Original released on LP Chrysalis CHR 1003 (stereo)
(UK, 10/3/1972)
Jethro Tull's first LP-length epic is a masterpiece in the annals of progressive rock, and one of the few works of its kind that still holds up decades later. Mixing hard rock and English folk music with classical influences, set to stream-of-consciousness lyrics so dense with imagery that one might spend weeks pondering their meaning - assuming one feels the need to do so - the group created a dazzling tour de force, at once playful, profound, and challenging, without overwhelming the listener. The original LP was the best-sounding, best-engineered record Tull had ever released, easily capturing the shifting dynamics between the soft all-acoustic passages and the electric rock crescendos surrounding them. "Thick as a Brick" is not only rock music's most ambitious engagement, but it's one of the only 43 minutes compositions which is mostly genius and the non-genius parts are extremely enjoyable great ones.
If back in
1972 there were CDs, this would've been a one-track masterpiece. Thus it is cut
into two to fit on the sides of an LP. Clocking in over 20 minutes, both parts
are amazing. Ian Anderson's flute playing and fantastically memorable vocals,
Martin Barre's amazing sense of riffing and soloing, Barriemore Barlow's
drumming, I don't know what is not top-notch on this record. The strings, the
organ, everything is so organic and so fitting to each other. My favourite
sections are the keyboard-laden "the poet and the painter" part, the
acoustic beginning of "really don't mind if you sit this one out" and
the ending with the same melody coming back "don't know how it feels to be
thick as a brick", also "Do you believe in the day", the twin
"See there! A son/man is born, and we pronounce him fit to
fight/peace". There is so much going on here both musically and lyrically,
that I cannot put it into words. You have to listen to it a hundred of times
and be absorbed to it. The version presented here is the 2012 mixage by
engineer Robin Black, that have achieved a fantastic sound.
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