HEAVY HORSES

"Heavy Horses" is the second in the "seasonal" Jethro Tull trilogy, but the first of the trilogy I bought. It has a somewhat autumnal feel...I need to wait 'till October and take a walk with this album to see if it is as autumnal as the others claim...

"...and the Mouse Police Never Sleeps" is the first track. It has a guarded, shifty feel to it but was a little lower than my expectations when I first read the title. To tell the truth, I thought this album would be a true "concept" album with linked songs and a developing story. Maybe "Stormwatch" will better suit my expectations...

"Acres Wild" is a great song, one of my favorites on the album. Only drawback is the lyric "I'll make love to you" and my immature friends will, of course, make a joke of this and ignore the excellent instrumentation. Oh well. I'm sure I would bug my friends if a lyric like this showed up on one of their albums (which it does, and I do bug them. heh heh heh...).

"No Lullaby" is an okay song, but a little too long. I'd rather Anderson develop the "mouse police" song instead of this one. I think this song is about a small child and the terrors of the night...or something.

Next up is "Moths," one of my favorite classic guitar tunes of TULL. It is, I think, comparing moths to humans. It is a hopeful romantic-type song, a TULL classic. "Journeyman" is a hard rock-type song, pretty ho-hum. "Rover" is a great song, and "One Brown Mouse" is okay...

Now then, the title track. Very good, my favorite on the CD. It is about how the "heavy horses" used in plowing fields have been replaced by tractors now; but Anderson warns that soon when the oil has disappeared, we will once again long for the strength of the horses when we hit a depression. "Weathercock" is one of my favorite songs as well. It foreshadows the coming winter in "Stormwatch."

If you like JETHRO TULL, this album is okay, but lacking. It is pretty folksy compared to other prog rock albums, which is by no means a drawback, but Anderson seems to have lost a lot of his prog mentality. Before you buy this you should try out "Thick as a Brick" or "Aqualung" first.