 bonus tracks, including a live version of Minstrel in the Gallery, but only the intro of the song. The other bonus tracks are nothing to get excited about either. This is really a 3� star album in my opinion, but it gets rounded up to 4 stars for the Title Track alone.
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Lipstick on a pig
If you love this album, I would recommed buying this remastered version, even if already have a copy of an older version of the CD. GREAT JOB ON THE REMASTERING. You may even want to get this if you have the LP.

I know I am going to get a bunch of people angry, but I am not a big fan of the Minstrel in the Woods/Songs from the Gallery era.

I think that most of the songs on Minstrel in the Gallery sound forced. Like Ian Anderson has gone to the concept album concept one too many times.

What I really don't like on this album is that it sounds like the lyrics don't work with the music. Anderson is also stretching out words "Minstel in the Gal al al ler ree ee ee ee" or "White Du uh uh uh uh ck on the Wa ah ah ahl ahl" to get lyrics to work with the music.

While I applaud experimentation and mixing of styles, I don't think his melding of English folk and rock is done very well. The group has played in different styles before very successfully, but here it is all choppy and not blended well.

The long songs on this album are too short. Anderson is trying to jam too much into too short of a space. So there are no easy transitions between styles. The musical interludes are too choppy. Both Minstrel in the Gallery and Baker St. Muse would be greatly enhanced if they were increased by about 50%. It is a balance not to be too short or too long. Passion Play was probably a bit too long, but Thick As A Brick was just right (and the concert where it they stretched it out to one hour and 20 minutes was one of the best I ever saw).

The good songs on this album are Cold Wind to Valhalla and 0=Nothing At All (too bad it has the awful One White Duch tacked on to the beginning).

The remastering on the CD is fantastic. The sound quality is excellent and as good as I have heard on almost any CD (except those in HDCD). If you really like this album, and have an old version of the CD, I would still strongly recommend getting this remastered version.

The bonus tracks do not make this worth getting. The best ones were already on the 20th anniversary boxset (although that boxset is out of print and the sound quality is not as good). The live tracks are just bits and pieces of the songs and not worth having. I think they actuall detract from the CD.

To calibrate: I am a big Jethro Tull fan and own almost every album. I saw them on during the Thick as a Brick tour, and still think of that as one of the best concerts I have ever seen. I have a tapes from various concert tours up through the Passion Play tour and I think all of them are fantastic. I have seen the group a number of times since then and have enjoyed every show. However, I did not see the group during the dreaded 1980's. I do have a concert tape from 1984 where the performance is pretty poor (Anderson's voice was going out and he cancelled the remainder of the tour).

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Seed drills, seed drills for all....
While I can understand their outrage, it's not so farfetched as many believe. When Jethro Tull won Best Heavy Metal band about 20 years ago, many people freaked out. It's just that Jethro Tull is/was one of the most complex, intricate, eclectic bands EVER. They could weave a musical tapestry of hard rock, metal, folk, prog rock, and jazz all into one, and do it seamlessly. This album is a great example of their genius.

For those who want a testament to Tull's heaviness should just listen to the first song. After a charming 2 minute introduction, Martin Barre's guitar takes over and it makes your ears bleed. Barre is one of rock's most underrated guitarists ever, and his playing is as awesome as many of his contemporaries. Barrimore Barlow's drumming on the title track is also incredible. The next song, Cold Wind to Valhalla, isn't as heavy as the title track, but it's still damn good. Requiem and One White Duck are lovely songs (especially Requiem), with wonderful orchestration. The epic, four part song Baker St. Muse is as good as any Tull epic. The guitar playing is awesome, and the band delivers on one of their more complex songs. The album closes on a lovely note with Grace. This is one of Tull's least heard yet most essential albums. It's another great example of a band named after the inventor of the seed drill. .

How this really works.

Are you not a fan of the music of Jethro Tull? Do not buy it, this record will not make you one. Do you like Aqualung, Thick as a Brick, and Passion Play? Buy it, this one has lots of that.

Are you a snarky, music snob with just enough theory under your belt to sound like you know what you are talking about? Go review something that needs reviewing, and quit wasting your time on 35 year old rock albums.

Think I'll go thrash me some Paul Revere and the Raiders.

Good grief.

A fine mix of progressive rock, folk and hard rock
Surprisingly, a near-epic is included on Minstrel in the Gallery (the four-part, 16 minute long Baker St. This is a nice release from 1975 that essentially established the proggy folk rock/hard rock blend that would characterize many of their subsequent albums. Muse suite). This is surprising in the sense that following the lambasting of the prog epic A Passion Play, the group turned around and released the comparatively lighter album War Child.

Musically, Minstrel in the Gallery includes a nice mixture of progressive rock, early English folk music, folk rock and hard rock. The quieter passages played on acoustic instruments nicely leaven the thunderous, proggier sections. There are some great performances by all of the players and drummer Barriemore Barlow is in especially fine form throughout. This would be the last album with bassist Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond, who was replaced by the fantastic John Glascock.

This remastered effort is pretty nice and reproduces the LP fairly accurately. . . well, based upon what little I remember of my old LP from a billion years ago. The sound quality is pretty good overall (even on the bonus live tracks). Speaking of which, I thought the bonus tracks were very nice, although I find myself "hard-wired" to stop listening when Grace ends.

All in all, this is a great album that nicely merges prog, folk and rock together and is recommended along with similar albums including Songs from the Wood (1977) and Heavy Horses (1978).

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.