CATFISH RISING

I enjoy this album immensely. I actually like it more than either Crest Of A Knave or Rock Island, the two albums that preceded it. On those, the band, despite Ian Anderson's vocal problems, was trying, with some success, especially on Crest, to recapture the hard rocking, somewhat prog format that made them one of the biggest acts of the seventies.

Here, the band has matured, and pared down the sound to a mostly folk and blues format. And as such it succeeds. This is an aging band (as Anderson points out on their next release A Little Light Music - what does that make them now, almost 20 years past that album?), and this album suits Andersons vocals, and Barre's toned down (was someone listening to a lot of Dire Straits?) guitar playing.

Anderson's lyrics are as good as ever. I particularly like Rocks On The Road and Thinking Round Corners. Even the tongue in cheek When Jesus Came To Play is fun on this album.

If I were to rate this solely for enjoyment, I'd give it four stars. For lack of prog, in this site it only rates three.