CREST OF A KNAVE

I still stand by my statement that every Jethro Tull album has at least one essential track on it. Some more than others, it's true, but I can name at least one essential track on every one of their albums. Crest of a Knave is no exception, in fact, it has 5 essential tracks and 5 others that are still great. That is better than most of the Tull albums released around this time. To me, this is the perfect "entry level" JT album as it has a good representation of the bands music and it is easily likable. So what if it's not one of their essential albums, it is still one that I enjoy every time I listen to it.

The rock is a bit more straightforward on the faster songs. There are even a few acoustic-driven tracks (namely the Dire Straits influenced "Said She Was a Dancer" and the 10+ minute "Budapest", 2 of the best JT tracks ever). "Farm on the Freeway" and "Mountain Men" are both prog based mid to fast tempo songs. From there you have some more hard-rock centered songs, but they are not as washed out as the rock songs on "Catfish Rising" in my opinion, I think they are great quality hard rock songs. There are a few weaker ones like "Dogs in the Midwinter" which has too much synthesizer on it that cheapens and dates the album and "Part of the Machine" which sounds so much like "Farm on the Freeway" that you'd think it was a copy, but if you get the original vinyl, these songs aren't even on the track listing, which I think the album flows much better without these tracks anyway.

This is a decent JT release and if you are debating which one to get to best represent the late 80s/early 90s releases for JT, then this is the one you should get. For my money, it's the best representative for that period of time with enough great music to leave a great impression on you and also proves that JT still had some great songs in their heads. Not a masterpiece as a whole, but it has some masterpieces on it, so it's still an excellent addition to your collection. 4 stars.