THICK AS A BRICK

Thick as a Brick is highly hailed as Jethro Tull's masterpiece, as well as one of the greatest prog records of all time. I've never expressly enjoyed it before I came to this site, so I always dimmed the rating in my mind for it down to a three or so. Now, a while later I've decided to re-listen to it to get the full effect. And boy, my opinion has changed. Not only is this a great album, I don't hate it for being overrated like some other highly rated releases (Close to The Edge and COTCK come to mind). This gem has the best of both world and I'll tell exactly what is so great about it.

Ian Anderson, the front man as well as the flautist has sometimes been disappointing, especially on things like Aqualung where I thought his expertise was dimmed in order for crunchy guitars and powerful lyrics to head it off. On TaaB, is a very different story. Because each half is so long (approx. 22 minutes each), it gives time especially to Anderson to pump out some wonderful flurries of pipe. The first half of Thick as a Brick is what really got me. Something that I will always remember, and I know other people would feel the same, is the three minute or so long opening to the album. Gentle acoustic follows calm lyrics, along sort of the same quota that Warchild's 'Skating Away...' did with the exception of it (TaaB pt. 1) follows into a series of hard rock riffs, where the former does the opposite and leads into a variety of bouncy rhythms and light vocals. Speaking of hard rock, that's another ingredient to this mix of wonderfulness. I've always known that the band had some inkling of heavy metal although it was never fully expressed, because the band wanted to focus more on an output of folk. Something that I adore about them is this. In fact, that's the main reason why their Minstrel in the Gallery is my favorite song and album, because of that ever present feature. Not to say that being hard rock makes you good, because it doesn't. I can think of many more pieces of excrement that have gone under my radar (*cough* Puddle of Mudd *cough*). Part one to this amazing album has crunching, acoustics, vocal stability, extremely well done flute, and almost everything about it is great.

The second part, although taking place directly where the first part left off, is much different from the former. Although the musicianship is there and still outright, there's something much stranger in it. Incorporating more experimental qualities than the first part, TaaB pt. 2 actually takes a different and more folksy direction, which may be a sort of a jittery listen for some. I love it, although it's inaccessibility factor may be sort of present for a lot of the easy minded prog folks. For me, I've had to sit through Ummagumma, so I think I've adapted to really hard-to-listen-to music, and this was a breeze. So, if you liked the first part and want to listen to it with more of an artistic 'oomph', then this is great for you.

That pretty much sums up my ideas. Unlike many other 4.60 ish albums on this site, I really have to go with the general consensus. Thick as a Brick is a wonderfully bright little album, with bright undertones that positively take advantage of both your skeptic side and your casual listener side.