AQUALUNG

This is one of the true classic albums, not just of progressive rock, but rock in general. Besides having truly interesting, and some fine experimental music, the lyrics are some of the most brilliant ever recorded. And Ian Anderson credits his first wife, Jennie, for the lyrics of the band's most famous song.

The music flows perfectly from song to song, and the lyrics seem to flow as well. But my favorite part of the album is side 2, where Anderson provides a scathing critcism of organized religion, and the hypocrites who use religion as a method of power. In Hymn 43 he writes "If Jesus saves, then he'd better save himself from the gory glory seekers who use his name in death." Who could deny that after more than thirty years the lyric are still relevant? And while some say that the set of songs are a statement of atheism, I disagree. While it's not necessarily Christianity, there is a spiritualism in "He is the god of nothing -- if that's all that you can see. You are the god of everything -- He's inside you and me." Even a devout atheist like me can be moved by such lyrics.

This is an album everyone should own (even my teenaged son loves it).