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

Since i'm speaking of this, I'll also throw in that I think Moving Pictures is overrated on PA, certainly not better than Hemispheres or Farewell to Kings. Side one is very very good, but side two is mostly quite dull specifically the last two tracks.

I agree, its never boring, but I just don't think it reaches the highs of the albums around it.

I hadn't realized that and I can agree with you.  It is a fine LP from a band that was on fire in that time period (I saw them on the TAAB tour, with Glenn Cornick's excellent band "Wild Turkey" opening), and they were fantastic!  Given that, I don't exactly understand how the rating system at PA works, so I just shrug when I read that stuff.  We each have our own personal ratings system & mental list, which is one reason why I enjoy participating on this website so much. 

Thanks for your post, Doug! 

The Dark Elf wrote: I guess you had to be there. Obviously, you weren't.

If you had to have been contemporary to Brick's release to feel the effect then it is truly transitory pop music and has had it's day.

Mind you I don't agree with that. It's a great idea - to me a little laboured in the 2nd half aka side 2.

It's style has been and gone but the related ideas that do move along in the first half, the energy of the performance, lyrical wit and tunes still resonate.

I remember reading a long time ago some of the reviews - paraphrased into - couldn't find a chick in 1972 and listening to this got me through this so therefore it's great. Gott in himmel. This put me off reading these conflated emotions aka reviews. Lucky I like the thing.

It's just the same as the "my first real record bought with my very own money when I was ever so little so it's great" type notions.

Maybe just knock a star off these reviews and you get more accurate rating.

I've no problem with this or Moving Pictures either. Actually it was the prog epic Camera Eye I thought lost a little tension after it built up so I give the album maybe 4  - 4.5 stars. Witch Hunt and Vital Signs I always thought were very original and had a lot to say. And they don't get stuck in playing white person rock. Not all the time anyway.

 

As I understand the rating system it is a combination of the number of stars as well as the number of ratings. Also, ratings by themselves are given a lower score than ratings that correspond with reviews. Here is the link: http://www.progarchives.com/top-prog-albums.asp?salbumtypes=1" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/top-prog-albums.asp?salbumtypes=1 . Or use the Top Prog Albums link on the home page. All of the top five albums have well over 3,000 ratings and are all within 0.04 points of one another. That is not a big point spread! The top list does not correspond to my own preferences. For example, I much prefer Relayer (#20) to Close to the Edge (#1), while Foxtrot (#6) is my least favorite PG era Genesis, Supper's Ready notwithstanding. Jade Warrior's Last Autumn's Dream is in my top ten easily, yet is not even in the top 100 or anywhere near it. These ratings do not reflect the tastes of any one individual, but are rather a kind of average. Nobody should ever dictate what another listen to or enjoy - that is up to each one of us. And yes, I find a lot of peculiarities in the top 100, but then I am not every progger on the planet.

and while we are at it I would throw in Dark Side of The Moon and In The Court Of The Crimson King.

Thing is though that these and the ones previously mentioned are significant in the history of prog so get a slightly bigger rating than maybe they deserve. However I would take issue with the idea that Moving Pictures is below Farewell To Kings and Hemispheres. Those are very different animals. Rush re-invented themselves in the 80's with Permanent Waves and not many bands can do that and retain artistic integrity. Tom Sawyer , YYZ , Red Barchetta and Limelight are all fantastic tracks while the rest are not bad. If the argument was that overall Permanent Waves is a better more consistent album than MV then I might have gone with that.

Not only is TAAB under-rated, but it should be #1 on this site

 

Well, too young to buy it at its release, but it was my second or third exposition to Tull

 

Stand Up, my dad had bought it on the strength of Bourée at the time of release, but this toddler dug the hole thing already at age 6.

 

I can't remember for sure whether I bought Aqualung or Brick first at age 11, but Brick certainly played a big part in my learning English, along with Supertramp's Crime of the Century (my first album bought ever), and my English teacher having us read Sgt Pepper's lyrics.

I wouldn't call Thick as a Brick overrated. I would rate four of the six albums you mention by name lower than Thick as a Brick. In one or two cases I'd have to round up a bit to come to four stars. Thick as a Brick is a classic in the prog catalog and it takes a more or less appropriate place in the ranking.

Moving Pictures is one of the twin peaks in the catalog of Rush (the other being Hemispheres; Permanent Waves is a good third). The first two tracks on side 2 belong to their best works.

The rating system (a weight of 20 for a review by a collab, 10 for a review by a non-collab, 1 for rating only) is OK. The ranking may be a bit crappy since the QWR system mixes things up a bit due to dependencies: the ratings of other albums in the list influence the Query Weighted Rating value of an album.

What I think it really comes down to, as others have stated, is it's a single 45 minute piece that flows pretty darn well. CTTE is 17-18 minutes...but this is 45! By this logic TFTGO should be the winner due to running time, but obviously we have subjected preference over the quality of those two very different recordings!

With the above in mind - I think it's the simplicity and artistry that keeps many holding it at #3/#100. I absolutely prefer stuff like Godbluff (and VDGG in general to Tull), but I'm not surprised by the reasoning it's probably held so high even here in the middle of 2019 (which is, what, 48 years out from said album's release?!).

 

If you do give it another spin, please do it doing nothing else but reading the lyrics as the Mad Flauter is singing them. The whole concept is quite important to get the full essence of the album... Of course the whole newspaper is part of the concept, with almost everything having to do with the story of the album... and when not, it's incredibly Python-esque  (the sport crossing croquet and rugby coming with full league standings) ... Even the small adds are answering each other in a hilarious fashion... Of course, it's one of those album that really needs the vinyl-size artwork to be &able to enjoy it at the fullest

 

 

Rarely have lyrics and vocals had so important a role as a social criticism  - and not only in my life - and I view this as just as deep as Floyd/Waters lyrics, with the added twist of humour.

 

this needs 120% attention.

I think of TAAB and Aqualung as co-favorites.  They are both so superlative, t's pretty much impossible for me to choose between the two.  If I do declare a fave, it may change the next day.  Much like Dark Side of the Moon and and Wish You Were Here.  Many have their favorite, but I just can't do it. 

I'm always happy to see TAAB in the top three. As someone who somewhat detested Aqualung for a long time (and that was my only experience of JT), I'm pleased to say that it was discovering TAAB that helped me come to appreciate and love Jethro Tull. I think it completely deserves its place right up there. 

That placement also just reflects some of the quirks of who comes to this site. It's true that other sites or critic-produced lists don't tend to rank any JT very highly at all (or if they do place it's usually Aqualung, probably just because they feel that it's supposed to be there because it's supposed to be there). Perhaps the bigger quirk of the top ten list on Progarchives compared with other sites and lists is the complete absence of ELP. But once again that just reflects the unique demographics of who happens to come here.

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: Because for a single track that is 45 minutes long or whatever it is it flows really well with no boring parts(unless you consider drum solos boring).

 

Wow.. it didn't take too long for someone to say it.

Being often a rock/guitar-strum style of guy (though nothing resembling metal), in general I greatly value these rock pieces, alongside with Close to the Edge, and is also why I'm a big fan of Rush and it's not too long before I urgently need my dose of distorted strumming or power in some form (CTTE).

Certainly my best ranked Jethro Tull (5).

Also, in this forum I have come to realise that I'm largely in the 'mainstream' side of progressive (PF, Yes, Genesis, Rush, EL&P, etc.) with rarely an addition from the subgenres (among other reasons that's why I'm here by the way and value this site so much!)

Another thing I've come to realise is that, among those bands, with time, the works I've come to enjoy the most, having passed by all their respective catalogues, are, or near, the band's pinnacle of maturity (what I call 'maturity', though more or less coincides with dates...), at the risk of losing raw beauty or a bit of progressiveness in some cases (not so intricate, abrupt changes, etc.) or becoming more commercially appealing in others:

Genesis -> The Lamb. followed very closely by Selling..

Pink Floyd -> Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, Wish you were here

Rush -> Moving pictures, Hemispheres, Farewell, Caress

Yes -> Close to the Edge

1. Close to the Edge

2. Selling England by the Pound

I'd have prefered Lamb or closely followed by Lamb (by no means 35. Lamb !)

3. Thick as a Brick

Not a problem.

4. Wish you were here - … - 7. Dark Side of the Moon

I don't get angry.. 

...

9. Animals 

Not a chance in my world.. good one and all, love it, but there are many that come before.

Marillion - Script. would be top ten.

Also, I'm a 'Chocolate Kings' guy, so Chocolate Kings would be my first PFM to appear on the list along with Maxophone in the top... 15 or so.

Exactly. Taken as whole, 44 minutes of continuous and superbly composed music and lyrics, the contextual album cover parody, and the fact that it went to #1 in sales without the benefit of a single, is an extraordinary slice of rock music history that will never be duplicated. Because record companies would not even allow something so outlandish to be released (and marketed) in today's downloaded singles-driven travesty called music.

Wow, I thought he was saying "fluffy dog." 

Here's my short review:

Thick As A Brick is absolutely one of the most important album of progressive rock from an historical point of view, but if we consider the quality of the music (beautiful melodies, inspiration, creativity, originality of composition and arrangement, sperimentalism, singing and musical execution), it shouldn't be in the top 10 (IMO). 

I think it's hard to argue against its relative uniqueness, and the success of its concept. For somebody like me who is less interested in lyrics and lyrical concepts, it is still pretty enjoyable. For a prog "epic" it is quite cheerful and light, full of nice folky melodies and ideas, and it has a pretty good flow and consistency. The music is not extremely complex or multilayered, but that on its own was never required for a good rating.

That said, when it comes to memorable melodies and flow, the second part is indeed quite a bit weaker than the first. So the album is not without its weaknesses, and that alone would probably be enough for some to call it overrated, thinking that number 3 must be 99.8% perfect or so. But I don't mind, I like it a lot as a whole and don't get me started about what's wrong with  some other top 20 albums (Wish You Were Here for example is in my books nowhere near the top 5 Pink Floyd albums, let alone the top 100 overall, but that's just my taste of course, except I'm not alone - and even that's still a pretty good album and I can see what some people find special about it).     

Logan, you're not alone.

I've highlighted some of the points in your talk, where you take a clear position on the records chart. I agree on all these points, except for these small variations:

1) I totally agree - anyway, three Can albums in the top 10 are too many.

2) Rock Bottom is surely in my top ten. i know too little Neu and Faust to express an evaluation, but possibly they are not inclused in my top 50. I prefer eclectic prog.

3) I like expecially The Piper and Saucerful and Wish You Were Here and Animals. But it's not easy to me to find a great masterpiece in these album... My ideas on PF are not clear.

4) I totally agree, even for me Pawn Herts is my fave in the top 20.

5) I totally agree: I dont consider CTTE a real masterpiece, It's close to a masterpiece only the first side. I prefer CTTE over TAAB, but CTTE is surely not in my top 10 or 20 or... I dont know his position. 

6) I totally agree, I've put three stars to TAAB in my review.

7) My fave JT album possibly is Aqualung, then Songs from the Wood, Minstrel, Stand Up etc.

PS PROG CHART ON RYM is very very bad!

in the top 10 there are 

4 Pink Floyd

3 Can

2 King Crimson

1 Yes.

How is possible? only three groups?? PF + Can 7 album /10? It's not serious. 

BTW, the album is the top rated JT on Rate Your Music and is currentl #169 of ALL albums ever recorded. 

Hey TAAB is going to be played at my funeral in it's entirety.

TAAB accelerated my puberty at the time i.e. 1972; growing a full blown beard at 13.

I started to read newspapers because of TAAB.

I changed my name by deed poll to Barry TAAB Glibb.

I know all the words to TAAB and the time signature changes; we'll, I just lied, I don't know the time signature changes but yes I know all the words.

I named my first child Thick, my second child, Asa and my third child, Brick.

Guess what my house is made out of?.....'cos it wasn't going to weatherboard...that's for sure!

I have 275 different TAAB releases from around the world including one from Botswana. (I think I lied again).

I love Fennel and non-rabbits.

I have to ask you a question i.e. Do you believe in the day?

Overrated? Nah; underrated....... should obviously be No. 1 on PA charts (!).

Buffalo Springfield - Bluebird

is TaaB overrated?  Perhaps.. but I'll flip it to the perhaps more accurate point. It isn't overrated as much as their earlier stuff, far superior to that, is HIGHLY underrated. 

Agreed.

At the time it came out, I thought it was cool ... another band that considered making "classical music" within a rock context, and it was outstanding. Kinda weird to think that some folks can only imagine this being a bunch of little songs just glued together ... and considering it over rated on that basis, and not a valid piece of music ... heck, you think Mozart is any better? You think that Beethoven's 5th or 7th or 9th are any better and not just a bunch of songs put together?

It's a real bummer, seeing the lack of understanding and appreciation for so much music ... and to my ear, it's like saying that Mozart is just prairie patties, and Beethoven is plain French merde (not mustard!), and of course, all these "pop musak'ers" would consider the top ten of classical music so overrated ... because CTTE is their number one favorite, and they have NEVER EVER heard any of the other stuff ... and worse ... they never will because that would be admitting that ashidholes like us were right about music, and they were just kids smoking their first joint! (AND ... thinking today's joints were better than what we had ... HAHAHAHA!!!!!)

I am of the opinion that the only thing missing here is people getting a better feel for the history and the time ... I can see it now ... a president saying that "foreign son" is offensive and that the writer needs to be fired from his job! ... and some idiots on this board will allow it to happen, instead of voting that guy out! AND, of course, one read on the lyrics of TAAB kinda ... yeah ... like Ian said ... showing the front of the CD ... this is "progressive" and then flipping the CD and saying "this isn't progressive" ... which was kinda perfect for me ... there is also a different version of it, that was cleaned up later, but the original was far more with it, and like Ian than all the rest of his lyrics!

 and another  for you Jean.  Not many know of the two verision of that song.  

two really different songs in reality.. while the long version lets Neil and Stephen fly into the sun with some killer guitar work..  but IMO and it is not a commonly held one... it ruins the song as intended. ie in its short version. It was quite a sad song and was driven home by the banjo and Stephen's heart rendering softly uttered singing... in the extended version.. gone...

Look no further than the final verse.. that is why it would be my funeral song.. very sad.. and beautifully done  but anything but that in the extended version and to me that ruins the song. It isn't like there is no wealth of example of just how good Stephen was on guitar and how he held his own.. even topped Neil... but this wasn't the song to do it with.

siLLy puPPy wrote: ^ i'm not sure why anyone really cares. Make your own list and look at it every day if you can't stand it. I doubt if one single person agrees with the top 250 list. I surely don't. Foxtrot and Nursery Crime wouldn't even make my top 1000 albums much less top 20.

Absofookinlutely

it's amazing that people care at all at such kind of top list at all...

Don't they have better things to do in life (like breathe fresh air, for ex) except stats?

As if PA was speaking as some kind of god with an autoritative opinion and dogma to present and doctrine to follow for fidels.

BarryGlibb wrote: Hey TAAB is going to be played at my funeral in it's entirety. TAAB accelerated my puberty at the time i.e. 1972; growing a full blown beard at 13. I started to read newspapers because of TAAB. .... ... Overrated? Nah; underrated....... should obviously be No. 1 on PA charts (!).

Yup on all three counts

THEN what do we do?!  

That's the beauty of this mother of all concept album: it's a spoof about a complete hoax and it's absolutely hilarious that it wrinkles the serious proggers

That's at least worth 5 clappies

Great start, but then it does go on so. 

I'm told it had lyrics--and pulls the wool over the world in a cheeky kind of way--but those aren't the kind of things that draw me into music. It's the music for me, baby, the music! (And a nice cor anglais, accordion, Prophet 5, or ChapmanStick doesn't hurt, either!) 

Good choice but I've already told the undertaker that "Heart Of The Sunrise" will be my exit music.

 

I rate it better than all those albums. The compositions are just first class.

However, I do prefer no small number of other prog records to it. It wouldn't make my personal top 10. 

It's called having different tastes, I'm with you on Moving Pictures, for me every album preceding it is better but that's the way it goes, others think differently.

siLLy puPPy wrote: ...  I doubt if one single person agrees with the top 250 list. I surely don't. Foxtrot and Nursery Crime wouldn't even make my top 1000 albums much less top 20.

Same.

The one thing I would FORCE is that on that list you have to have 250 ARTISTS ... not albums ... thus we know that GENESIS would be there, but we would not be having these powwow's about these albums ... heck, are we such idiots as to have to select a Peter Hammill album and then a VdGG album? That person needs a visit from Nurse Ratchet in their dreams!

Now, specifying that GENESIS is better than YES or vice versa is actually a much better discussion, because you have to include their listing of albums, and all of a sudden, guess what you find? Some progressive folks only listened to 3 or 4 GENESIS albums, and some YES folks only listened to 3 of their albums, and they are voting full force! 

Oh well ... I guess a commercial society has to have these numbers so the folks know what to buy!

I like the album ... it just bothers me, these discussions almost 50 years later ... we might as well go around calling Mozart a communist now!

I disagree. That's not the point of the top 250. It is the highest rated ALBUMS by members of PA. I think everyone takes this stuff too seriously and has insecurity issues when they don't like a highly rated album or their precious obscurity isn't on it. It's just a reflection of how people feel!

Nothing wrong with adding other lists though. A top 250 artists page would be cool indeed.

And here I thought he was a hedonist.  

btw...I agree with your take on TAAB.

https://www.loudersound.com/features/jethro-tull-story-behind-thick-as-a-brick" rel="nofollow - https://www.loudersound.com/features/jethro-tull-story-behind-thick-as-a-brick

 

Whether it's the third best prog rock album of all time is more debatable.

 

It wouldn't be my third best, but I guess that's personal taste.

 

Certainly I would rate both "Red" and "Relayer" higher than TAAB, but the fact that TAAB is rated number three doesn't cause me any great discomfort.

I hate to burst your bubble...but there are mint vinyl copies all over the place,,,US and Brit ones.

The thick as a brick radio edit(at least here in the US)was actually only about three minutes. You hear the flute fading with acoustic guitar playing and the song ends as far as most classic rock fans(who obviously aren't really prog or Tull fans) are concerned. You don't hear the part with the acoustic guitar strumming chords right after the flute and then the bam bam with Martin kicking in. The radio edit ends right before that. Imagine the surprise when you play the entire album to someone who is a classic rock fan who only knows the radio version.

Exactly. I think some people have an internal resistance to admitting that this might be top tier, even though it was intended as a spoof. Sometimes art "works" that way. The best archetypes and zeitgest etc comes out during such periods of "mockery".

That's honestly how I kind of feel about TFTO; everything everyone hates about it I love and think it represents a progressive rock archetype. Personal view!

It might surprise you that I had this album before almost every single JT fan at the time! And I used to play this on my headphones, stoned immaculate!

Again, I have never confused facts with fiction, after all, I am a writer and have several short stories and 4 novels to my name and I don't really need anyone telling me the difference between "facts" and just another story.

I knew of that quote, and have the article in my files! Just like I have stuff from PG and the GENESIS break up, and many others from PF from the early days!

The discussions are important and the facts helpful many times, however, they do not always resolve anything, since your ideas are always more important than mine, and taking things out of context to say something that is well known ... is not exactly creative.

Facts don't change history ... they just make you more human ... like suggesting that Mick never goes to the bathroom to take a poop, because he's gotta be too clean to score all the girls ... a few years back, anyway! 

Your comment is ignoring the point of the post. So typical of a few members on this board!

I like works of art ... I don't go around telling you that only a piece of Guernica (the left corner for you with a broken _______!), or a piece of the Mona Lisa (just half of her smile!), or a full frontal of Miro .... like so many folks around here do, is progressive and the rest is regressive! Pay attention to the line and comment plz!

I respect the artistic vision, and what/how these things are presented.

YOU DON'T ... and would rather postulate that the artist is WRONG in creating such ideas and visions, and then leaving us wondering what it means, and why waste vinyl space (then!) ... and my comment to you is ... go buy something else ... the Xes Pistols need your money a bit more than GENESIS!

I'm OK with you not understanding side 3 ... but saying it is crap because you don't like it, is out of line, and just shows how you disrespecting the artistic ideas and creativity. You don't like one sculptor because that man is thinking. You hate Michelangelo, because the church told him to make that penis small to make sure and not emphasize the sex side of things ... despite the rich folks around the church doing otherwise, of course!

To be a reviewer, and an honest one, yes, there are things you might not like, but state that and leave it at that, and perhaps even explain WHY you don't like it ... too many folks here say they don't like something and it is pretty obvious it is just a preference ... THEY NEVER TELL YOU WHY ... I'm betting my nickels they don't know ... and neither do you, when you make comments that are so disrespectful to the artistic community as a whole!

FREEDOM ... specially in the arts, is one of the most important things of all in our life ... and for the record ... IT WAS ONE OF THE MAIN DRIVES OF PROGRESSIVE MUSIC in those days ... but you have already dismissed all the social and political commentary on KC's early work ... because you don't like it!

SHAME on YOU!

Yeah, I guess that many humorless progholes are not agreeing with the spoofing of one album they should (and would otherwise) adore

kenethlevine wrote: I wasn't a Tull fan back in the day, though I certainly liked some songs.  On the radio, one would hear a 5 minute excerpt of TAAB, even on the FM channels.  This didn't do it justice.  40 years later I properly discovered it...and I'd say it's one of the few in the top 10 that ISN'T overrated.

Like I said - the emperor is most definitely stark bollock naked.... so go on, sue me....artist boy!

To be honest you seem to miss the point that must people treat music as something to be enjoyed. You really don't have to appreciate the artists vision to enjoy the music. I just like the sound of a Hammond for the sake of it and not because it speaks to me in some way. Equating music with paintings is just not relevant to the discussion I'm afraid to say. You seem to be seeking something that most people don't care about.

How sad ... and an important person in PA, that usually has very good comments on music and a lot of the work done here, and you come around ... and pretty much admit that more than half of the music you listen to, you don't pay attention to at all ...

Comparing it to a painting, was a way to show how folks tend to select bits and pieces and leave behind the rest ... you must really think that no artist out there is intelligent enough to create something ... just because you don't like it!

IT obviously has some meaning for its creator/s ... and you don't think that meaning is important or valuable, because you don't like that part! AND, WORSE OF ALL ... THAT THE SOCIAL MEDIA HAS THE RIGHT TO TELL THE ARTIST HE IS FUDGED AND WRONG, SPECIALLY 45 YEARS LATER! It was what it was at the time, and can be explained ... but you appear to be so commercialized (how weird ... and into "progressive music"!), that you can not separate and notice the difference. It's as if you are only looking for approval ratings, because you could not possibly agree with Mosh on the arts and his general respect for them ... every piece in its entirety ... not just a portion of it!

That is sad, sick, and I'm not sure that is appreciating the music (or the arts) at all ... there are a lot of things in "progressive" that I am not quite fond at, but at the very least, I have respect for their work and continuity ... and you are basically saying that YES and GENESIS are crap on the basis of one side of an album you did not "get" ... and are not even reading the notes on the album to find out what it is about!

I'm now wondering who is more overrated! 

It's all just opinions isn't it?  For me, TAAB is head and shoulders above CTTE, which I can't fathom at all.  CTTE is virtually unlistenable to me.  And someone else will say SEBTP is crap.....

I don't see all this as "snobbery" as so many folks here like to state, which is a terrible mis-use of the word.

Some, or you, doesn't matter, don't like the discussion, when using a painting, a novel, or something else as a comparative point, and the sad fact is ... you won't look at the whole painting, or read the whole novel, to find out where you kinda failed to understand the whole thing. Many novels are over 1000 pages long (no one will EVER read those on Kindle or any other program!), and essentially, it's as if you have already made up your mind that 800 pages of Crime and Punishment, or Moby Dick, are sheer crap and unnecessary to tell a story ... there is nothing valuable in all those "extra" pages.

I seriously doubt that PG/GENESIS, or JON/YES were so smug and snobbish as to just create something that you would not like, or understand. And you call me "snobbish" because I defend their right, as an ARTIST, to express themselves ... but your social/media stance, does not allow for artists to express themselves in such a way that you have to THINK, and identify what he/she is saying. 

Today's art, is not the 14th, 15th and 16th century arts, which were controlled by the church in Europe ... but what you guys are doing here, is making sure we have another prohibition age ... and your child is just another child in the City of Lost Children ... with their dreams stolen and violated!

In the end, what this is all saying is that the media, has become a witch-hunt for artists ... they don't like anyone that creates more than simple words to tell them what it all means ... Miro said nothing with his paintings. Cezanne didn't care what you thought. Picasso, told everyone, that if you could do better, go paint it yourself ... but you (the fan) could not create a sculpture or another great piece of work. 

Too many here, comment, and in the end, their short comments, with no explanation, is just a way to say that they are not well defined enough to make such a point ... and you think that this is about me and too many words. The number of words is not important, as the value in them, and some folks here are INTENTIONALLY making an effort to devalue the words, because they think their opinion is right and any other is wrong. In actuality they are just being a commoner on the street agreeing with everyone else, because they are afraid their neighbor will not like them otherwise!

Over rated? TAAB is a wonderful piece of music, although I think that some of the lyrics are ... an excuse for the piece of work, and I am almost positive that Ian did it on purpose thinking that 45 years later, we would stupidly sit here and discuss the value of his album ... he's probably laughing so hard right now ... but I'll tell you what ... tell him that one piece of his music is too long and weird, and you know what he is going to tell you?

Face it ... is it an artist you want, or just another pop song?

I read this over a couple of times; unfortunately, the wording didn't change -- and it is still dead wrong. I would suggest that Barlow's contribution added real fire to every album he was on, and that he was actually more technically advanced and powerful than Bunker, who was really good in his own right. Barlow was the perfect complement to the more progressive albums that Tull released after Aqualung. I don't think Bunker could have done it.

I never suggested (and it would be crazy for me to say it) that I didn't think an artist was intelligent enough to create something simply because I don't appreciate it. That's just you drawing an erroneous conclusion (again). 

I respect anyone who can write and create original music. To me that's a form of magic.  However I will never pretend to like everything they do and if that means I am disrespecting the artist then well I must have no damn respect for any of them!

Worthwhile music to me is anything that is not 3 minute formula driven radio drivel. I don't have to like all of it but I do appreciate the ambition of anyone attempting to do something different. That's all there is with art. Human beings are not perfect I'm afraid and art reflects that (or should do). Music although being art can also have a decent tune to divert your attention from whether it's really any good. Perhaps that the nub of my argument perhaps.

 

No, what he means is when we listen to music, we react viscerally.  We don't try to analyse it.  We may and there's nothing wrong with that either but it's not like we do it every single time and every work of art.  An idea that would be easy enough for you to grasp if you didn't overanalyse the opinions of commenters on PA.  Since you seem to appreciate music in ways elusive to us plebs, wouldn't your time be better utilised in the service of THAT endeavour than trying to educate the patently illiterate? 

Sorry, I completely disagree with you, completely and utterly. I would suggest that Barlow had a far better technique for the more intricate compositions found on TAAB, APP, MitG, SFTW, etc. Bunker was fine, at times exceptional, in the milieu of early Tull (i.e., jazzy blues, straight blues and rock), but he was not the drummer to go in the direction that Tull did after 1971. And I would also say the bass line Jon Glasscock laid down surpassed Cornick and Hammond on the bass.

Listen to Barlow from 2:28 on:

No way in Hell is Bunker going to do that. I think Barlow had a much better grasp of orchestral arrangements, which a lot of the 70s Tull compositions required, plus his extensive use of the glockenspiel and marimbas. Listen to Glasscock and Barlow, it's masterful and so damn precise...

Quite clearly, Richard did not say/admit anything of the sort.