Minstrel in the Gallery [Bonus Tracks] [Remaster]

Performer: Jethro Tull
Engineer: Robin Black
Producer: Ian Anderson
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Jethro Tull: Ian Anderson (vocals, acoustic guitar, flute); Martin Barre (electric guitar); John Evan (piano, organ); Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond (upright & electric bass); Barriemore Barlow (drums, percussion). Additional personnel: David Palner (conductor); Patrick Halling, Elizabeth Edwards, Rita Eddowes, Bridget Procter (violin); Katharine Thulborn (cello). All tracks have been digitallly remastered. Personnel: Ian Anderson (vocals, acoustic guitar, flute); Martin Barre (electric guitar); Rita Eddowes, Patrick Halling, Bridget Procter, Elizabeth Edwards (violin); Katharine Thulborn (cello); John Evan (piano, organ); Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond (bass guitar); Barriemore Barlow (drums, percussion). Recording information: Europe. Photographer: Brian Ward . Jethro Tull was at the height of its fame in the mid-'70s. Although critics sometimes found their songs overly ornate and the lyrics too arty, the fans didn't mind, and Tull was one of the most successful live acts in the world. MINSTREL IN THE GALLERY showcases Ian Anderson's idiosyncratic vision of progressive rock, one in which he married hard-rock chords and thunderous rave-ups with gentle balladry and the earthy sounds of his flute and acoustic guitar. MINSTREL vacillates between gentle, lilting melodies ("Requiem," the gorgeous "One White Duck") and upbeat stompers. The sprawling title track, which opens the album, is typical of the band's mini-opera approach. Anderson initially plays the main theme against a simple backdrop of acoustic guitar, flute, mandolin and choral backing vocals--then the electric guitar and drums barge in, and the group kicks into an intricate, sometimes discordant workout. At about the four-minute point, the song starts up again and the band plays it through in a driving electric style. "Baker Street Muse" is a similarly dense piece, an almost 17-minute, four-part composition that alternates between orchestral rock, folk-rock, prog-rock, and evocative excursions into minstrelsy. Minstrel in the Gallery was Tull's most artistically successful and elaborately produced album since Thick as a Brick and harkened back to that album with the inclusion of a 17-minute extended piece ("Baker Street Muse"). Although English folk elements abound, this is really a hard rock showcase on a par with -- and perhaps even more aggressive than -- anything on Aqualung. The title track is a superb showcase for the group, freely mixing folk melodies, lilting flute passages, and archaic, pre-Elizabethan feel, and the fiercest electric rock in the group's history -- parts of it do recall phrases from A Passion Play, but all of it is more successful than anything on War Child. Martin Barre's attack on the guitar is as ferocious as anything in the band's history, and John Evan's organ matches him amp for amp, while Barriemore Barlow and Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond hold things together in a furious performance. Anderson's flair for drama and melody come to the fore in "Cold Wind to Valhalla," and "Requiem" is the loveliest acoustic number in Tull's repertory, featuring nothing but Anderson's singing and acoustic guitar, Hammond-Hammond's bass, and a small string orchestra backing them. "Nothing at All" isn't far behind for sheer, unabashed beauty, but "Black Satin Dancer" is a little too cacophonous for its own good. "Baker Street Muse" recalls Thick as a Brick and A Passion Play, not only in its structure but a few passages; at slightly under 17 minutes, it's a tad more manageable than either of its conceptual predecessors, and it has all of their virtues, freely overlapping hard rock and folk material, classical arrangements (some of the most tasteful string playing on a Tull recording), surprising tempo shifts, and complex stream-of-consciousness lyrics (some of which clearly veer into self-parody) into a compelling whole. [The November 2002 remastering features vastly improved sound, remastered in state-of-the-art digital audio under the personal supervision of Ian Anderson. The original album tracks have more warmth and presence, which improve it immeasurably, but Anderson also added on five tracks: The haunting "Summerday Sands" and "March The Mad Scientist" (which almost sound like throwbacks to the group's early albums), the flute and orchestra instrumental "Pan Dance", and live-in-the-studio versions of "Minstrel In The Gallery" and "Cold Wind To Valhalla". All of it simply extends the original LP's range into wider realms of acoustic-textured beauty, and raises the value of the album by a notch above what it was].~ Bruce Eder

Q (12/00, p.144) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...A private affair...managing a sparks-flying title-track riff and musters a marvelous, thoughtful coda on 'Mother England Reverie'..." Uncut (01/03, p.133) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...[The album has] a genuinely innovative flair for rethinking rock harmony and texture..."

Led by the charismatic, flute-wielding Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull began as a somewhat Led Zeppelin-like, bluesy hard-rock band. Before long the balance tipped to courtly, Elizabethan-sounding progressive rock tinged with folk and marked by tricky time changes and long suites. Though they were masters of the concept album (THICK AS A BRICK, AQUALUNG), Tull was able to churn out hook-laden hard-rock riffs that guaranteed them a permanent place on classic-rock playlists the world over.

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