THE BROADSWORD AND THE BEAST

You know the meaning of the guilty pleasure! when you love something dearly that has been bashed or is ut down usualy by the well meaning masses or elites. I don't know of liking BRADSWORD AND THE BEAST qualifies as a guilty pleasure, but i will come out of the closet for this album!!

If i have to take only ONE JT album with me on my way to exile or desert island, this is the one. AQUALUNG? no! TAAB? nope; maybe STAND UP? sorry! JETHRO TULL way past their creative peak or goden age? not a chance! BROADSWORD AND THE BEAST is their summitt, their Eldorado! There are 9 songs an this album ( not counting the 39 seconds long CHEERIO), they are not good , they are excellent. 3 of them; BEASTIE-CLASP-BROADSWORD would feature on my best-of JETHRO TULL compilation. SEAL DRIVER is my ...FAVORITE...JT song! No less!

This is a very rocking album, maybe the hardest they would record. No , don't get scared, it's not with this album JETHRO TULL would put down METALLICA, but MARTIN BARRE is all over the place. Not only that, but he is providing the best riffs and the best solos he ever recorded on a TULL album.Just listen to BROADSWORD or SEAL DIVER! BARRE is absolutely sublime.

New changes of musicians have affected one more time the line-up.Solid drummer GERRY CONWAY has taken over MARK CRANEY! The 'A' special guest'' EDDIE JOBSON, true to his word,left and was replaced by PETER VETTESE. The sound of the album remains modern, but less mainstream than on A. Old elements of TULL music are back such as the acoustic guitar and the mandolin but mixed with modern technology such as- sometimes- synth drums or sequencers to great success.

What makes the album great is also somewhat the athmosphere that prevail through the album such as in the opening BEASTIE. This is not simple hard rock by any means; it's well arranged with tasty keyboards creating this mysterious musical landscape, well in the spirit of the magnificent cover artwork. The rythm section is very tight, not outwordly, but providing a solid foundation to this rocking album.

8 bonus tracks -no less- have been added to the remastered version of BROADSWORD and as in any JT new release, they are all of great quality. What's worth noticing, they are different from the main album as it is a trip back to the old JETHRO TULL sound of old. A lot of acoustic or medieval goodies like JACK FROST,JACK A LYNN or MAYBE MAYHEM will bring you back to STAND UP time. I understand they were rejected by IAN ANDERSON when it was time decide on the tracks that would feature on BROADSWORD as they would not have mixed very well with songs such as BEASTIE or WATCHING ME WATCHING YOU.

There is nothing subpar on this album, the original one neither among the bonus tracks. I can understand that some JT fans are not fond, for example, of the drum synth on WATCHING ME, but that's part of a new experience, and a successful one at that!

But how not appreciate such magnificent tracks such as the grandiose SLOW MARCHING BAND or the wonderfully sounding CLASP? This is JETHRO TULL at his best! One of my 50 all time favorite cds.

4.5 for the ''original'' album + 0.5 stars for the bonus for a full total of....

5 STARS!

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