Thursday, January 29, 2009

Jethro Tull, Aqualung


 The song Aqualung, as a 70's rock anthem, is right up there with Stairway To Heaven. Although Ian Anderson denies that this album is a concept album, one wonders. There seems to be a distinct message running through it, a liberal anti-church and state rant, and side one seems to be about six distinctly different characters. I'm a flute lover and Ian Anderson on stage doing his thing is a pretty cool thing to behold. Some of the songs on this record are heavily layered. complex, deeply messaged and all the rest a girl like me looks for in anthem rock. Others, Cheap Day Return, Wond'ring Aloud, Mother Goose, are more acoustic. The album artwork, a painting of the Aqualung character is something that you don't forget, definitely a cover for the ages. This was the first album recorded at Island Studios in London. Ironically Led Zeppelin's fourth album was being recorded simultaneously in a different, smaller studio. Although it's difficult to describe the listening experience one encounters while this record is playing, I can say with great confidence that there is nothing else on earth like Aqualung. Dropping acid while listening is optional.

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