Jethro Tull - Aqualung (1971)

"Aqualung" is the fourth studio album by the rock band Jethro Tull. Released in 1971, "Aqualung", despite the band's disapproval, is regarded as a concept album featuring a central theme of "the distinction between religion and God". The album's "dour musings on faith and religion" have marked it as "one of the most cerebral albums ever to reach millions of rock listeners". Aqualung's success marked a turning point in the band's career, with them going on to become a major radio and touring act.

After veering sharply from the blues inluences of their debut, This Was, Jethro Tull's sound quickly coalesced around jazz-tinged English folk influences and the antics of frontman/flautist Ian Anderson. But it was guitarist Martin Barre's swaggering riff off the title track of the band's fourth album that would become Tull's indelibly clichéd trademark and the band's entrée into a long reign as arena-rock perennials. But there's a lot more to Aqualung than the riffage of that cut and its cousins, "Cross-Eyed Mary" and "Locomotive Breath." In an era when pseudo-Christian spirituality was a de rigueur, if cheap, musical commodity (from the overblown operatics of Jesus Christ Superstar to one-hit pop wonders such as "Spirit in the Sky" and "Put Your Hand in the Hand"), Anderson and company openly challenged the value of organized religion with a thematic album savvy enough to layer its thought-provoking lyrics between heavy strata of FM-friendly guitar bedrock.

Tracklist

01.  Aqualung  (Ian Anderson, Jennie Anderson)  - 6:34

02.  Cross-Eyed Mary  (Ian Anderson)  - 4:06

03.  Cheap Day Return  (Ian Anderson)  - 1:21

04.  Mother Goose  (Ian Anderson)  - 3:51

05.  Wond'ring Aloud  (Ian Anderson)  - 1:53

06.  Up to Me  (Ian Anderson)  - 3:15

07.  My God  (Ian Anderson)  - 7:08

08.  Hymn 43  (Ian Anderson)  - 3:14

09.  Slipstream  (Ian Anderson)  - 1:13

10.  Locomotive Breath  (Ian Anderson)  - 4:23

11.  Wind Up  (Ian Anderson)  - 6:01

Personnel

Ian Anderson - vocals, acoustic guitar, flute

Martin Barre - electric guitar, descant recorder

John Evan - piano, organ, mellotron

Jeffrey Hammond - bass guitar, alto recorder and odd voices

Clive Bunker - drums and percussion

Glenn Cornick - bass guitar

David Palmer - orchestral arrangements and conduction

Notes
Released:  19 March 1971

Recorded at:  Island Studios, Basing Street, London

Genre:  Progressive Rock

Length:  42:55

Label:  Chrysalis

Producer:  Ian Anderson, Terry Ellis

(16) Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick (1972)

"Thick As A Brick" is a concept album, and the fifth studio album, by the English progressive rock band Jethro Tull released in 1972. Its lyrics are based on a poem written by a fictitious boy, Gerald Bostock, said to have been adapted to music by Jethro Tull although the band's Ian Anderson in fact wrote the lyrics himself. The album features only one song, lasting nearly 44 minutes.
Mixing hard rock and English folk music with classical influences, set to stream-of-consciousness lyrics so dense with imagery that one might spend weeks pondering their meaning assuming one feels the need to do so the group created a dazzling tour de force, at once playful, profound, and challenging, without overwhelming the listener.
The music on here drowns in it's own sophistication, refinement and high-class; the musicianship and it's high-class is something that shouldn't be taken too lightly, and should be the envy of many a musician and a listener. It starts off with acoustic guitar, followed by the flute, then Ian's vocals. The piece takes off from there. From there you will find tremendous melody, some hard rock, folk, jazz, and classical influences combined with many different shifts in tempo and time, and the band pulls no punches, as musical ideas keep flowing and flowing into each other like one huge piece, until the climactic end. It's divided into two halves. To be quite honest, the whole thing sounds like one gigantic classical piece, only with rock added.

Tracklist

1.  Thick as a Brick, Part I  - 22:40
2.  Thick as a Brick, Part II  - 21:06

Released:  10 March 1972
Recorded at:  Morgan Studios, London
Genre:  Progressive Rock
Length:  43:46
Label:  Chrysalis
Producer:  Ian Anderson
Written by:  "Gerald Bostock" (Ian Anderson)

Personnel
Ian Anderson – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, flute, violin, trumpet, saxophone
Martin Barre – electric guitar, lute
John Evan – piano, organ, harpsichord
Jeffrey Hammond - Bass guitar, Vocals
Barriemore Barlow – drums, percussion, timpani
David Palmer – Brass and string arrangements