HEAVY HORSES

I have long believed that all good rock singer/songwriters should retire when they hit thirty, and Heavy Horses confirms that Ian Anderson is no exception to this theory. The band just don't seem to be enjoying themselves on this record.

The album has one or two decent moments on it, but there is really no comparison to the Tull output of the early seventies, when the band was in it's prime. It starts off well enough with "Mouse Police" but progresses with a series of unremarkable folk-rock songs punctuated only by the token heavy track "No Lullaby". The title track itself plods gainfully along like the cumbersome beasts it champions, repeating itself over and over until you find yourself feeling thankful when it eventually starts to fade. Oh, and there are some screeching violin noises on it that put me in mind of Stefan Grappelli on a bad day. Not much progressive rock to speak of here then. Give it a miss.