SONGS FROM THE WOOD

After "Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die" (the truncated musical project that became an album), and faithful to their custom of releasing works without letting a calendar year go by, Jethro Tull went into the countryside to soak up its spirit and they show it on "Songs From the Wood" (1977), their tenth album.

The different layers of Ian Anderson's troubadour-like a cappella singing start the piece "Songs from the Wood", a sequence of counterpoint and labyrinthine comings and goings between the flutes and acoustic guitars of the multifaceted leader and Dee Palmer's keyboards, sustained by the sound base that John Glascock's bass and Barriemore Barlow's percussion configure, and which mark the temperament with aromas of bushes and wood of the album: Short-lived and peaceful beautiful developments, such as the very folk "Jack-In-The-Green" (with Anderson playing all the instruments), the accessible "Cup of Wonder", the wintry and jubilant "Ring Out, Solstice Bells", the medieval airs of "Velvet Green", or the restless Celtic reminiscence "The Whistler", with the whole band interacting in perfect communion.

And in the midst of this nature-flavoured journey, both the intensity of the unseemly "Hunting Girl" with Martin Barre's electric guitars and Palmer's complementary electric organ, and the intricate "Pibroch (Cap in Hand)" with Barre's distorted guitar chords again, Anderson's settled singing (flute solo included) in the track's hypnotic mid-tempo and Palmer's suspenseful keyboards, give the album a light, sporadic "urban" tinge, before giving way to the brief, delicate "Fire at Midnight" for its bucolic harmony to conclude the work.

"Songs from the Wood" is not a concept album (the stories are not intertwined), but its title, cover and theme combine to show the band in a country and legendary atmosphere. And they pull it off beautifully.

4/4.5 stars