659 Jethro Tull - Songs from the Wood (1977)

 659 Jethro Tull - Songs from the Wood (1977)

Studio Album - Progressive 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 was the band's 10th album, and signals a return to more folky roots.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

Heavy Metal does supernatural evil, Country does relationship misery, and Folk Rock does paganism. This album is a thematic collection of songs inspired by pagan myths and country living. Some songs are about personification of nature, some are about sex, and some I'm not so sure about. Oh, one is about bells. Solstice bells.

The music is a complement between rock (electric guitar, drums, synth, bass) and folk (acoustic guitar, mandolin, medieval percussion, other things and of course flute.) This is all wrapped up in complex counterpoint, odd time signatures and unusual progressions and structures, the sort of thing that is usually labelled as "Prog Rock", and the sort of thing I enjoy quite a lot. The playing is superb, the music is complex, the singing is mumbled and nasal, the songs are interesting.

I enjoyed it.

8/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3hqr2lQ7zQdnyguyuID177

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8C0E1E6459D10DCE

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



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