HEAVY HORSES

Jethro Tull

Prog Folk

4.04 | 1348 ratings

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Alitare

I always thought horses were fairly heavy creatures.

Perhaps these particular horses have steel in their hearts. Hm, a steel heart horse with the boisterous drive to pursue his desires, but blinded to deep and outside reflection. This is a magnificent metaphor for one of Jethro Tull's more folk oriented albums, Heavy Horses.

Equal parts Minstrel in the Gallery and Songs from the wood, Heavy Horses stands as the end of a peak for the band. This album contains the grit and fire of Minstrel, while not retaining any of its blundering length. It holds Songs' mystification, yet with more relish and soul.

The songs punch fairly hard, while the flutes, mandolins, keyboards, and traditional elements flourish stunningly. And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps starts off with a bang. And, as one of their prettiest albums, the track introduces some enchanting musical scenery.

Acres Wild is ferocious, by comparison. the twirling melodies are riveting. Each movement isn't allotted all the time it needs for full completion, yet the melodies never extend their stay. The evolving tracks are so beautifully catchy. The lyrics, I think, take a smaller step back, but still contend to that proper English mystique. Rover contains such a brilliant overall theme and melody, further hammering this as a purely gracious album.

If I may criticize, however, the album does get a little too repetitive in the steadfast folk rock swagger it repeatedly presents, leading the shorter middle songs to blend together into an inseparable mesh. This might be a positive, but with the relatively average album length, it does stick out.

The title track has a great striding guitar riff accompanied by multiple swaying instruments in and out of each other. It seems like most of Jethro Tull's title tracks have had quite a punch. This is definitely a highlight, and Anderson's very convincing vocal delivery is surprising. These songs are passionate. The album closes with Weathercock, which is a gorgeous with the light accentuation.

One of Jethro Tull's better albums, and definitely one of the most gorgeous. It suffers from a bit of repetition, and the lyrics are admittedly more simplistic, but it has many memorable melodies. A lot of fun, yes fun, can be had with Heavy Horses, and is an altogether uplifting experience.

Best song - Heavy Horses, Rover, Weathercock, or Acres Wild

Alitare | 4/5 | 2009-11-27

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