ROOTS TO BRANCHES

By now, it takes a long time to get a new studio JETHRO TULL release. ROOTS TO BRANCHES came out in 1995...4 years after the very average CATFISH RISING and it won't get any better in the future.IAN ANDERSON and CO are nearing now the big 5-0 mark, hair is receding and JETHRO TULL, even if they are stilll commanding a strong following was more or less a big name of the past with no chance of winning another Grammy, for sure. In one word, the golden age was a over.

As a now ''mature'' band JETHRO TULL came back with a very mature album, a very solid album. ROOTS TO THE BRANCHES is not journey to the 70s and cannot be put in the same bag than 80s hard rocking JETHRO TULL albums. ROOTS stands on its own, with its unique athmosphere and IAN ANDERSON shows us that he is not ''living in the past'' recycling old recipes to bring us something 'new''.

Usually at this stage of their carreer, old successful artists don't take too many chances and just keep re-cooking the good old sounds from the good old times. Not such with JETHRO TULL!! Of course, this is still a JT album with all the regular ingredients such as the flute, the guitar breaks from BARRE, the time changes but ROOTS TO THE BRANCHES is not an album he could have done in the 70s.This is a ''mature'' album recorded by a middle age TULL.

IAN ANDERSON is not scared to change the format and the sound of his band. After hard rocking from STEEL MONKEY to KISSING WILLIE to THIS IS NOT LOVE on the last 3 studio albums , IAN ANDERSON went for a more elaborated music, more introspective than in the last decade.The big surprise is the addition of Asian influences, especially from the middle east and India, particularly evident on tracks such as ''RARE AND PRECIOUS CHAIN; sounds like a modern version of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA!!

There are good , solid compositions such as the title track with a wonderful build-up, good BARRE guitar on DANGEROUS VEILS and WOUNDED OLD TREACHEROUS. The only mishap is OUT OF THE NOISE, a little bit to reminiscent of the hard rock style from the 80s. The camels in the desert athmosphere is again predominent on AT LAST FOREVER with another great intro.

You have to wait for the end of ROOTS TO BRANCHES to find some old 70s TULL influences back.STUCK IN THE AUGUST RAIN and ANOTHER HARRY'S BAR sound like very melancholic ballads well in the old folk-rock JT tradition. They are great songs.

ROOTS TO BRANCHES is a different album from any other JT recording; This is not your father's TULL, this is not grammy-winning TULL either. This is ROOTS TO BRANCHES an album recorded by 50s old men who don't rest on their laurels and are still trying something new and fresh. This is also an ageless album as i don't get tired of it as i do with some of their old ''classics''.

4 STARS.

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