Day 33, Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick

Stars: 3.75
Song: Well…it’s all one big song, so I’ll say Side A.
Money: 25$

For those of you who have only heard of Jethro Tull because of Anchorman, listen to Thick as a Brick. For those of you who only know Jethro Tull as “that band with a flute,” listen to Thick as a Brick. For those of you that think Juthro Tull is the name of a guy in the band, well you’re wrong, and you should really listen to Thick as a Brick.

This is Tull’s opus. It is the first full length, single song, concept album in rock and roll history, and it still stands as the most acclaimed. By me, at least. Jethro Tull, along with other British bands King Crimson and Yes pioneered the progressive rock movement out of the early 70’s. When Thick as a Brick came out in 1972, it caught prog’s wave which their previous, most popular, album Aqualung helped to create. Although Aqualung holds most of Tull’s greatest hits (as well as a mocking shout-out in one of the dumbest, yet most beloved movies of my generation), Thick as a Brick will remain their greatest achievement, even without any radio play; unless, of course, they ran the whole 46 minute piece.

It is possible to think of the album as a chain of rock songs, strung together by melodic and lyric themes, but it is easier to envision it as a classical piece that happens to rock really hard. The composition allows each movement to slowly blend instruments together, then settle into a melody, and eventually work their way into a repeated chord structure. Then, just how a classical piece rises and falls in and out of itself, we go through the process again in a completely new way. And just to remind you of where you are and what is perhaps 20 minutes behind you, Thick and a Brick quotes itself and revisits lyrics and melodies throughout.

The way Jethro Tull selectively uses certain instruments is also much like a symphony. Certain movements will have organ, some will have none; some movements will use flute, some won't; sometimes the guitar will be heavily distorted, and sometime it sound like an old acoustic in an Irish folk ensemble.