CREST OF A KNAVE

If one considers Jethro Tull's 80s output collectively, some fascinating gems and great music overall can be discovered, but when one singles out different albums, it understand just how fluctuating the band had been, and just how many challenges and changes Ian Anderson and Co. had gone through. Following the commercial and critical failure of 'Under Wraps', Tull had taken a short break and returned some three years later with 1987's 'Crest of a Knave', an album that showcased a welcome return to the more traditional Tull sound, prominently featuring heavy guitars, flickering flutes and a classic rhythm section, with significantly less keyboards and programming, but it also signaled a distressful change - Anderson's voice had changed following a throat surgery. The demanding vocals performed at the band's then-last tour had severely affected the hairy frontman's vocal chords, which by itself had necessitated a change in the vocal delivery style, one of the striking and ostensible aspects found on 'Crest of a Knave'.

But even with this in mind, the familiar folksy hard rock playing reminisces many of the band's glorious classic albums, and with Peter-John Vettese now absent, it is Martin Barre's major contributions to the sound of this album that eventually renders it a decent return to form, even if the guitar player had recalled how Anderson "knew what he wanted" with the writing and the direction on 'Crest'. Slightly more consistent and cohesive stylistically (compared to preceding releases), this album features a couple of songs that can be attributed to that delightful classic Tull writing, that delirious and triumphant prog-folk style made compelling by the Blackpool-founded band - 'Farm on the Freeway' might as well be the best example of that, while the 10-minute suite 'Budapest' could in some contexts be seen as an attempted resurgence of the band's progressive rock links. Opener 'Steel Monkey' is fiery and hard-hitting and 'Mountain Men' is another one of the better songs on here, but the rest of the album has the inevitable aftertaste of a Dire Straits influence and turns out to be uninspired and forgettable. With all of this cleared out, one can imagine this album as a much better offering had it featured a different set of songs (eventually) and while compensated by some strong compositions, 'Crest of a Knave' is far from the grace and novelty of works like 'Songs from the Wood' or 'Aqualung'.

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