What did we think of Thick As A Brick 2? - Progressive Rock Music Forum

Originally posted by frippism

Not sure if in the right thread section thingy. Oh well.

It'll be moved LOL

In Lazland, life is transient. Prog is permanent.

Not too bad. I set my expectations pretty low, admittedly - I stopped buying Tull albums long ago. I can't really get a good feel for the mixing job on my teeny computer speakers, but at least from where I'm sitting, it sounds okay.

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I like it a lot, actually. Its coherent, solid all the way through.

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I didn't think it was terrible, but of course it's a let-down compared to the original Thick as a Brick. Music sounded generally quality, if occasionally a bit forced, and Ian's vocals weren't bad, but it definitely seemed like he was singing with less power than he used to be able to.

"The meaning of life is to give life meaning."-Arjen Lucassen

Like I said in the other thread, NEVER judge the mixing until the release of the CD.

Originally posted by Textbook

As a raging Tull fan I will buy before I hear but my expectations are very low. I will be happy if it's just decent. I am not even faintly expecting something that justifies the title TAAB2.

Same here. The torch of prog royalty has long been passsed to the bands from the 90s onwards (or at least, some of them). All we can reasonably expect from to the older generations of prog bands (except for notable exceptions such as UZ, VdGG, Le Orme and a few more) is good albums with some particular gems in them. It looks like TAAB2 won't be an irregular effort such as Yes' "Fly From Here" or a mini-reprise of old days gone such as Locanda Delle Fate's comeback EP, so it might be OK. I'll buy it but I can't promise it will be in my Top 10: bands like Kotebel, Thinking Plague, Cartel Carnage and Forgas Bandf Phenomena are more likely to fit in, IMHO.

My verdict: great album. Exceeded my expectations by a lot. Obviously didn't compare to the 1st, but complaining about that is just plain silly.

Originally posted by DisgruntledPorcupine

My verdict: great album. Exceeded my expectations by a lot. Obviously didn't compare to the 1st, but complaining about that is just plain silly.

Good news.

And all the stars were crashing 'round as I laid eyes on what I found...

^ dear god what drumming were you listening too? There's so much fluid, insane drummers today. I'm sure Ian could've found someone better for this.

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Originally posted by frippism

^ dear god what drumming were you listening too? There's so much fluid, insane drummers today. I'm sure Ian could've found someone better for this.

I certainly agree with the latter (he could have used Doane Perry for a start Tongue

), but there is something about rock drumming today that just leaves me with an impression that it's all played against a metronome track (not that I like sloppy drumming, but, in my opinion, perfect punctuality in tempo changes or speeding up and slowing down always in the same fashion isn't something a drummer should be aiming for), and also produced very badly, like all drums are recorded in a barrel and then heavily compressed, making the drummer sound as if he has no sense of dynamics and is just thrashing away in the background. Rarely do I listen to a contemporary rock album and think "Hey, this drummer is really clever", getting the feeling that the drummer is there just to either keep time or show off without real artistic value (not to use the vulgar term Wink

). I find this relatively (but not completely) absent in modern jazz (or jazz-influenced) drumming, so I do appreciate jazz-influenced rock drummers (although, to my knowledge at least, their number has decreased significantly since the 60s and 70s). I'm probably (as I've said before in another thread) just being snobbish and picky, though (I'm one of those people who complain about rock concerts being "too loud" Tongue

). ^^

But I digress. Probably the main reason why the drums sound like they do on this record is because Ian Anderson himself wanted them to sound like that, and we've seen how that turned out on Under Wraps.

I will refrain from making other production-related verdicts until I get my vinyl copy (which will hopefully be released by September/October). As far as music is concerned, I really like this one.