Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Written as a response to the music press as the seminal album Aqualung was still deep in the minds of the listener, Jethro Tull’s Thick As A Brick is considered by many as the ultimate concept recording, and whilst fans and advocates of Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway or Pink Floyd’s The Wall might disagree with loud, and argumentative vocal voices, there can be no argument that what the members of the band put together in 1972 has resonated, found its way into folk lore, has become, in a word, legendary.
We should never cave or bow to press demands, the fourth estate at times is as corrupt as the three other pillars that hold the country up, but we should sometimes oblige them in ways that shows the folly of those who abuse their powers and give the true representation of our wares and dreams to those with undeterred honour. It is with this in mind that Thick As A Brick, its original bestselling release, and now as it celebrates its 50th, glorious, anniversary by being re-released ten years after it finally went out of print in its vinyl form.
Expect nothing new, as Stephen King once said when he was able to release The Stand in its unedited form, don’t expect characters to behave any differently than what you originally first found between the pages, and who would want the hero of this piece, Gerald Bostock, to perform any differently, the child poet whose fictional life is exposed as the lengthy ode is examined by the outraged public of the time; why would you want this hero of musical literature to be altered, except in more background, except with a flourish.
The change comes not from within, it comes in how it is presented, and the new technology that allows an album to be cut at half speed, gives a deeper resonance to the album, arguably the sound is no longer a suggestion, it is a declaration, a fluidity of expression that outweighs the original, and whilst you might not realise it, it adds an extra layer of life to Gerald’s existence.
Where does a legend go when it takes a step beyond its original creation, the tale not striding into myth or fable, but in the case of Thick As A Brick in its 50th year, in its recutting, becomes arguably the middle age prodigy, the iconic celebrity you can only marvel at, that is greeted in both favoured whispers and the exuberance of stardom.
As Gerald’s poem, as Jethro Tull bring it to life, “I really don’t mind if you sit this one out”, but it would be a shame if you did, for you don’t get too many chances in life to sit down and listen to a phenomenon talk to your heart, mind, and soul.
Ian D. Hall