STORMWATCH

After the second part of the folk the trilogy, Heavy Horses, somewhat failed to bring any enjoyment to myself, I really wasn't planning on getting Stormwatch, much less with it's low rating. However as a fan of the band, I got it eventually, but at first I didn't like it all but for the same reasons I didn't like Heavy Horses.

Stormwatch overall presented a dark and slow paced songs lacking fresh compositions and memorable melodies, while Heavy Horses mainly had some really great ideas but that I found that weren't developed well at all. The only songs I could get any enjoyment from at that time were the happy refreshing melodies from the folky instrumental, Warm Sporran, the heavy riff from Something's on the Move which reminded me of the heaviness of Minstrel in the Gallery, though the former definitely didn't feature such a high level of perfomance as the latter, and lastly the folk rock opener, North Sea Oil, with some pretty good flute and guitar.

After several of months of hiatus, not having listened to this album for a long time, when I played it again, almost everything that was on here clicked. If I hadn't listened to this again I would have regretted of missing such lovely hidden gems like Dark Ages and Flying Dutchman, both highlights from Stormwatch, the former being a dark, though subtle, beast which evokes some of Tull's heaviest moments and still achieving to sound original, Martin Barre obviously being the stand-out. Flying Dutchman on the other hand is a greatly done transformer, with John's exquisite piano rising opening this gem, from then onwards after each minute either a new instrument or a change of pace is experienced, all this making a fantastic result, something Tull has never done before within the 7 minute mark.

The remaining songs from the album are a variety of either gentle acoustic tunes very ballad-esque or the repetitve form of songs that this line-up of Jethro Tull are used to deliver. Either case, they're not the strong point of Stormwatch.

In the end Stormwatch is no less than a average type of a Tull album, having it's usual down's but the up's being always refreshing and always overshadows the flaws from the rest. Then again, this stage of J-Tull is not their classic Prog Folk/Eclectic Prog neither Blues/Folk stage, but that demonstrates that they were never a band of ''one'' genre specifically, they were always developing and going through new grounds, but in each case always sounding like them(Under Wraps being a exception). That being said, this album deserves no less than 3 stars and it being owned by every dedicated Jethro Tull fan.

Share this JETHRO TULL review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to The Quiet One
• Report this review (#244029)
• Buy JETHRO TULL music online with PA partners
• Show all JETHRO TULL MP3/Stream
• Go to JETHRO TULL page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Stormwatch page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for JETHRO TULL related discussions