Not a concept album as such, and yet there's still some red thread on the album. The intro is Tull being presented as minstrels before the court, and that illusion of them being just that, is kept throughout the album.
To create that illusion, the progressive keyboards are gone and Tull have returned to their roots, or at least a closer step towards them.
Warchild had a lot of instruments, but they have all been removed here and they now rely on their basic instruments. The flute, acoustic and electric guitars, bass and drums. And I must not forget mentioning the string arrangements, that are a big part of the album. Being more acoustic sounding than ever, this album adds yet another chapter to the music-book which explains the diversity of Tull.
The album starts off acoustic, but true to the Tull-formula, it soon gets progressive and the electric guitars are turned on in
Minstrel In The Gallery.
Cold Wind To Valhalla and
Black Satin Dancer uses the same formula. A bit of a shame really, but both strong anyway. They both start off slow, but pick up pace.
Requiem,
One White. and
Grace are acoustic and all three have some nice string arrangements in them.
One White. being the best of the three and in my opinion one of Ian Andersons best acoustic compositions.
Baker St. Muse starts with Ian Anderson getting the intro wrong. Subsequently cursing and playing it again. This time with succes and that sets off a 17-min journey into a cool progressive rock track. Not that different from
Thick As A Brick, but without the keyboards. My favorite part has to be from the 11th minute and on.
To sum up what I've written, this mainly acoustical album is a step back to the more rock oriented songs. The progressive style is still there, as in
Minstrel In The Gallery and
Baker St. Muse, but it has been toned down a lot. Good or bad? That depends on what you like. I personally think it's okay. It makes the album easier to approach. Musical performances are allover okay, so nothing mean to say about that either.
Come to think of it, I haven't really put my finger on any of the things I dislike. If I had to mention something, and I have to since I won't give it 10, the tracks have a nice melody, but comparing to past efforts, the album doesn't seem as strong as ex.
Aqualung. That and the fact that, of course it is nice to hear acoustic guitars, but the electric ones have worked so well before, so why not use them more. A shame in my opinion. A strong album, but lacks that somewhat indefineable something, to give it a higher rating.
Favorite tracks: Minstrel In The Gallery, One White.
Written by
Ulrick Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Show all reviews by UlrickRatingsUlrick: 7.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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