HOMO ERRATICUS

I have been a huge fan of Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull for over 40 years (yes, I'm that old) so what I'm about to say feels a little like scolding your favorite child. Just my opinion, but Homo Erraticus seems more like a necessary vehicle to have a reason for a 2014 tour, rather than something created out of musical inspiration. Ian seems to have gotten a bit lazy and selfish. By "lazy" I mean he relies more on a formula for producing music. There's nothing new...nothing is "out of the box". The same instruments are used from album to album (I suppose orchestrations are too costly and can be covered by the cheesy synthesizer sounds). By "selfish" I refer to Ian's tight reign on his band mates (if you can even call them that). There is no room allowed for contribution or improvisation by the other players, so the record sounds very similar to recent efforts and almost as if it was generated by a computer program written by Ian. I'm not even sure you can call this work progressive. Is there even one moment where you are surprised by the music? Sorry, but this effort seems more like a business decision than a work of art. But I still love you Ian!