THICK AS A BRICK 2 (AKA: TAAB2)

Even though this is officially the sequel to Jethro Tull's brillaint Thick As A Brick album from 1972 and features several direct musical references to that classic Tull album, it actually reminds me much more of 1973's A Passion Play. Especially in light of the spoken word passages and the occasional (and admittedly discrete) presence of brass instruments. There is nothing here as ridiculous and silly as the "The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" story, but there is indeed a more whimsical nature to this album that is more in line with A Passion Play than with Thick As A Brick. As other reviewers have pointed out, there are also elements of and references to several other Jethro Tull albums from various eras.

While this is without doubt Ian Anderson's best solo album and a pretty good album in its own right, it does not compare all that favourably to the generally very strong Jethro Tull discography. Even if I can certainly think of a few Jethro Tull albums that fall below the present one, there are countless others that are just far better. Very enjoyable though this album is, it is actually only an average album judged by very high standards of Jethro Tull's vast but generally excellent output. I could hardly give this album the same high rating as such excellent classics as Heavy Horses, Minstrel In The Gallery, or Aqualung. But, as I hinted above, it compares rather well with A Passion Play in both style and stature. In my opinion, the two most recent Jethro Tull albums, the underrated Roots To Branches and Dot Com, are better than the present one.

TAAB2 was a very surprising and very welcome release, bound to please hungry Jethro Tull fans like myself. As such, it is certainly a recommended addition to any comprehensive Jethro Tull collection. But it is not quite as good as some starved fans have claimed.

Very good indeed, but not truly essential

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