CURIOUS RUMINANT

Oh boy! Jethro Tull is back with a new album. I gave their last two releases middling-to-lukewarm coverage, so I didn't exactly have very high hopes for Curious Ruminant. Overall, though, I was pleasantly surprised. They leaned hard into folk music, and the album is mostly a success. It's not going to be a contender for my album of the year, but if you're looking for some decent, proggy folk rock, this is a good choice.

Curious Ruminant starts with "Puppet and the Puppet Master". Its opening passage is peppy and folky, with ample acoustic guitar and accordion. This is better than most of the band's recent output, and it strongly calls to mind Tull's output in the mid-to-late 1990s. Anderson's sing-talking isn't great, but with the state of his voice, this is really the best he can do.

The title track comes next, and it slows things down. There's a steady, crunching guitar line, and Anderson's flute playing is great. The band does a good job at keeping things tense, and this is more reminiscent of something off Broadsword and the Beast. I also like that the band's new guitarist has more character to his playing than the last one. He's still no Martin Barre, but it's an improvement. Despite everything positive I have to say about this song, it doesn't need to be six minutes long. Four-and-a-half would have been fine.

"Dunsinane Hill" returns to a folkier sound palette, with flute and accordion taking the lead in its opening. It is, however, also a step down from the prior two songs. Its glacial pace and unsubtle sing-talking makes me think of certain Roger Waters-penned songs. In its second half, the instrumental backing gets a bit more interesting, but this still isn't my favorite cut on the album.

The band returns to their '90s sound on "The Tipu House". It's a fun, high-energy cut, and I especially like the dark and swirling chorus. In contrast, "Savannah of Paddington Green" is a slow, sweet acoustic song. It's not bad, but it doesn't do much to stand out. Ian Anderson has written a lot of songs that sound like this one.

"Stygian Hand" sticks with the overall sound of the preceding cut, but it's got a lot more pep in its step. Mandolin, accordion, and flute give this cut a strangely pirate-y vibe, but it's not goofy. It's just got that "vaguely old-timey British nautical" feel to it, if that makes sense. However, it probably could have been trimmed down by about a minute.

The mood on "Over Jerusalem" is mellower and more whimsical. It's also a bit sappy, and the melody is somewhat awkward and unnatural. This isn't exactly Tull's strongest work.

"Drink from the Same Well" is the band's longest song since A Passion Play. (It clocks in two full seconds longer than "Baker St. Muse"!) The opening passage is a classical-influenced bit of piano, flute, and bass, and it's a pleasant instrumental moment. That introduction is followed by some bouncy folk flavors with the occasional bit of new age-y ambiance. It's pleasant enough, but some of this drags on for longer than it needs to; parts of this huge song can feel repetitious.

The instrumental first half of this song shifts abruptly to a verse. It's a bit wispy for my taste, but there are some good melodic ideas here. A bit more instrumental punch would have been nice, but Anderson's voice doesn't have the strength necessary for that. He needs the backing to be relatively light, or at least deliberately-paced. 

The second half of this song is unnecessarily dragged-out. Its length could have easily been trimmed to about 10-12 minutes without losing much. It kills the momentum of the album up to this point, and much of it just left me bored.

The final song on the album is also its shortest, "Interim Sleep", a brief spoken-word piece.

Curious Ruminant is both the folkiest and the best of Tull's post-reunion output. They sound a bit more like a band, rather than an Ian Anderson solo project. Anderson's voice is still a major hurdle for the band to overcome. He's learned to work within his limitations, but it's still a limitation. Aside from the overlong "Drink from the Same Well", the songs here are mostly focused and generally enjoyable.

Review originally published here: theeliteextremophile.com/2025/03/10/album-review-jethro-tull-curious-ruminant/

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