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In my opinion this is not essential Tull but anyway is a very well done album. The reason is that this album is difficult to hear, it must be heared more times because at first hearing one can't appreciate it at all. And the cover is Ian's painting. It is a picture of an Egyptian god, Chnubis which means spirit of God floating over the waters' surfaces, later to be known as Amun (the hidden one), one of the eight bigger Egyptian gods. And that painting is based on a gargoyle-like sculpture by Ian's friend and former neighbour Michael Cooper. Now it stands by a pool in Ian's garden. (for more details see www.cupofwonder.com). So don't say "I don't want the album because the cover is horrible!!". In my opinion the strongest song musically speaking is Hunt By Numbers, but the masterpiece in the album is Wicked Windows which I can define as a long flash-back in the life of the author. Here Ian goes back through the years and analyses with marvellous lyrics his life as a star. And very beautiful songs are also the 3 love ones, Bends Like A Willow, The Dog-ear Years and A Gift Of Roses. Strange and Tull-unusual is Hot Mango Flush, some sort of rap with Barre's music and Anderson's lyrics (as always!). In this song we can see a technique of "piling up impressions" (Jan Vorbij) enumerating a serie of images which was already used in Mother Goose. A lot of images which come in rapid succession. So, in conclusion, a good album, not to be considered "low-inspired".