UNDER WRAPS

This is the only Tull album that I would consider to be genuinely bad. This is mainly due to the horrendous production and arrangements. Ian made a terrible decision to use programmed drum machines throughout (no drummer at all), presumably to seem hip and modern, then compounded that error by featuring that awful drum machine prominently above everything else in the mix. Also used programmed synths and cut and paste arrangements throughout that just sound terrible. Should have been considered an Anderson solo album, as sounds like Ian just playing with his new electronic toys and digital software. The music was assembled, not really played here, and the '80's technology used just doesn't cut it. It's too bad, as some of the songs could have been pretty good with the programmed nonsense removed and real instruments and arrangements used, as exemplified with the two different versions of the song 'Under Wraps', one with all the electronic nonsense, the other stripped down. The production and arrangements here deserve only 1 star, but the songs themselves deserve higher, so I arrive at 1.5 for the album. No really good tracks (but the one song with a stripped down version, Under Wraps #2, gives an idea of what the album could have been like with decent production). Rating: 1.5 stars