CREST OF A KNAVE

At least most of the tracks on this album had guest drummers and thus didn't rely solely on electronic percussion. "Steel Monkey" not a bad track at all but was Anderson attempting to emulate Dire Straits? "Farm on the Freeway" - I like this track however the Dire Straits emulation makes me wonder who this is. I'm suprised Knopfler didn't have Anderson arrested for trying to be him. "Jump Start" - strange track to me but enjoyable - rock n roll meets Ian Anderson meets Dire Straits. "Said She was a Dancer" - very mellow. "Dogs in the Midwinter" - Nothing special here at all. "Budapest" - Excellent intro to the track, to my mind one of the best efforts on the album. Reminds me of "Telegraph Road". I really like this track - the monolith of the album. "Mountain Men" - another very good track. "The Waking Edge" - A dramatic entrance. Very good softer track. "Raising Steam" -a balls out rocker. "Part of the Machine" (bonus track) - Nothing wrong here.

Ian Anderson had recently had an operation on his vocal chords and he can be forgiven for not being the voice that Tull fans know and love. The similarities of this effort to Dire Straits are numerous but then this would have made a hell of a good Dire Straits album. This is still a long way from the original Tull sound however it is not an unappealing sound at all. I really do enjoy this album and my rating is three and a half stars rounded up to four.