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Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick CD (album) cover

THICK AS A BRICK

Jethro Tull

 

Prog Folk

4.64 | 3699 ratings

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sgtpepper
5 stars This together with Passion's play are Jethro Tull's crowning achievements in the progressive rock catalogue. How does this piece of music fare against other progressive rock masterpieces? First of all, the notion of concept is taken into extreme as there are only two suites, which no other major progressive rock act would dare at the time. The compositional skills are fantastic and the suites very intricate with plenty of changes in rhythm patterns and motives. The guitar and Anderson's voice are omnipresent and trademarks and both unique. I never liked Anderson's voice and singing too much though.

There is less space for soloing than on other peers albums, the instruments are here to add to the atmosphere, colour the concept, show the potential of music complexity and not necessarily to show off. Keyboards are less prominent than on Yes, Genesis, Kansas or Pink Floyd records, mostly serving in the background. Synthesizers would only be used from the next album onwards. The bass and the drums is very decent in the mix and hearable.

Out of the two suites, I slightly prefer the second one, since I like the instrumental sections better. After the first couple of minutes, there is even a doom-metal/rock atmosphere characterized by menacing chords - the sequence will be easily recognized by any My Dying Bride fan ;-).

Overall, it is masterpiece of progressive rock, although I have yet need time to fully appreciate this album and understand it in full details.

sgtpepper | 5/5 |

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