A PASSION PLAY

"A passion play" continued with the formula of "Thick as a brick": a whole song that covers the entire album. With "Thick as a brick" JETHRO TULL demonstrated their geniality: they created what is probably the most amazing Progressive Rock album ever recorded, so it is easy to think that their next one-song-album would be as amazing as the previous one and even when this album is not as popular and does not have the same cult of followers, I truly believe that in some moments it is.

This album was not an obscene copy of "Thick as a brick" but rather a very original record both lyrically and musically; the atmosphere in this album is darker and more eclectic since the rhythm changes much more in this one. The A-side of the song is filled with much stronger riffs and strong bass and drum lines while the B-side is more relaxed and with more presence of the folk-rock that characterized the band in its earlier albums.

Ian ANDERSON made an excellent job playing the soprano saxophone, something that he didn't do in any album before this one, so that was a very interesting innovation to the sound of the band. Martin BARRE's guitar lines are delightful and John EVAN's piano doesn't stop at almost any moment.

This is probably JETHRO TULL's most controversial album since a lot of people find it boring, empty, non-original, and even grotesque in some moments (I got these adjectives reading to several reviews of the album) but to me, this is one of their greatest albums; probably not as memorable and legendary as "Aqualung" or "Thick as a brick" but definitely in the same level of quality of well-played music and original content.

A very underrated album, I'd say.

SONG RATING: Part one, 5 Part two, 4

AVERAGE: 4.5

PERCENTAGE: 90

ALBUM RATING: 5 stars

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