763 Jethro Tull - A Passion Play (1973)

Studio Album - Prog 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 the band's 6th studio album, and was recorded in England after an aborted attempt to record a double album in France.

My History with this Album:

A couple of years ago, I embarked on a similar quest to this one, reviewing the best 328 Prog Rock albums, which included several Jethro Tull albums, one of which was this one. I'm not sure I had heard it before then. I have listened to it again twice for this review. Sometimes when I encounter an album I previously reviewed, I edit and reproduce the same review. I'm not going to do that this time, not because my opinion has changed, but because the context has. The previous review was more geared towards a prog readership. My score has not changed, which is encouraging.

Review:

I'm going to talk about this album in isolation first, and then give some context.

This is a very prog rock album, it is a concept album with a story behind it (which is not easy to extract from the lyrics although you get hints). Musically, it is very prog, with complex interplay of instruments, featuring Rock Organ, Guitar and Flute particularly, odd time signatures, odd and sometimes discordant harmonies, two long tracks that evolve, shift, move and do reprises all of the time. It is at times reminiscent of classic prog bands like Van Der Graaf Generator or Genesis. As such, it may be less appealing to some people, but it was very appealing to me. There are elements of folk and classical in here, and lots of styles. There is also a bizarre shift at the start of side two as a seemingly unrelated story about a hare loosing its spectacles, narrated by someone with a strong Lancashire accent, with musical backing. It's a bit like Alan Bennet crossed with Peter and the Wolf. The rest of the album has singing by Ian Anderson, in his folky slightly nasal style, and the lyrics contain lots of word-play, and a repeated line "there was a rush along the Fulham Road".

I loved it, this is my kind of prog, complex and clever, and a lot to dig into. Possibly, though, less appealing if you are not a prog fan.

Now for the context. Two albums before this, Jethro Tull made Aqualung. The prog-loving crowd hailed it as a an excellent prog album. The band were amused by this, claiming that it was not a prog album, but their next album, Thick as a Brick was a spoof prog album in response. The problem was that prog is too grandiose for a spoof to work, and in fact it was hailed as an excellent prog album. This album came next, and I think that at this point the band had bowed to inevitability and embraced the idea of being prog properly. Finally, I agree, I think that this is an excellent prog album.

8.2/10

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7dYWKZPXh2M8WItGwwq7Gi

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiRoPIsKLQTeBzZwDV8zknFwBhEEGUUf_

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