Now for the other side of that equation.
Disc 259 is...Broadsword and the Beast
Artist: Jethro Tull
Year of Release: 1982
What’s Up With The Cover?: Only one of the most kick ass covers ever. I'd just like to take a moment and give a big shout out to all those prog bands out there that work so hard to make these kind of ridiculous, over-the-top, 'I roll D20s recreationally, kind of cover art. Here we have a faerie feller with a broadsword - no doubt preparing to deliver his master stroke. If you know that last reference congratulations - you know you're prog rock.
How I Came To Know It: I have known Jethro Tull since my old room-mate Greg brought home "Aqualung" and "Thick As a Brick" back in the early nineties. This album I only knew through a T shirt my buddy Kelly owned. He didn't have the record, but found the cover art irresistable, like any sane person would. I bought some Jethro Tull, because the other Jethro Tull albums I'd heard all appealed to me (the above two plus an earlier one called "Stand Up" my friend Tony brought over). I bought this particular album for the cover art - duh.
How It Stacks Up: I only have this one Jethro Tull album, so it can't really stack up. I will say that it isn't as good as any of the other three I've heard that are owned by friends. I guess details matter.
Rating: 2 stars. It could have made it to three, but it was guilty of some cardinal sins, which I could not forgive (see below).
Just kidding! Jethro Tull is the name of a prog band, that features a guy who can play the flute standing on one foot. They are mostly famous for their albums from the late sixties and seventies, but were still going in 1982 when they put out "Broadsword and the Beast".
Prog bands never feel particularly bound by what they are 'supposed' to sound like - a quality that endears them to their fans as much as it alienates them from everyone else. I like this quality, but it has an interesting effect in the early 1980s, when synthesizers became a big deal in musical production.
These bands decided they needed to incorporate this new sound. The Blue Oyster Cult equivalent would be "Revolution By Night", and succeeds admirably well. "Broadsword and the Beast" is no "Revolution By Night" but it is certainly passable.
Where Blue Oyster Cult went for the way synth evokes the extra-terrestrial, Jethro Tull uses it to make the songs majestic, and fantastical. This decision makes the whole album sound in large part like the theme music to an early eighties fantasy movie. Think "Ladyhawke" but where the music doesn't completely suck.
As a result of their production decisions, the best songs on this album are the ones that fully embrace the majesty of places far away, and long ago. "Beastie", "Slow Marching Band" and "Broadsword" all come to mind favourably.
"Broadsword" in particular appeals to me; a song set in the dark ages, in a community girding itself to repel approaching sea raiders (I imagine Vikings). Best line:
"Bring me my broadsword and clear understanding."
The way Jethro Tull lays this line down, with pounding background synthesizer standing in for trumpet, you can feel the heft of the blade yourself, even in the comfort of your living room. No D20s required, although they wouldn't feel out of place.
Ordinarily the strong songs on this album would be enough to score 3 stars on the CD Odyssey, but not this time.
That's because the Soulless Record Exec decided to add nine - yes nine - bonus tracks to the remastered CD, when the original album only had ten songs to begin with.
If you're going to double the length of the album, you better be sure those songs are necessary inclusions - or if not necessary, at least memorable. Sadly, no - they are largely filler. How dare these guys make me choose between non-remastered sound, and an entire extra album worth of chaff?
Bring me my demerit marker, and clear understanding.
Best tracks: Beastie, Slow Marching Band, Broadsword
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