J-TULL DOT COM

I don't understand the excessively low rating for this record. Tull are in fine (and self-enforcedly dated) form, dwelling on thoughts of age, electronics, and cats. The record slides into the unfortunate tendency of late-90's prog to address the meaning and menace of emergent technologies, but technophobia aside (indeed, the technophobic argument could be dismissed; Ian seems more interested than afeared) there is some damn fine playing on this very good album. I find myself revisiting J-Tull.com often; I fell in love with the band on their tour for this release, and still remember Mr. Anderson crawling all over the stage whilst warbling Hunt By Numbers. Yes, his voice is weakened, but I really don't find this to be a valuable or pertinent critique. Voices change. Indeed, Ian has acquired a new, weary, ironic character to his rasp, which has led me to fall in love with all of Tull's post-Under Wraps releases. The band rocks (Hunt by Numbers, El Nino), rolls (Spiral, Wicked Windows), and generally produces yet anther fantastic piece of salient art-rock. A solid 4 star release, and one of Tull's best late-period releases.