THICK AS A BRICK

There are a lot of popular prog albums around. But there's this thing about most popular prog albums, and that's that they're popular with mostly just prog fans. Thick as a Brick is the album, I've found, to perfectly unite the common listeners and the music nerds into one group. Something about this album resonates with almost everyone who listens to it. Almost everywhere I've looked, it's topping lists of the best prog albums of all time still. Clearly, something aligned for the band with this release, but I'm afraid it never aligned anywhere near this well at any other point in their career. Still, for a high point of a band history, pretty much every other band has done worse than Jethro Tull.

As far as a concept album goes, it's more or less standard fare. The idea of the 45 minute song is a fun one, though I and most others have gotten used to it being divided into two pieces. Nevertheless, those two tracks turn the previous albums' tendencies towards rock into straight progressive rock with a lot of folk thrown in there. The shift is dramatic if the music is surveyed chronologically. Muddy electric guitars suddenly become crisp acoustic ones, the flute becomes an undisputed lead instrument, and the keyboards suddenly have a much higher place in the band's pecking order. Also, as evidenced by the two wonderfully long solos in the beginning of the second part, the drumming is mighty impressive.

I can't even say that everything's already been said about this album without accidentally quoting a dozen other reviews, anyways. This is looked at much more thoroughly by others more qualified to do so, but I still feel like adding my voice to the choir here and saying, yes, this album is undeniably a classic. Buy it now.

And that's my advice. If you like progressive music at all--it doesn't matter if your a big neo-prog fan or if you are into technical death metal--this release is completely essential.

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