THICK AS A BRICK

This is the second Jethro Tull record I ever heard, after Aqualung. This is everything prog is about: emotional melodies, excellent lyrics, great playing of all instruments by everyone, various key changes throughout the song, slow, mellow parts and heavier parts, and 43 imuntes of awesome epic folk melodic hard prog rock. The song starts out mellow, with the acoustic guitar and flute, and some kind of keyboard accompanying Ian Anderson's singing. Ian Anderson really is one of the greatest singers alive. As the song goes on, it gets jazzier and heavier, and then it gets really dark and melodic with one of my favorite musical passages ever, which really reminds of some Heep songs, particularaly Lady in Black. I love Tull's excellent use of the organ as well. The song continues to rock for a while, then it gets mellow again in another great passage showcasing Tull's ability to immediately slow it down after rocking for a while. The song starts rocking again, and then the first half of the epic fades out on an uplifting guitar/piano line.

The second half starts off a bit darker than anything in the first half, with some great organ soloing in some kind of mid-eastern scale. Then it continues with one of the jazzy riffs and melodies from the first half, but with different lyrics. Then comes the worst part of the song, I think, although the awesomeness of the rest of the song makes up for it. It has these repetitive jazzy riffs going on while some guy (presumably Ian Anderson) is saying some pretty weird stuff, but he's just talking, and this part is kind of boring. But then the song comes back with some mellow melodies and great lyrics, which although they seem a bit goofy at times, without them the feel of the song would be gone. after this mellow part comes what may be my favorite section of the song, In which the most prominent words are: Do you believe in the day? Do you? Believe in the Day! And the organ and guitar riffs really remind me of Zelda, there kind of scary, but with Ian Anderson's melodic voice overtop, its like something out of a dream. Then the song begins its long ending, which includes another rocking melody with some more great lyrics, and a few melodies from earlier in the song. The song ends with And your wise men don't know how it feels to be thick as a brick" much like it began.

This is one of my favorite albums, I just got it the other day and I've listened to it probably 25 times, you just want to keep listening. This is one of the most diverse prog epics ever, containing elements of folk (like all Tull songs), hard rock, jazz, and prog- Zelda-esque darker organ awesomeness rock. I can almost guarantee you will like this if you get it.