Thick as a Brick: Overrated on Progarchives

Yes will always be the top of the pile for me, especially CTTE, but TAAB is right behind in terms of prog mastery.

Psychedelic Paul wrote: dougmcauliffe wrote: mini rant here I will never understand why this album is so highly rated, its ranked at number 3. That means that its supposed to be better than Wish you were Here, Court of the Crimson King, Foxtrot, Animals, Red, Pawn Hearts, and several other legendary prog albums. Its not a bad album or anything but to me its not even in the same league as most the top 50. Every other album in we'll say the top 20, has awesome soaring highs. TAAB is filled with several forced transitions and I just cant fathom how it could be top 3. 4 Star album Please tell me i'm not alone in this. Yes, it's overrated. I'd rather listen to any Camel album instead, including A Nod and a Wink.

^^ I know what you mean. I've had a few miscellaneous objects metaphorically thrown at me already this morning on another thread.

Edited by Psychedelic Paul - December 09 2020 at 03:19

Geologistjavi wrote: This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard, to say that Jethro Tull is inferior to Pink Floyd, for me both Floyd and Tull are my favorite bands, I have all the albums of both bands but I have to admit that Jethro Tull musically is superior to Pink Floyd, WYWH never reaches the level of TAAB, by God it lacks the floor and understanding of what is sophisticated and intelligent music. WYWH is not a masterpiece but TAAB is and perhaps the best in all the history of progressive rock, when you say these things you have to think well and not be so fanatic. I already said they are my two favorite bands but I recognize that Tull's music is superior to Floyd, I even have to admit that Yes is also superior to Pink Floyd although it is not one of my favorites

It's not overrated or underrated. It's kind of in the middle rated.

Thick As A Brick is one of the ten best albums I"ve ever heard...

Nobody can explain what "overrated" means in music unless its 100% about a numerical ranking of some kind. Pretty much everything here is about ones preferences, it boils down to who REALLY, REALLY, REALLY likes TAAB vs those that just like it.

Writer On Why Jethro Tull’s 'Thick As A Brick' Is The Most Monumental Concept Album.
Seth Kaufman Doesn't Usually Listen To Concept Albums But When He Does, He Prefers This One

Seth Kaufman, author of "Metaphysical Graffiti: Rock 'n' Roll and the Meaning of Life," joins WPR's "BETA" to investigate the concept album.
Kaufman says he's not a big fan of concept albums because so many concept albums are made by progressive rock bands and he's not a fan of "prog rock." But there is one exception. The one progressive rock album he does love is Jethro Tull's 1972 album, "Thick as a Brick," which just so happens to be a concept album.
In his book, Kaufman makes the case that the album is "so good that it breaks the prog-rock cycle and even transcends the overuse of the flute," which may well be his least favorite rock 'n' roll instrument. That's a pretty audacious statement which is only fitting, given the subject of this story.

"(Pink Floyd's) ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ is interesting, (Pink Floyd's) ‘The Wall’ is great. The Genesis ‘Lamb Lies Down (on Broadway),’ There have been some very interesting, theatrical pieces. But to me, what they almost all lack is a sense of humor," Kaufman said.

So why does Kaufman think "Thick as a Brick" is such a great album?

"Let’s start with the fact is that prior to making ‘Thick as a Brick,’ Ian Anderson, the leader of Jethro Tull, they made an album called ‘Aqualung.’ And many people interpreted this as a concept album. Ian Anderson said, ‘No, that wasn’t a concept album.’ And apparently, the story goes that he said, ‘I’ll show you what a concept album is.'"
So then he designs an album that begins with the cover art," Kaufman explained. It’s called ‘Thick as a Brick’ and on the cover is a fake news story about a poem written by an 8-year-old. And it’s an epic poem and it had won a prize from the Society for Literary Advancement and Gestation, Sl*g is the acronym. But it was rescinded after a panel of psychologists determined the poet was unbalanced. And that the poem revealed an extremely troublesome attitude toward life, his God and country. So the lyrics are the poem that this 8-year-old supposedly wrote."
Kaufman also points to the act that "Thick as a Brick" is one continuous song.

"In terms of concept records, this is monumental. This out-progs everybody. Right? It’s a suite, it rocks, it’s a very inventive body of work. The lyrics go from hard rock to lilting, almost Middle Age folk," he said. "It’s kind of a wonderful album. And it’s a very audacious thing because also, it’s not going to get played on the radio. There was a single that was released that kind of condensed things. But I don’t ever recall hearing it on the radio."

So people that don’t understand what Kaufman said regarding what is a prog rock concept album and argue why Thick as a Brick is overrated , don’t understand and appreciate smart music .


Edited by Geologistjavi - December 09 2020 at 14:01

PA lists are just statistics. Nobody sit down and rate each album with every other album in mind, which is hardly even possible with only 1-5 stars to give. It’s just a bunch of data sorted and rated to an average. It is neither correct or wrong, it’s data. How the data is used is perhaps something to discuss (rating weight), but of course the list doesn’t match everyone’s taste, or anyone’s at that..

The fact PA only got five ratings to give also make the lists less accurate. I can rate many albums four or five stars, but if we had half stars or a 1-100 system, it would be a lot more nuanced.

Frenetic Zetetic wrote: Zeph wrote: PA lists are just statistics. Nobody sit down and rate each album with every other album in mind, which is hardly even possible with only 1-5 stars to give. It’s just a bunch of data sorted and rated to an average. It is neither correct or wrong, it’s data. How the data is used is perhaps something to discuss (rating weight), but of course the list doesn’t match everyone’s taste, or anyone’s at that.. The fact PA only got five ratings to give also make the lists less accurate. I can rate many albums four or five stars, but if we had half stars or a 1-100 system, it would be a lot more nuanced. I've always thought a 10 star system with the option for 1/2 and 1/4 stars would be ideal. You could really, really nail down some crazy nuanced points on an album at like 8.5, and another could be close but just a tad better at 8.75.

8.5 out of 10 is my rating of albums I’ll listen to many times. If I think they’re an 8 or less I usually don’t play it much