Search - Jethro Tull :: Passion Play

Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame ? Nahhhhhhhh

Nothintosay | usa | 11/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Actually 4 1/2 stars . A Passion Play is a bit more melodic than Thick As A Brick .There is less of Martin Barres guitar and more of John Evans synth . The themes of the album are quite similar to Thick ' ... one wonders if Gerald Bostock had a hand in penning the lyrics , although The Hare Who Lost His Spec-a-ticles would suggest otherwise . I've heard a lot of people mentioning the fact that Jethro Tull should be in The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame . Its albums like Passion Play that will probably keep them out . All of rocks royalty from the Stones to the Clash To Zepp to Aerosmith couldnt , in their wildest dreams come up with something as imaginative as Passion Play . And while these and future hall of famers like Nirvana and Metallica are at the podium having thier butts kissed by the industry and thier peers ...I'll be sittin at home grinning over the fact that Tull is not a part of this nonsense ."

Familiarity breeds contempt.

James P. Walters | 11/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While so many of the rock bands of the seventies were "just a little touch of make up, just a little touch of bull, just a three chord trick embedded in your platform soul" (as Ian Anderson put it on "Crazed Institution") Tull were doing things that were in another space and time. And while not everything worked, they were never dull. A Passion Play has stood the test of time. Like a great piece of art, you can return to it endless times and discover something new. It is all at once pathetically shallow and profoundly deep, toe tappingly musical and irritatingly dischordant, it threatens to soar into brilliance, only to dwindle into nothingness, it is beautiful and clumsy, elegant and gawkish. It is music with a sense of humour. Like the comedy masters of the time who would never advertise a punch line, Tull keep you guessing. You never get what you expect. After all, familiarity breeds contempt.

A classic. Five stars.

"

Different sound from Jethro Tull

kireviewer | Sunnyvale, Ca United States | 11/01/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"THIS IS A VERY NICE ALBUM WITH SOME GREAT PARTS TO IT. I KNOCK IT DOWN A STAR FOR "THE STORY OF THE HARE WHO LOST HIS SPECTACLES".



This is Jethro Tull's sixth album. It came right after Thick As A Brick. It is right around 45 minutes long.



There have been many issues of this album on CD. They have had varying sound quality. None of them was poor, but some have very good sound quality. The remastered version contains an enhanced feature: the video of the Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles that was originally on the 25th anniversary VHS tape.



Like Thick As A Brick, A Passion Play is one long piece (over 44 minutes long). There are 16 parts to the work, but there are no gaps or any silence between parts. On the original LP, there was a change in the density of the grooves so you could figure out where to drop the needle if you wanted to play a certain section.



Most versions of the CD have the two LP sides broken out as two tracks. Although the version I have just has it as one long track. The Gold version of the CD has each of the 16 parts indexed so you can jump to the different parts. I prefer being able to access the tracks, especially to skip through The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectactles.



ENOUGH OF THE LOGISTICS. HOW IS THE MUSIC?



This is a totally different sound for Jethro Tull. It is a little more jazz oriented, kind of hard rock jazz. There is heavy emphasis on saxophones and synthesizers. It sounded even better when they played it live.



There are some great passages of both songs and music. These are interspersed with sections that are OK, but are there mainly to keep the story going. I have just listened to some epic songs from Transatlantic (one of the new generation of progressive rock bands) and they don't come close to the quality of A Passion Play.



The only real downside is the Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles. This is a stupid, pointless talking section that totally disrupts the flow of the music. It is right in the middle of the best part of the album.



What's worse is that there is no easy way to skip through the Hare story, unless you have the gold version of the CD. On my copy, with just one long track, you have to sit there with your finger on the fast forward button. On most CD's it comes at the end of the first track and continues to the beginning of the second track. If it were at the end of the first track, you could at least hit the skip button.



When I saw them on the War Child tour, they started into The Story Of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles, and then said they were only kidding. That got the biggest cheer of the night.



"