A PASSION PLAY

Well, it didn't take long for Tull to immediately lose whatever credibility they'd gained with Thick As A Brick. A Passion Play is plodding and grating, bloated and pretentious, and so wrapped up in its own complexity that it is aurally claustrophobic. Truly, the emperor has no clothes. At best, it comes across as a parody of TAAB, though not a very good one.

We can't fault the musicianship; the band is in fine form here and tries to bring infuse energy into to the lifeless compositions. But by nearly any other measure by which I rate an album, this is a failure. I bought A Passion Play back in 1973 upon its release; I didn't purchase another Jethro Tull album for 30 years. It's Thanksgiving here in the U.S., and I'm feeling in a generous and well-sated, so I'll give it a 2. Newcomers be forewarned: this is not the place to start your Tull collection.