HOMO ERRATICUS

Finally got my hands on the new IA record, and it is a pretty nice record, certainly an advance on TAAB2, but far from perfect. After several listens the album grows a lot on you, and the minor flaws it has diminish before your eyes (or ears), but do not kid yourself, they are there, ever present. I enjoyed the concept and the lyrics. I have read several critics to the album as a concept album, but I understand it as a very loose concept. It is there, it is explained quite well in the information provided with the record, but in the lyrics it is build in a loose way, each song weakly linked with the other, providing them all with a lot of individuality. Quite different from TAAB2 in that aspect, that album had a strong concept developed in a well defined pattern along the songs. HE is a concept album with songs weakly linked. It requires more imagination from the listener, and it does not bother me at all. Many people have also complained about similarities with old Tull songs, I see those similarities too, but not one was able to ruin the record for me. The squeezy thing (the accordion as is called by Ian Anderson) was very well placed in the songs, but it's sound does not please all ears. Overall, the band sounded more tight , more cohesive, but not all is flowers! I think Ryan o'Brien should have beem used a lot more. His voice is nice and added a lot to the songs he sang on. If not leading, he could have done a lot more backing vocals, strenghtening Ian's failing voice. But what bored me the most was Ian's way of singing. Few are the songs he sings following the melodic line, and with differente entonations. Most songs he sings as if he is declaiming the lyrics, just like the previous album. I don't know if he does it the save his voice, because the whole album will be sing in the stage, or if he really isn't able to sing in a more elaborate way anymore. Or maybe he just finds it pleasing that way. I find it to be boring. Four stars for this new IA effort, despite it's flaws, it's quite a pleasant listen, and leaves behind the antecipation for yet another and another albuns by the flute master of rock, ever improving with his new band, and giving us more and better music!