790 Jethro Tull - Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll (1976)

Studio Album - Progressive 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 was their ninth studio album, and the last to be considered a concept album. It was 1976 and Punk was about to kill Prog.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

My awareness of the Mighty Tull is growing, having encountered some of their albums through reviewing them. This is apparently one of their least popular albums, but I like it. It might be one of their most "progressive" in that the musical structures, especially time signatures, rhythms and changes, but also some of their harmonic approaches, are quite prog, in other words complex.

Let's get to basics though, what is it like? Well take some fairly heavy folk rock, with a focus on some virtuoso and inventive flute, and with folky approaches to rhythm and at times structure, and tune I guess, and blend in some blues/rock, and then complicate the whole thing with musical cleverness.  There's some great guitar work at times too and the musical realisation of this is excellent. It revels in its cleverness which is what good prog should do. Mostly it's not music to dance to unless you have a limp, three wooden legs, and hiccoughs.

The vocals - well this is a permanent feature of Jethro Tull, Ian Anderson has quite a recognisable voice, and his delivery is quite nasal and folky, and in my opinion one of the strongest reasons they get identified as folk (and the subject matter sometimes). It can be hard to make out the words at times, partly because of the delivery, partly the production. This album seems to particularly enjoy double-tracking his voice, often singing in two different octaves.

The content - well it's apparently a concept album about an ageing rocker who goes into a coma and when he wakes up he is back in fashion. I would say that you have to be told this to recognise it, as the songs are somewhat perpendicular to the story at times. This means they work well as stand-alone story songs, but piecing them together is not straightforward. Some critics have criticised this aspect, but to be honest I am happy to put that aside and just enjoy the songs

And I did. It was a good listen, and as I often feel with Jethro Tull, I would probably get more out of it over a number of listens. There are layers.

8/10

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4s6pr9xh2U8dgiOvgF6hbU

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfGibfZATlGotchhET7XNxxmdQ01OXJsI

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too_Old_to_Rock_%27n%27_Roll:_Too_Young_to_Die!