Jethro Tull: A Passion Play - 1973
After their slightly tongue-in-cheek, but highly enjoyable venture into prog rock conceptry on 1972's Thick As A Brick, Jethro Tull attempted to repeat the experiment the following year, without quite the same level of success. It has suffered critically, in comparison to its predecessor, probably correctly, but it is certainly not all bad. Not at all.
Indeed, at the time there was a lot of negative publicity about the album as rock journalists stuck their bilious oars in. It is an enjoyable mix of atmospheric English folk and classical influences merged with a muscular rock foundation.
As on the previous album, the sound quality and musicianship is excellent. I know what people mean, though, it does not have the appeal of Thick As A Brick but still has its moments. The extended monologue about the Hare's spectacles is very indulgent, however, typical of anyone with prog pretensions.
The album is basically two sides of continual music, divided loosely into many different phases (listed above) - instrumentals leading into songs and then the reverse. For that reason it lacks something in cohesion, you can't just cherry pick the good bits, you have to listen to the whole lot. CD programmers have managed to split them, however, but I have to say that it actually plays better as two complete suites. As with TAAB too, I find it difficult to analyse each separate part of the album, other than to reiterate that it has a nice flow to its disparate parts and should not be dismissed out of hand.
Overall, the album's sound has a progginess to it, but there is also a brooding, essential folkiness there that I really like. The guitar sound is very Steeleye Span and there is a certain beguiling, dark intrigue to its ambience that makes several listens advisable.
A Passion Play was actually quite a brave creation and again, I find myself really liking it, as with the previous one, though, more on part one than part two. It is strange, however, to think that in 1973 when this came out, it was the year of Aladdin Sane, Roxy Music's Stranded, Mott The Hoople's Mott and Stevie Wonder's Innervisions, yet there was also oddball stuff like this around, to which I paid no attention.
