THICK AS A BRICK

I can now say that Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" is a definite Prog Masterpiece. But, I will admit that this revelation only came recently. I was just a casual fan of Ian Anderson's music while growing up, having only "M.U. - the Best of Jethro Tull" on vinyl. I did like the music on that album very much, and later bought "Aqualung" on compact disc. Those were the only two albums I had by Tull for many years until I began exploring progressive rock further in just the past five years. Thick as a Brick (TaaB) kept showing up on many music fans top progressive rock picks that I was researching on the web. Therefore, it wasn't much of a surprise when I discovered the ProgArchives and TaaB was at the top of their list.

Since almost everyone, it seemed, was recommending this album as such an outstanding example of 70's era "progressive rock", I decided to go ahead and give it try. Now, I had heard parts of TaaB. There is a short "edit" of TaaB on the M.U. Best of album. On first listen I realized this wasn't the most accessible album I had ever listened to, and wasn't that impressed at first. There is a lot of music being played on this thing, and it can be a little over-whelming at times. But, after a few more listens, I began to really appreciate it for the music it contained. I already knew its status as a ground-breaking piece of work, with a song that basically plays non-stop across two sides of an album. Most people would imagine this as an unattainable feat. Surely this thing must begin to repeat itself and become boring. Surprisingly, No. In fact, this piece of music is so long and so complex, that it seems like with each listen you will hear something new or at least pay more attention to one part or another as your mind tries to "soak it all in".