REALLY DON'T MIND
IF YOU SIT THIS
ONE OUT
MY WORD'S BUT A WHISPER
YOUR DEAFNESS
A SHOUT..
Thick as a Brick
is the fifth
studio album
by the
British
Rock band
released on
March, 3rd 1972.
The album contains
one continuous
piece of music,
split over
two sides
of an
LP record,
and is intended
as a parody
of the
concept album genre.
The original packaging,
designed as a
12-page newspaper,
claims
the album
to be a
musical adaptation
of an Epic Poem
by fictional
eight-year-old
genius
Gerald Bostock,
though the lyrics
were actually
written by
the band's
frontman,
Ian Anderson.
The album was
recorded in late 1971,
featuring music
composed by
Anderson
and arranged with
the contribution of
all band members.
The album was
the band's first
to include drummer
Barrie "Barriemore" Barlow,
replacing the band's
previous drummer
Clive Bunker.
The live show
promoting the album
included the playing
of the full suite,
with various
comic interludes.
Thick as a Brick
is considered by
critics to be
the first
Jethro Tull release
to entirely consist
of progressive
rock music.
It received
mixed reviews
upon its release,
but was a
commercial success
and topped
various charts
in 1972.
Today it is
regarded as a
classic of
progressive rock,
and has
received several
accolades.
Anderson produced
a follow-up to the album
in 2012,
focusing on
the adult life
of the fictional
Gerald Bostock,
and being released
as Anderson's
solo album
instead of as a
Jethro Tull album.
Background
Jethro Tull's frontman
and songwriter
Ian Anderson
was infuriated when
critics called
the band's
previous album,
Aqualung (1971),
a "concept album".
He rejected this,
thinking it was
simply a collection
of songs,
so in response
decided to
"come up with something
that really is
the mother of
all concept albums".
Taking the surreal
British humour
of Monty Python
as an influence,
he began to write
a piece that would
combine complex music
with a
sense of humour,
with the idea it
would poke
light-hearted fun
at the band,
the audience,
and the
music critics.
He also intended
to satirise
the progressive
rock genre
that was popular
at the time.
His wife
Jennie
was also
an inspiration,
to whom he
credited having
devised the
character
and lyrics of
"Aqualung".
She had written
a letter
to Anderson
while he
was away touring
the album,
ten lines
from which
Anderson used as
inspiration for
the new material.
Anderson has also said that
"the album was a
spoof to the albums
of
Yes
and
Emerson, Lake & Palmer,
much like what
the movie
Airplane!
had been to
Airport
"and later remarked that
it was a
"bit of a satire
about the whole
concept of
grand rock-based
concept albums".
Although Anderson
wrote all the music
and lyrics,
he co-credited
the writing to a
fictional schoolboy
named
Gerald Bostock.
The humour was
subtle enough
that some fans believed
that Bostock
was real.
Noel Murray
suggested that
many listeners
of the
original album
"missed the joke"
TRACK LIST
Thick As A Brick, Pt. 1
Thick As A Brick, Pt. 2
Thick As A Brick
(Live Madison Square Garden 1978)
Interview With
Jethro Tull
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