A

This Anderson-turned-Tull release was A. From the first notes of this album, it's clear Anderson wanted to take a starkly different musical direction. "Crossfire" opens it with glimmering electric piano, and Martin Barre's guitar is mixed rather low. Subtle vocoder is utilized to give the vocals on "Fylingdale Flyer" a robotic quality, and the music is once more dominated by Jobson's piano and synths.

"Black Sunday" is easily the best song on A. It opens with a Rick Wakeman-like synthesizer flourish before moving into a heavier riff, pushed along by flute and pounding bass piano. The minor key verses and paranoid lyrics add to the oppressive atmosphere. Piano lines glimmer in sharp contrast to Martin Barre's dark guitar licks.

On a few songs, Eddie Jobson busts out his electric violin, adding some folk flavors which somehow meld with the slick 1980s sound. It adds power to the main riff in "Uniform", which sounds like a futuristic version of something that could have been on Songs from the Wood. "The Pine Marten's Jig" is a high-energy instrumental where the violin and flute duel it out over mandolin. It's like the 1980s and Celtic folk had a baby. This song also features a springy bass tone that I wish Dave Pegg would have utilized more often.

Not everything on A works, though. "Working John, Working Joe" has a weird, unengaging main riff and chorus, and it drags on for far too long. "4.W.D (Low Ratio)" suffers from a similarly weak main theme, including an unsuccessful blues infusion. The vocoder is borderline-abused on this track as well. The closing ballad "And Further On" is pretty enough, but the first half or so is awfully dull.

Following the tour (which featured the band in some rather silly white jumpsuits), Jobson (who had never intended to stick around long) and Craney left the band. Replacing these two were Peter-John Vettese and Gerry Conway, respectively.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2019/07/25/deep-dive-jethro-tull/