HEAVY HORSES

Jethro Tull

Prog Folk

4.04 | 1372 ratings

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Andrea Cortese
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator

".Bring me a wheel of oaken wood, a rein of polished leather, a heavy horse and a tumbling sky, brewing heavy weather.".

The album - released in 1978 - continued the themes explored on the previous album with the same mixture of folk/prog-influenced acoustic pieces and heavy rock. Traditional rock sounds of electric guitar are more prominent. With Heavy Horses Jethro Tull offer also a more contemporary and pragmatic set of lyrics. Many of the songs are about animals and the lyrics continue much of the rustic tradition of its predecessor. The album is a bit darker however, with more references to modern civilization but lacks the lightness and humour the previous album.The general tenor of the album is the reality of the country-side living, rather than its myth.

.And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps speaks about the feral behaviour of the farm's cats: they think only of "mouse-and-apple-pie"! Acres Wild is the description of the wilderness of the north of Scotland; No Lullaby is a strong hard/rock/folk/prog song which had the honour to open, the same year, the live double album Bursting Out. Moths romanticizes the life of the "Moths" - creatures of the dark that die flying to the flame-light. One Brown Mouse, following the words of Ian in Bursting Out, is inspired by a poem of Robert Burns: 'Ode To A Mouse'. Heavy Horses is a 9 mns long and about the working horses of great Britain, who find themselves no needed with the advent of mechanized farm machinery.

The 2003 remastered edition contains two extra tracks: the good Living In These Hard Times (did not appear in the 'Heavy Horses' album, probably because the content of the song just didn't fit precisely in its concept) and the acoustic pearl Broadford Bazaar. What a soft and deep voice from Ian!

Still great contribution by all the Tull members, with the help of Darryl Way, ex-Curved Air violinist. Essential!

Andrea Cortese | 4/5 | 2005-9-3

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