AQUALUNG

One of the best known and top selling classic rock albums of all time, JETHRO TULL's fourth album AQUALUNG has also served as the perfect gateway drug to the world of progressive rock for several generations. Familiar to anybody even remotely interested in rock music, the opening title track's instantly recognizable guitar riff and matching opening lyrics "Sitting on the park bench, Eyeing little girls with bad intent. Snot is running down his nose, Greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes" has left an indelible mark on classic rock lovers' psyche for the rest of their lives. The album was a huge transition between the band's folk rock origins and the full blown progressive rock albums that followed but most of all, AQUALUNG is JETHRO TULL's most popular release and best seller easily outselling any other release in their lengthy canon to the very modern day.

And what's not to love about AQUALUNG? It really is the perfect rock album to grace the early 1970s. After building a steady and incrementally improving momentum since the rather disorganized debut album "This Was," JETHRO TULL evolved leaps and bounds with AQUALUNG providing one of the greatest advances forward propelling the band to a mere opening act to one of the world's most popular arena rock headliners. The album saw quite a few changes but none more impactful than the addition of keyboardist John Evan to the band which added an entirely missing dimension to an already rich and developed band style. Likewise the album also welcomed Jeffrey Hammond as the new bassist replacing Glenn Connick who served the band well for three excellent albums. AQUALUNG also marked the time when the acoustic guitar was used exclusively in both segments of the songs themselves as well as serving as the sole instrument for the shorter bridge songs that were preludes to the ones that followed.

Thematically AQUALUNG was basically the thinking man's rock album and has been considered a concept album by many with an extreme emphasis on the fallibilities of religious thinking and how it leads to distortions in society and humanity in general. Sure such themes in rock dated back to The Electric Prunes "Mass In D Minor" but all in all a pretty impressive feat for such a massively popular album that has been heard by so many millions. Band leader Ian Anderson's disdain towards organized religion permeates the majority of the album's subject matter and delivered in some of the most clever roundabout poetic ways that kept it a few steps away from any sort of direct accusations or uncontrolled rage. The album was thematically divided into two themes with the original vinyl A-side thematically called AQUALUNG, centered around the character AQUALUNG and his infatuation "Cross-Eyed Mary" with other tracks referring to various other misfits in society. "Mother Goose" for example highlights how the non-conformists in society often get cast into the role of circus freak show status. The second half utilized the them "My God."

Musically AQUALUNG was a powerhouse of musical motifs stitched together in a pastiche that mixed folk, blues, psychedelia, hard rock, progressive rock and even Elizabethan madrigals, the latter of which suited Anderson's quirky acoustic numbers to a T. Ironically the opening title track is one of the very few songs where Anderson plays no flute at all whereas the remainder of the album implements it as a key ingredient which has always been one of JETHRO TULL's signature features that set them apart early on from other progressive artists. The greatest triumph of AQUALUNG is how the band crafted absolutely perfect melodies seemingly beamed down from the heavens above and dressed them up in the perfect mix of changing musical motifs that included varying sections that alternated between electrified rock, unplugged acoustic guitar folk and more progressive moments that allowed unorthodox ideas to shine through without disrupting the classic rock flow of the album's momentum.

In short the album was divinely inspired with every track rising to true classic status and while its true the short acoustic bridge numbers aren't quite up to par with the rest of the album, they weren't designed to be anything more than little intros to the songs that followed. Almost every major song has been a staple on classic rock radio for over half a century now with perhaps the exception of "My God" which is the most progressive track on the album with its 7-minute plus playing time and most overtly critical of religion in general. The track features the perfect acoustic folk intro and followed by hard rock riffing and excellent flute delivery including the best solo on the album which culminates in a phenomenally brilliant flute segment with a religious choir chanting behind it thus establishing Ian Anderson's true musical genius to a much larger audience. I mean, wow! "Aqualung," "Cross-Eyed Mary," "Mother Goose," "Up To Me," "My God," "Hymn 43," "Locomotive Breath" and "Wind-Up" are all musical perfection under one roof! Even the shorter acoustic tracks are excellent and don't detract in any way. What can i say? AQUALUNG truly is one of the greatest rock masterpieces of the entire genre's existence.