THICK AS A BRICK 2: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GERALD BOSTOCK?

I remember an interview with Ian Anderson in RollingStone magazine from the early 1990s. In it he said he would probably retire Jethro Tull in 2001. In the early 1990s that year still seemed far away. He never exactly did that but who would have thought he would ever release a follow- up to Thick As A Brick under his own name? I'm not at all familiar with Anderson's solo albums, but from what I have read about them they are not too similar to Tull's music. This is the most interesting thing I have heard Anderson do since the A album (which was originally supposed to be a solo album). I'm not a big Tull fan but Thick As A Brick is one of my favourite albums by anyone. At first I was not expecting much out of this album but after I heard it a few times I was more than surprised at how much I actually enjoyed it.

The album opens with the three notes that end TAAB Pt. 1 and begin TAAB Pt. 2. The album concludes with the beginning/ending section of TAAB. In between we get five different stories of what would have happened to Gerald Bostock. Sometimes folky, sometimes rockin' the music is entertaining and interesting throughout. There are musical quotes from the first TAAB as well as new themes here that are reprised. It flows like an epic although it is made up of 17 individual tracks. As would be expected Ian's flute is all over the place and still sounds good. None of the vocals or playing however can match the original but the music here for the most part stands on it's own.

Some tracks almost work as mock radio advertisements. Other tracks have parts that slightly remind me of Gentle Giant. There are quite a few modern day references in the lyrics on this album. "Old School Song" is one of the highlights because it sounds similar to the original TAAB and '70s Tull in general. "A Change Of Horses" is the longest track at 8 minutes. Another highlight. This has more of a modern vibe musically compared to the rest of the album. Nice accordion(?) work in this song as well as call-and-response between guitar, flute and accordion. This is a great sounding album with a lot of dynamics. Nowhere near the greatness that is Thick As A Mofo Brick but this is nonetheless a really good follow-up. Actually it's just a really good prog album from 2012. This gets a 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.