NIGHTCAP

The first disc of this two-CD set presents what most purchasers are probably most interested in - the legendary Chateau D'isaster Tapes, songs produced during the abortive recording sessions for the followup to Thick as a Brick. Much of the material of course, would end up being cannibalised to create A Passion Play - the lyrics occasionally refer to passion plays, but more regularly compare human society to animals at the zoo, which might be where the Tale of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles came from. I actually greatly prefer this version to the album that resulted; it doesn't have the jarring and irritating interval of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles to wreck the album's momentum, and the band have retained the sense of humour that they temporarily lose for the bulk of the Play (Martin Barre's spoken word interjection at the start of Law of the Bungle Part 2 is completely demented!). Plus, the instrumental performances are absolutely top notch. It's not quite of the standards of Thick as a Brick, but it's much closer to those lofty heights than A Passion Play, so I'll give disc 1 of this set four and a half stars.

The accompanying disc is more of a three-star collection, bringing together various rejected tracks of which only a few (such as the opening Paradise Steakhouse) really stand out. I believe many of them have come out over the years as bonus tracks on various Tull remasters anyway. Either way, they're not really the main attraction here - that being the Chateau tapes - so I won't penalise the rating too harshly for this.