SONGS FROM THE WOOD

Following the tour that was produced to support 'Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll, Too Young to Die', Ian Anderson started to settle down a bit. He got married and he bought a house. He started listening to the old English style folk rock as performed by groups like 'Steeleye Span' and decided to add a more folkish element to the band's sound. Being able to add this organic sound in with the electric sounds of Martin Barre's guitar was going to be the trick, and keyboardist David Palmer was brought in as an official band member, who brought along with him, his classical-trained musicianship. The music ended up becoming more variant and light-hearted, a bit more spacious with the backing of the electric guitar. Smoother dynamics also became a result of the pairing of Barre and Palmer ended up giving them credit on the album for contributing material.

Inspiration for the music on this album would come from British pagen folklore and county life. The music moves from excellent harmonies, warmth and comforting tones mixed with harsh and dark styles. There is still a nice level of progressiveness to it all to with Anderson adding in tricky rhythms and quirkiness. Thus, Tull's 10th studio album 'Songs from the Wood' was born, and it would become the first of a trilogy of albums that centered more around folk styles, the other two albums being 'Heavy Horses' and 'Stormwatch'. The advertisement for the album encouraged prospective buyers to '[f]ind a quiet spot and listen to it soon.'. The album cover looks very inviting as Anderson is sitting next to a camp fire in the woods that entices you to sit down with him while he presents this excellent variety of tunes inspired by old England's folklore.

This album is one of my personal favorites of the Jethro Tull discography, and it is the one that has the sound that I have truly associated with the band's music, complex to a degree, but with an amount of warmth that still needs to be approached with caution. The line up at this time was Tull at its best: of course we have Anderson and Barre, the two main staples of the band. The remainder of the band consists of the same line-up as 'Too Old'.' except for the addition of David Palmer, thus making two keyboardists with John Evan, along with John Glascock on bass and Barriemore Barlow on drums, 6 members total. This line-up would continue until 1980 with the exception of bassist Glascock who would leave the band in 1979.

The album begins with the obvious change as the title track leads it all off and a cappela vocals announce the first track. When the band comes in, the complexity in the instrumental backing recalls the Jethro Tull that everyone was familiar with, but the cleaner and folk sound is very apparent. The idea for the song came from a book called 'Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain' that Anderson received for a Christmas present.. The balancing of traditional and electronics is perfect, the music has just that right amount of progressiveness to make it interesting, and the music is as inviting as the album cover. 'Jack-in- the-Green' is more traditional sounding and quite pastoral with all of the instruments in this case played by Anderson, while 'Cup of Wonder' is playful and has a more direct rhythmic quality to it.

'Hunting Girl' brings back a higher level of complexity and heavier electric guitars from Barre and the excellent flute work of Anderson. The synths also are front and center on this one, everyone gets to have their say somewhere in this quirky track. Next is one of my all time Tull favorites 'Ring Out Solstice Bells' which features some of the best harmonic work in Tull's discography, not to mention the catchy and difficult-to-follow hand claps and the excellent and original melody. 'Velvet Green' features obvious folk ornamentation with an alternating meter, making it more authentic sounding with the glockenspiel played by Barlow and the use of acoustic guitars from Anderson. This song is a masterpiece of progressive folk. 'The Whistler', the most popular track on the album, has the infectious chorus which is cool and quirky, and the famous flute melody that bridges the chorus back to the verses.

'Pibroch (Cap in Hand)' is the longest track at over 8 minutes and has a more experimental tone to it, featuring Barre's guitar creating effects that mimic bagpipes. This track centers more around the guitar, but still takes time to tie it all back to the folkish style and adding in the majestic pipe organ during the instrumental break, but the mixing of the old world with the new world is excellent in this track, the most complicated of the tracks on the album. 'Fire at Midnight' closes off the album with a return to the more traditional folk sound, similar in tone to the previous Velvet Green, a perfect ending.

There have been a few re-issues of the album, including a 2003 re-issue that added 2 bonus tracks, 'Beltane' and a live version of 'Velvet Green'. There was also a Steven Wilson stereo remix box set that includes two previously unreleased tracks; 'Old Aces Die Hard' and 'Working John, Working Joe'; along with different versions of tracks from the album and an early version of 'One Brown Mouse'.

This album remains one of my favorites from the Jethro Tull studio albums. This is the sound I associate the most with the band's style. The songs are warm and friendly but still have the usual doses of complexity and darkness, with plenty of excellent surprises and hooks that keeps the listener coming back. Of the most folk sounding Tull albums, it is my favorite with 'Heavy Horses' coming close behind it. It is a definite masterpiece of folk and progressive rock mixed.