MINSTREL IN THE GALLERY

I am a huge fan of (the second half) of War Child. I think that Minstrel In The Gallery also suffers from a similar condition to its predecessor. It is not consistent. Not to the same degree though. Its best efforts are not as good and its worst does not scrape the sea floor so deeply. I don't think there are actually any all that bad tracks on Minstrel. Just a bunch of middling works along with the some good ones. The middling works I am refering to are Cold Wind of Valhalla, Blak Satin Dancer and requiem. The good ones are the title track, One White Duck and the soft finale Grace. The first three just don't leap off the page. One White Duck is probably the strongest and most consistently good work.

Straddling both categories is the epic Baker Street Muse, at times it is inspired and as fired up as Ian Anderson can muster; especially the middle portion and at the "Minstrel in the Gallery" part. At other times it drags down nearly to the first half of War Child territory. The "Baker Street Muse" chorus line probably grates the most. It has its ups and downs. I think it is worth a listen for the good parts though.

I'd say taken as a whole I like Minstrel in the Gallery as much as I like War Child as a whole. It's good, not great. If you're a Tull fan this is pretty typical stuff. There are shinier bits from the band, so I'd only recommend coming this direction if you've already been past Aqualung, Stand Up and Thick as a Brick. Three out of five.