921 Jethro Tull - Heavy Horses (1978)

 921 Jethro Tull - Heavy Horses (1978)

Studio Album - Folk Rock



About the Act:

Jethro Tull have been in existence since 1967, with a 5-year break recently. They were named after an 18th Century agriculturalist. They are a British band, and could be thought of as a curiosity, had they not been so successful.

Folk in Britain comes in two main varieties, English Folk and Celtic Folk (mostly from Scotland and Ireland, but Northumberland and other places also join in). English Folk has developed a distinctive nasal style of singing. Jethro Tull have managed to successfully merge English Folk, Heavy Rock, and at times Classical and Progressive elements. They have managed to change styles with the times, while maintaining their Folk-Rock core sound.

Their frontman, Ian Anderson is a charismatic, mad wizard, who sings lead vocals and plays the flute (famously on one leg). He took flute playing into some quite inventive sounds, and with Heavy Rock (and sometimes otherwise) backing, writes and sings observational songs about life and people, in good Folk tradition, delivered in a heavily Folk vocal style. The result is instantly recognisable, iconic, and unique. The whole thing is delivered with humour, admittedly sometimes quite dark humour. To be honest, they probably would be thought of as a curiosity, if not for the consummate skill and musicianship of the whole band.

They have released 21 studio albums, have had a good deal of success, and have gone through musicians at quite a rate.


About the Album:

This is the eleventh studio album by the band. It charted in the UK, USA and Australia.


My History with this Album:

None


Review:

It's 1978 and Prog Rock is collapsing in the wake of Punk, and in fact by now so is Punk, but several bands have embraced a post-punk style. Jethro Tull had been releasing proggy albums, but instead of being tempted by the post-punk thing, they retreated into folk-rock, which to be honest was not a great distance from where they were. 

Musically, I'm not sure how to describe it, apart from it's core Jethro Tull. OK, let's try. Musically, it's rock, sometimes quite complex rock, with counter-points and shifting sections and odd rhythms at times. Layered over this is the use of folky melodic instruments, particularly Ian Anderson's flute, but also electric guitar, violin and others. The vocals are also Ian Anderson, and delivered in his normal nasal style, and recorded with fast echo and a squashed top end which makes it pretty hard to work out the words at times. 

Lyrically, well I thought it was fantasy stuff, but then read about the album, and found out it was much more down to earth than that. "The Mouse Police Never Sleeps" is about a cat. "Rover" is about a dog. "Heavy Horses" is about... heavy horses. There's both a nostalgia for times gone by, and a yearning for better times to come.

I enjoyed it, but I didn't think it compares to better albums by the band, or maybe just to albums I know better.


7.3/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/27EEeQwWctNFwKzbYYB7v4

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-BW_uEXq3cVxCk-t2NT5hVzH7Utu2zet

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Horses


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