WAR CHILD

With War Child, Jethro Tull returned towards more concise and regular song writing. The album continued the playful and circus music styling of A Passion Play but, for starters, it misses that album's inspiration to call it anything better then just good.

But there is more. I miss another essential element that used to make Jethro Tull so exciting. I hear no heart in this music. In fact, War Child is the first in a series of 3 albums where Jethro Tull sounds like a worn out band that goes through the motions with little or no interest in the music they are playing. Actually, except for the album Songs of the Woods, this would remain a continuing flaw in all of Jethro Tull's music that I have heard. I think it gradually made them uninteresting to anyone but the most ardent fans.

Back on topic, I can be very short about the album itself, as only War Child and Skating Away can please me. The remainder of the music leaves me completely untouched, both due to its scanty musical qualities and for its disinterested performance.