Ian Anderson‘s career spans 5 decades. He’s created more than 35 studio albums, penned hundreds of songs, had many hit singles, and made countless world tours. With an immediately identifiable voice, and the distinctive honor of bringing flute into the world of rock music, his band Jethro Tull became an unstoppable juggernaut for all of the 70s, and most of the 80s.
Tull had found success with their first few albums but, with the release of Aqualung in 1971, they struck a chord with audiences that propelled them to the top of the charts. With a unique blend of folk and rock idioms, poetic lyrical mastery, and a penchant for irreverence, the album solidified their place amongst the pantheon of rock greats.
I can only imagine, then, that the pressure and anticipation must have been great when they started working on their next album. Thick As A Brick, as it turned out, was more masterful and ambitious than Aqualung, if not more accessible. Presented as one long song, with sprawling lyrics and extended instrumental passages that, at times, swung between prog rock and classical styles, it exceeded the wildest expectations of fans and critics alike.
Listening to that album forty years later, it still sounds fresh and vivacious, full of clever lyrical and musical twists and turns. Perhaps, then, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Anderson would feel pulled to revisit this material in some fashion.
Unlike the original, Thick As A Brick 2 is divided into 9 distinctive sections, most with two or three songs. On the original album, the artwork appeared to be taken from a newspaper, the St. Cleve Chronicle, with stories about a boy, Gerald Bostock, and the goings on of the small town where he lives. On the new release, the concept has been updated, with the newspaper replaced with excerpts from the town’s website.
On the new album, the character of Bostock becomes the focus of a series of ‘what if’ scenarios where Anderson muses about how the vagaries of life might have sent young Gerald in a variety of different directions, each with significantly different outcomes.
What, Anderson wonders, if Gerald became a banker, a military man, a preacher, a shop keeper, or homeless? This premise produces a series of episodic vignettes, with lyrics that ultimately feel shallow, contrived, and disconnected from the heart and soul of these alternate Geralds. Instead, the words seem strident, and bogged down by their own weight.
In the original, Anderson sings, “I’ve come down from the upper class to mend your rotten ways. My father was a man-of-power whom everyone obeyed. So come on all you criminals! I’ve got to put you straight just like I did with my old man — twenty years too late. Your bread and water’s going cold. Your hair is too short and neat. I’ll judge you all and make damn sure that no-one judges me.”
Forty years on, he sings, “Treat myself to quality time, test a porsche and snort a line, eat Hermione for lunch. Set that glum PA a-jumping, book front row tickets for something after we munch.”
I don’t mean to sound overly critical, though. For the most part, the music is gorgeous. The rocking bits rock, the more delicate passages are impeccably performed, and Anderson manages to toss in delightful musical nods to past hits along the way. Also, his voice sounds wonderful, and his singing is tuneful and expressive.
For me, one song stood out clearly from the rest: A Change of Horses. I asked Anderson about it.
“Its a piece of music,” said Anderson, “which was written in isolation about three years ago as an instrumental piece for an Indian tour we were doing with our guest, Anoushka Shankar. I wrote the piece originally to be played by sitar and Western concert flute. I had it in mind to record it and, when I was writing the TAAB2 album, I thought ‘I can shoe-horn this piece of music in there.’ I’d already written some lyrics, but changed it a little bit so it would fit into the overall concept of the album.
“I try to make [the album] a continuous flow piece of music,” Anderson, explained, “but we live in an age where people snack on bite size portions of music, so I have to give them ID points on the CD. I don’t have to. I choose to so people have the choice of listening to the whole thing in one unbroken chunk of music, or they can break it down into convenient little bits that they can navigate through, and to. But, for me, it is a complete piece of music designed to be played live, on stage, as a complete piece.”
And this, dear reader, is where things get really exciting. On October 20th, Anderson and a crack team of talented musicians will perform the entirety of Thick as a Brick, and TAAB2, at the Long Beach Terrace Theater. The tour is already under way, and the stop in Long Beach will be just a few dates shy of its completion. This is a rare opportunity to enjoy one of music’s great talents in an intimate setting, performing some of his best work. Internet pre-sale tickets will become available on April 20th, and will become more widely available through normal channels the following day.
One last thing: There are two versions of the release. One is a CD, with a lyric booklet. The other includes a DVD with high definition stereo and surround mixes of the album, along with video segments showing the creation of the album, and Anderson reciting the lyrics. If you’ve got audiophile gear, or you’re a die-hard Anderson fan, the Special Edition is just under $20 but, if not, stick to the regular release.