THICK AS A BRICK

If there is one Tull cd I would pick up, if I must decide myself to take only one record by them with me on a desert island, it would be "Thick As A Brick", even it would be a close race with "Aqualung", my first taste with the band. The mother of all concept albums remains as the first record by them, where the progressive sensibilitys stood not only in the background, but took control as the main-part of the songwriting and arrangements. Mastermind Ian Anderson was on his highest point of creativity, the music on both of the TAAB parts are complex, catchy and highly memorable at the same time, which makes the record to such a highly acclaimed masterpiece for the fans of Jethro Tull and progressive rock listeners. The album reached big status in the underground as it reached the light of day and still is the high-water-mark of the whole band history, even I think that "A Passion Play" is extremely underrated and nearly can reach the brilliance of TAAB, but though I prefer this, because of it's more ambitious perfection and memorable essence. I got the remastered version with two bonus tracks: A shorter live version of "Thick As A Brick" recorded at Madison Square Garden in 1978, with excellent sound, and an interestening interview with Ian Anderson, Martin Barre and Jeffrey Hammond, who explain very well the construction of the album. Watch out for this cd version, it's superb!

Rating: 98 % on MPV scale = 10/10 points = 5/5 stars

point-system: 0 - 3 points = 1 star / 3.5 - 5.5 points = 2 stars / 6 - 7 points = 3 stars / 7.5 - 8.5 points = 4 stars / 9 - 10 points = 5 stars

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive music