Despite Jethro Tull basically being the Ian Anderson Show, he has at times felt constrained by the band dynamic and structure, and so has gone out on his own to do something under his own name.
Since the effective end of Jethro Tull in the mid-00s, Ian has been touring and releasing music under the moniker "Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson", to signify that it's Tull but with him being the only member. Like Jeff Lynn now with "Jeff Lynn's ELO". I sometimes feel sorry for Martin Barre though...
Well I'm seeing Ian in April 2018 for Jethro Tull's 50th Anniversary, and I thought I might talk about his solo studio efforts.
His first attempt, A (1980), ended up being released as a Tull album (and it's discussed in that post), but it's notable for its hard electronic left-turn from the previous folk sound of Tull. And it's with that in mind that we start...
Walk Into Light (1983)
So Ian Anderson solo album take 2. Sandwiched between the Tull albums Broadsword and Under Wraps, Walk Into Light is a full, headlong dive in to electronica. Only two people play on it: Ian and Peter-John Vettese. Peter had been the keyboardist for Tull since the recording of Broadsword, and is surprisingly heavily involved in the writing on this album - being credited as co-writer on 5/10 tracks, which is the most Ian has basically ever shared writing on an album.
There are no drums on this album, and guitars are few and far between. It's basically flute, vocals and SYNTHESISERS. Synths layered on synths layered on synths, layered on synth-affected vocals. This is basically pure electronica.
So what are the songs like? The opener is the best by a long way - Fly By Night. The riff and beat are catchy, the vocals are simple but also catchy. It's hard to dislike, even with the 80s screaming at you with every second that passes.
The rest of the album is mixed. A lot of it is fine, and some songs hint at proggyness with some changing tempos and sections (the title track, Toad In The Hole, Different Germany). But a lot is forgettable, and kind of blends together. I've had this album for 2.5 years now, and I couldn't remember what the songs sounded like by name. Which for me is very poor.
An album for completionists, sure. And it would have been improved with some more guitars, and real drums. But it's no better or worse than A or Under Wraps.
Divinities: Twelve Dances With God (1995)
It took over 20 more years for Ian's second solo effort. And it has absolutely nothing in common with the previous. Again, to set the context this lives between the Tull albums Catfish Rising and Roots To Branches. In fact, Roots was released the same year, 4 months after Divinities.
Divinities is an instrumental and worldly exploration of religion and faith. No room for lyrics here. In fact, no room for any rock instruments at all - this is basically New-Age Classical music. And no single faith or religion particularly - as the cover tries to represent that this is a holistic view of them all.
Musically, we explore a lot of areas here. In The Grip Of Stronger Stuff has a folky feel - almost a jig. In The Moneylender's Temple has a more straight-up prog flute riff (and so feels like one of the more 'Tull'-ish songs). Some of the others have more obvious influences. En Afrique, In The Pay Of Spain, and In The Times Of India all sound, you guessed it, African, Spanish and Indian.
If you've read my Tull post, you may put 2 and 2 together and note that Roots To Branches is when Tull started sounding more 'World Music'-ey. Well it seems to have started here folks. I would argue over half of this album, given some electric guitars and vocals, could have slid without any difficulty on to Roots, or even J-Tull Dot Com.
I do like parts of this album, but it's very light, very airy. There isn't a lot of meat to chew on. It's good as background music, but it doesn't demand to be listened to.
The Secret Language Of Birds (2000)
Coming between the Tull albums J-Tull Dot Com and The Jethro Tull Christmas Album is this naturalistic sounding album. The title track was a secret bonus track on J-Tull Dot Com too, as a tease/trailer of sorts.
This album basically carryies on the world and ethnic sound of the previous solo effort, and the recent Tull albums (Roots and J-Tull), but with vocals. We get a mix of Indian, African, Russian and Celtic influences smattered across the album. It's unclear with this was a purposeful move to differentiate this solo album from the band, but there aren't many electrical instruments in sight. This is flute heavy, and almost entirely acoustic throughout. As such it has quite a light and airy feel, and if not for the lyrics would basically be the New-Age Classical music of the previous album. Although this album is a bit more jolly sounding...
The liner notes of the album have little introductions penned by Anderson to give a little explanation for each song. I can leave you look those up on Wikipedia. But examples of the weird array of topics covered are: birds (the title track, obviously), bottled water (The Water Carrier), chilli peppers (The Habanero Reel), and Boris Yeltsin (Boris Dancing - apparently Ian saw a video of Boris dancing and decided to try and put music to it...).
I'll be honest. Much like half of Fly By Night, I can barely remember these songs by title alone. This just isn't an album I put on very often. Because of the light, acoustic sound (and perhaps when I bought it), I associate it with summer. And as I live in England, it very rarely feels like summer so that it's a good time to put the album on.
However, flicking through the songs now, all of it is pretty good. Though I can't particularly highlight anything as standing out. I think I prefer the next solo album overall, but there's nothing bad to say about this one.
This album basically carryies on the world and ethnic sound of the previous solo effort, and the recent Tull albums (Roots and J-Tull), but with vocals. We get a mix of Indian, African, Russian and Celtic influences smattered across the album. It's unclear with this was a purposeful move to differentiate this solo album from the band, but there aren't many electrical instruments in sight. This is flute heavy, and almost entirely acoustic throughout. As such it has quite a light and airy feel, and if not for the lyrics would basically be the New-Age Classical music of the previous album. Although this album is a bit more jolly sounding...
The liner notes of the album have little introductions penned by Anderson to give a little explanation for each song. I can leave you look those up on Wikipedia. But examples of the weird array of topics covered are: birds (the title track, obviously), bottled water (The Water Carrier), chilli peppers (The Habanero Reel), and Boris Yeltsin (Boris Dancing - apparently Ian saw a video of Boris dancing and decided to try and put music to it...).
I'll be honest. Much like half of Fly By Night, I can barely remember these songs by title alone. This just isn't an album I put on very often. Because of the light, acoustic sound (and perhaps when I bought it), I associate it with summer. And as I live in England, it very rarely feels like summer so that it's a good time to put the album on.
However, flicking through the songs now, all of it is pretty good. Though I can't particularly highlight anything as standing out. I think I prefer the next solo album overall, but there's nothing bad to say about this one.
Rupi's Dance (2003)
According to my iTunes, I've listened to Rupi's Dance about the same amount as Secret Language, but somehow I remember this album a lot more. I think each song has a more distinctive sound, and the lyrical topics are more accessible than on the previous album.
This album came out a few months before Tull's last album: The Jethro Tull Christmas Album. And it's with this album that we kind of mark the beginning of the Anderson solo albums that could quite have easily been labelled as 'Jethro Tull' and no one would have noticed. The only obvious omission is Martin Barre, which means that the electrics are few and far between, and not a single guitar solo - they're all replaced by flute solos. Although unlike Secret Language, there is more electric guitar sprinkled throughout (most noticeably on Lost In Crowds).
My favourite track is probably the aforementioned Lost in Crowds. It switches between light acoustic verses, and heavy choruses. And the lyrics are easily empathised with - they concern the experience of feeling lost and alone in crowds of other people. But also, more personally for Anderson, they describe being famous enough to get invited to celebrity parties, but not famous enough for anyone to recognise him.
Calliandra Shade is also worth mentioning as a song about drinking cappuccinos in a café while watching the world go by. Two Short Planks seems to be about feeling really stupid when it comes to doing DIY. We also get a number of songs about Anderson's cat (Rupi's Dance, Old Black Cat), who it seems the album was dedicated to.
I guess what makes this album stand out more so than Jethro Tull/Anderson songs more generally is that the lyrics are all about every day life. There are no ridiculous fantasies (see below...), no pretentious musings on the big questions. It's an everyday album for everyday life.
In terms of music, we seem to depart slightly from the 'world music' influences a bit. Anderson primarily sticks in a folky, but still slightly proggy, rock lane. Sure, we get some tambourine drums, and a string quartet in places, but it's quite Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll. And, as I say above, all it needs is the odd guitar solo and no one would bat an eye if it was labelled a Jethro Tull album.
This album came out a few months before Tull's last album: The Jethro Tull Christmas Album. And it's with this album that we kind of mark the beginning of the Anderson solo albums that could quite have easily been labelled as 'Jethro Tull' and no one would have noticed. The only obvious omission is Martin Barre, which means that the electrics are few and far between, and not a single guitar solo - they're all replaced by flute solos. Although unlike Secret Language, there is more electric guitar sprinkled throughout (most noticeably on Lost In Crowds).
My favourite track is probably the aforementioned Lost in Crowds. It switches between light acoustic verses, and heavy choruses. And the lyrics are easily empathised with - they concern the experience of feeling lost and alone in crowds of other people. But also, more personally for Anderson, they describe being famous enough to get invited to celebrity parties, but not famous enough for anyone to recognise him.
Calliandra Shade is also worth mentioning as a song about drinking cappuccinos in a café while watching the world go by. Two Short Planks seems to be about feeling really stupid when it comes to doing DIY. We also get a number of songs about Anderson's cat (Rupi's Dance, Old Black Cat), who it seems the album was dedicated to.
I guess what makes this album stand out more so than Jethro Tull/Anderson songs more generally is that the lyrics are all about every day life. There are no ridiculous fantasies (see below...), no pretentious musings on the big questions. It's an everyday album for everyday life.
In terms of music, we seem to depart slightly from the 'world music' influences a bit. Anderson primarily sticks in a folky, but still slightly proggy, rock lane. Sure, we get some tambourine drums, and a string quartet in places, but it's quite Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll. And, as I say above, all it needs is the odd guitar solo and no one would bat an eye if it was labelled a Jethro Tull album.
Thick As A Brick 2 (2012)
I discussed TaaB2 and the next album briefly in an old post on a different blog about my favourite 'Modern' albums. So apologies if you have read that, there may be some repetition.
Jethro Tull sort of came to end as a distinct entity in the mid 2000s. Soon after, Anderson assembled a band and styled it as 'Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson'. As such, this is technically an Anderson solo album, although it was clearly marketed in a way that highlighted the Jethro Tull name. This isn't surprising at all, given that it's a sequel to the 1972 Thick As A Brick.
Bear with me. Thick As A Brick was a joke concept album, which involved an 8 year old boy named Gerald Bostock. Bostock allegedly wrote a lengthy poem about growing up, which Tull then put music to and released as an album. Of course, the whole think was a joke as Anderson had written all the lyrics himself, taking the perspective of the fictional Bostock (although many believed the story to be true at the time).
In many ways, it's odd calling TaaB2 a 'sequel'. Because this isn't a second poem written by Bostock. Instead, Anderson is explicitly writing as himself, but the album lyrics describe 5 alternate histories which Bostock's life may have taken.
The album is sort of split in to 3 phases or Acts. The first 3 songs introduce the concept, and concern 'What ifs, Maybes and Might-Have-Beens'. In other words: throughout our lives, we make decisions and take paths... but what if we'd made a different decision, or taken a different path?
The middle 10 or so songs are split in to groups of 2, each describing a different life. In order, Bostock either: became a rich 'high flown banker', a homosexual homeless man (some of the lyrics for this bit are a tad cringey), a soldier, a preacher, or an ordinary corner shop owner. Quite the range. And the musical styles try and reflect the tones.
For the banker, we have heavy electric guitar riffs which create an upbeat and flush feel. The preacher has some organ, the soldier has strings, and the corner shop owner has horns.
We then get the 8-minute long song Change of Horses. Which has a bit of a military feel about it, while the lyrics describe coming home, and living a life free of regrets. It feels like a transition in to the final part of the album.
The last 3 songs return to the topic of the first 3. They bring together the 5 different lives and compare how they would feel in old age. Kismet In Suburbia is my favourite song on the album, in fact.
This album takes a lot of describing, but I really love it. There are musical throwbacks to TaaB1 as well. The album opens very similarly to the second side of TaaB1, which creates a feeling of continuity and ease as you slip into this second album. Old School Song's primary riff is taken straight from (approximately) minute 35 of TaaB1 - old school indeed. And the final seconds of the album replicate the final seconds of TaaB1 too. I only wish Martin Barre was playing the guitars.
And for those who thought that this concept was hard to follow, I wish you luck for the next one...
Jethro Tull sort of came to end as a distinct entity in the mid 2000s. Soon after, Anderson assembled a band and styled it as 'Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson'. As such, this is technically an Anderson solo album, although it was clearly marketed in a way that highlighted the Jethro Tull name. This isn't surprising at all, given that it's a sequel to the 1972 Thick As A Brick.
Bear with me. Thick As A Brick was a joke concept album, which involved an 8 year old boy named Gerald Bostock. Bostock allegedly wrote a lengthy poem about growing up, which Tull then put music to and released as an album. Of course, the whole think was a joke as Anderson had written all the lyrics himself, taking the perspective of the fictional Bostock (although many believed the story to be true at the time).
In many ways, it's odd calling TaaB2 a 'sequel'. Because this isn't a second poem written by Bostock. Instead, Anderson is explicitly writing as himself, but the album lyrics describe 5 alternate histories which Bostock's life may have taken.
The album is sort of split in to 3 phases or Acts. The first 3 songs introduce the concept, and concern 'What ifs, Maybes and Might-Have-Beens'. In other words: throughout our lives, we make decisions and take paths... but what if we'd made a different decision, or taken a different path?
The middle 10 or so songs are split in to groups of 2, each describing a different life. In order, Bostock either: became a rich 'high flown banker', a homosexual homeless man (some of the lyrics for this bit are a tad cringey), a soldier, a preacher, or an ordinary corner shop owner. Quite the range. And the musical styles try and reflect the tones.
For the banker, we have heavy electric guitar riffs which create an upbeat and flush feel. The preacher has some organ, the soldier has strings, and the corner shop owner has horns.
We then get the 8-minute long song Change of Horses. Which has a bit of a military feel about it, while the lyrics describe coming home, and living a life free of regrets. It feels like a transition in to the final part of the album.
The last 3 songs return to the topic of the first 3. They bring together the 5 different lives and compare how they would feel in old age. Kismet In Suburbia is my favourite song on the album, in fact.
This album takes a lot of describing, but I really love it. There are musical throwbacks to TaaB1 as well. The album opens very similarly to the second side of TaaB1, which creates a feeling of continuity and ease as you slip into this second album. Old School Song's primary riff is taken straight from (approximately) minute 35 of TaaB1 - old school indeed. And the final seconds of the album replicate the final seconds of TaaB1 too. I only wish Martin Barre was playing the guitars.
And for those who thought that this concept was hard to follow, I wish you luck for the next one...
Homo Erraticus (2014)
You might need a drink for this one. Remember, this is all a fictional set-up made up by Anderson:
Gerald Bostock, now in his 50s (unclear which one of the 5 potential futures from TaaB2 came true...), discovers a book in a local shop, 'Homo Britanicus Erraticus'. This book was written by the (also fictional) historian Ernest T Paritt who died in 1928. The book was written by Paritt after a particularly bad case of malaria which induced extremely vivid hallucinations. In those hallucinations, Paritt thought that he was remembering his own past lives as different people throughout the history of Great Britain. Not only that, but he had visions of his future lives as well. It is within Homo Britanicus Erraticus that Paritt detailed these visions. Bostock finds the book intriguing, and decides to once again turn his pen to poetry as he did so many years ago for TaaB1. Bostock hands the poems to Anderson, who decides to put music to them for this album.
If that isn't the most ridiculous, prog, concept for an album ever then please tell me what is!
The result, is a collection of songs which each tell a little story about an individual (only one of whom is famous: Prince Albert) in British history. Of course, as the fictional Paritt died in 1928, the songs about the period afterwards are a bit sketchy in their historical accuracy, and get pretty wild once we get past the period we're currently in. But I'll come back to that.
So what periods are covered? Well we start with the first settlers who came to Britain over the Doggerland (the piece of land which used to connect Britain to mainland Europe). Then we move through the Iron Age, the introduction of Christianity, the beginnings of pub culture, grammar schools, the building of the railways and industrial revolution, and the aforementioned Prince Albert.
Following this, we get the first round of 'prophecies', the first of which covers World War II. The second covers the normalisation of international travel, and the package holiday.
The second round of 'prophecies' firstly concern our present. About out of control capitalism and austerity for the poor, destroying the countryside, and overpopulation. Then we enter the future, with a spoken word piece about space travel, and how alien civilisations don't want us to spread our problems across the galaxies - but it's ok because we'll probably end up destroying our own planet before we get the ability to spread. The final song is basically a lament on the self-destructive nature of man.
Now, this is probably the most political album Anderson has ever written. And here are some things I take away from it (I may be wrong). Anderson doesn't understand the anti-immigration, nationalistic feelings that many have, as we all came from somewhere else, and to travel is to be human (Homo Erraticus is Latin for Wandering Man). The theme of preserving the countryside and environment arises several times. In The Browning Of The Green, we get the (some might say controversial) sentiment that part of the overpopulation problem can be sourced to families who have too many children that they (and society) can afford to keep (there is also a negative reference to 'child benefits coming for free'...), and possibly religious doctrines which teach against contraception. And the end note of the album certainly leads one to suspect Anderson has become more cynical about the direction humanity is going in, in his old age.
Oh right, the music! Yes there is music too. But before that, a note on Anderson's voice. Clearly, he's getting older. And he was never a fantastic vocalist. And the throat surgery in 1987 didn't help. On TaaB2 you could detect some cracks, some stretches. And on Homo Erraticus it's even more prominent. To help out, there is a back up singer (Ryan O'Donnell) who pops up here and there. It isn't a huge deal, but it's a sad reminder that Anderson just can't quite hit the high notes any more.
So the music: it's fantastic. The roots are plainly in folk and prog rock, although there is a slight metal feel to some of the guitar work (see Turnpike Inn). The flute work is still top notch, and the keys are quite prominent which is a slight change. As other reviewers have claimed, this is as close to classic prog rock as you're going to find in 2014.
Of all of Jethro Tull and Ian Anderson albums, this is the album with the highest average listen count according to my iTunes (Although I put this partly down to it being a new-ish album when I got my current iPod, so the numbers don't include pre-2014ish listens, which would of course be a lot).
Before moving on, a quick note on track 3, Enter The Uninvited. This track is meant to cover the Roman invasion of Great Britain. And it does, for the first half. But, probably in an attempt to purposely confuse the narrative, the latter half describes C21st pop culture. We get references to Mad Men, The West Wing, and The Walking Dead. And even a line about Officer Rick killing zombies. I can't help but point this out, because Anderson's daughter is married to the actor who plays Rick - Andrew Lincoln. It's weird detail that always pulls me out of the experience.
Gerald Bostock, now in his 50s (unclear which one of the 5 potential futures from TaaB2 came true...), discovers a book in a local shop, 'Homo Britanicus Erraticus'. This book was written by the (also fictional) historian Ernest T Paritt who died in 1928. The book was written by Paritt after a particularly bad case of malaria which induced extremely vivid hallucinations. In those hallucinations, Paritt thought that he was remembering his own past lives as different people throughout the history of Great Britain. Not only that, but he had visions of his future lives as well. It is within Homo Britanicus Erraticus that Paritt detailed these visions. Bostock finds the book intriguing, and decides to once again turn his pen to poetry as he did so many years ago for TaaB1. Bostock hands the poems to Anderson, who decides to put music to them for this album.
If that isn't the most ridiculous, prog, concept for an album ever then please tell me what is!
The result, is a collection of songs which each tell a little story about an individual (only one of whom is famous: Prince Albert) in British history. Of course, as the fictional Paritt died in 1928, the songs about the period afterwards are a bit sketchy in their historical accuracy, and get pretty wild once we get past the period we're currently in. But I'll come back to that.
So what periods are covered? Well we start with the first settlers who came to Britain over the Doggerland (the piece of land which used to connect Britain to mainland Europe). Then we move through the Iron Age, the introduction of Christianity, the beginnings of pub culture, grammar schools, the building of the railways and industrial revolution, and the aforementioned Prince Albert.
Following this, we get the first round of 'prophecies', the first of which covers World War II. The second covers the normalisation of international travel, and the package holiday.
The second round of 'prophecies' firstly concern our present. About out of control capitalism and austerity for the poor, destroying the countryside, and overpopulation. Then we enter the future, with a spoken word piece about space travel, and how alien civilisations don't want us to spread our problems across the galaxies - but it's ok because we'll probably end up destroying our own planet before we get the ability to spread. The final song is basically a lament on the self-destructive nature of man.
Now, this is probably the most political album Anderson has ever written. And here are some things I take away from it (I may be wrong). Anderson doesn't understand the anti-immigration, nationalistic feelings that many have, as we all came from somewhere else, and to travel is to be human (Homo Erraticus is Latin for Wandering Man). The theme of preserving the countryside and environment arises several times. In The Browning Of The Green, we get the (some might say controversial) sentiment that part of the overpopulation problem can be sourced to families who have too many children that they (and society) can afford to keep (there is also a negative reference to 'child benefits coming for free'...), and possibly religious doctrines which teach against contraception. And the end note of the album certainly leads one to suspect Anderson has become more cynical about the direction humanity is going in, in his old age.
Oh right, the music! Yes there is music too. But before that, a note on Anderson's voice. Clearly, he's getting older. And he was never a fantastic vocalist. And the throat surgery in 1987 didn't help. On TaaB2 you could detect some cracks, some stretches. And on Homo Erraticus it's even more prominent. To help out, there is a back up singer (Ryan O'Donnell) who pops up here and there. It isn't a huge deal, but it's a sad reminder that Anderson just can't quite hit the high notes any more.
So the music: it's fantastic. The roots are plainly in folk and prog rock, although there is a slight metal feel to some of the guitar work (see Turnpike Inn). The flute work is still top notch, and the keys are quite prominent which is a slight change. As other reviewers have claimed, this is as close to classic prog rock as you're going to find in 2014.
Of all of Jethro Tull and Ian Anderson albums, this is the album with the highest average listen count according to my iTunes (Although I put this partly down to it being a new-ish album when I got my current iPod, so the numbers don't include pre-2014ish listens, which would of course be a lot).
Before moving on, a quick note on track 3, Enter The Uninvited. This track is meant to cover the Roman invasion of Great Britain. And it does, for the first half. But, probably in an attempt to purposely confuse the narrative, the latter half describes C21st pop culture. We get references to Mad Men, The West Wing, and The Walking Dead. And even a line about Officer Rick killing zombies. I can't help but point this out, because Anderson's daughter is married to the actor who plays Rick - Andrew Lincoln. It's weird detail that always pulls me out of the experience.
Jethro Tull - The String Quartets (2017)
Why have I included this, but not Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull? Because I consider the latter a 'live album', and I don't include those. Yes it's arbitrary. If you'd like a quick word on it: I don't like it very much, the song choice is odd, and Anderson's voice isn't great.
So is Jethro Tull - The String Quartets a Jethro Tull album, or an Ian Anderson album? Who knows? I'd say it's the latter because Anderson is the only person in it other than the string quartet (and his usual keyboardist, but shh).
This album is a kind of 'best of' Jethro Tull, but with almost all of the vocals stripped out, and the main instruments being strings and flute. Anderson seems to have quite the appreciation of classical instruments, so doing this is unsurprising.
My favourite thing about this album are the names of the tracks. Each is slightly altered in some way to distinguish it from the original song it's based on (e.g. Aquafuge for Aqualung). There are also some fun mash ups (Songs and Horses is a mashup of Songs From The Wood and Heavy Horses).
The music is clearly very impressive. And there are some variations and additions to the arrangements which are interesting to hear. As I said, the vocals are mostly removed, with Anderson's flute providing the melody lines.
I think this album is nicely summed up by how I think when I hear one of the songs come on: 'huh, that's nice for a change'. But that's just it, they're not what I reach for regularly. There isn't quite enough 'meat' to latch on to.
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So that's Anderson done. I imagine this will be updated soon-ish though as he is set to release a new album early 2019. Although he has been vague about whether it will be released as a solo album, or as a full blown Jethro Tull album (which would be the first in 16 years!). We will see... It doesn't really matter though either way, especially if it is as good as TaaB2 and Homo Erraticus.
So is Jethro Tull - The String Quartets a Jethro Tull album, or an Ian Anderson album? Who knows? I'd say it's the latter because Anderson is the only person in it other than the string quartet (and his usual keyboardist, but shh).
This album is a kind of 'best of' Jethro Tull, but with almost all of the vocals stripped out, and the main instruments being strings and flute. Anderson seems to have quite the appreciation of classical instruments, so doing this is unsurprising.
My favourite thing about this album are the names of the tracks. Each is slightly altered in some way to distinguish it from the original song it's based on (e.g. Aquafuge for Aqualung). There are also some fun mash ups (Songs and Horses is a mashup of Songs From The Wood and Heavy Horses).
The music is clearly very impressive. And there are some variations and additions to the arrangements which are interesting to hear. As I said, the vocals are mostly removed, with Anderson's flute providing the melody lines.
I think this album is nicely summed up by how I think when I hear one of the songs come on: 'huh, that's nice for a change'. But that's just it, they're not what I reach for regularly. There isn't quite enough 'meat' to latch on to.
---------------------------------------
So that's Anderson done. I imagine this will be updated soon-ish though as he is set to release a new album early 2019. Although he has been vague about whether it will be released as a solo album, or as a full blown Jethro Tull album (which would be the first in 16 years!). We will see... It doesn't really matter though either way, especially if it is as good as TaaB2 and Homo Erraticus.
Update - Never mind! After Homo Erraticus, Anderson revived the Jethro Tull brand name. So new albums are dealt with under that title...
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