JETHRO TULL
Minstrel In The Gallery (Chrysalis)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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After the Thick As A Brick and Passion Play albums of 1972 and 73, Jethro Tull fans had grown accustomed to side-long songs and concept albums, something they'd been prepared for earlier with Aqualung. In 1974 the band released War Child, an album made up of shorter songs, carrying no real concept and containing - shock of shocks - two hits in "Bungle In The Jungle" and "Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of A New Day." Hard to hate those songs, at least if you were already in tune with Ian Anderson and his mates. So you go with the flow, figuring it's back to the earlier format of shorter, unrelated songs. No problem.

And then... Minstrel In The Gallery. What the hell?

1975's Tull album not only had songs that felt connected, it had songs that kept on going and going, 8:13 for the title track, 6:52 for "Black Satin Dancer," and an astounding 16:39 for "Baker St Muse," all of which, by the way, are worth the time. "Black Satin Dancer" was actually a return, of sorts, to the bluesy sounds of early Tull, at least during the solo trade-offs between guitarist Martin Barre and Anderson, who alternately blew, whistled, groaned, and wailed into the flute. "Cold Wind To Valhalla" is one of the best songs that never appears on Tull collections. It has almost all the elements a Tull fan might claim as the hook that pulled him into the fold: British aisles folk expressed through high-voiced acoustic guitar strumming, complex melodic structure, a bluesy hook, flute playing by one who sounds possessed and an ending that serves as a perfect segue point for the next song on the record.

Minstrel In The Gallery has much going for it. As a devout fan of the band with many favorite albums, I find it very difficult to pick favorites. I'm sure you know the feeling when you think of your top bands. Yet I can safely say I'd place Minstrel in the top five, and I often recommend this as essential listening to someone just discovering the band because it has a little bit of everything. This newly remastered version sounds stunning and adds five bonus tracks that are, for the most part, well worth hearing. A few might even be worth popping onto your Tull favorites mix discs.

The following year Anderson and company zagged again with Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll, Too Young To Die, returning to short songs. By then, however, nothing shocked the veteran Jethro Tull fan anymore. No shocks, just pleasant surprises.

© 2003 - DJ Johnson