Jethro Tull
Broadsword And The Beast

I must be honest. The first time I heard this album I hated it a lot. Barely 2 songs were worth saving. So I didn't play it for quite a while and the CD gathered dust on my shelf.

Over time, many pieces from this album emerged from my Jethro Tull bootleg collection. "All in all, it's not that bad," I thought. "Come on, let's go and listen to it again." So after two years of inactivity, I put the CD back on. The first track, "Beastie", is a medium-level rock, one of the less successful things on the album, a bit commercial, but all in all not to be despised. But much better is the following "The Clasp". The introduction and the ending are very unsettling, but the piece is quite cheerful. Interesting is the use of drum pads by drummer Gerry Conway, and excellent the vocal line, as well as the flute line. Wonderful.

My favorite track, however, remains "Fallen On Hard Times", track number 3. Beautiful melody, skillful use of slide guitar, and a great Peter John Vettese on keyboards. After this little masterpiece, unfortunately, come the worst tracks of the album. "Flying Colours" begins with an excellent piano and voice recitative, only to turn into a banal fast rock not very interesting. "Slow Marching Band" is, without a doubt, one of Ian Anderson's worst ballads: the melody is almost unbearable. Luckily the following "Broadsword" gets things back on track. It is a powerful and majestic track with a great guitar performance by Martin Barre and worthy support from bassist Dave Pegg. "Pussy Willow" is a slow track, but it has a fairly aggressive chorus. The live versions are memorable! Very engaging, but a bit silly if we want, is the divertissement of "Watching Me Watching You" with a memorable keyboard line. "Seal Driver" is another excellent piece, performed in the style of "Broadsword", also containing an excellent guitar solo.

It all closes with a delightful one-minute march titled "Cheerio", which from now on will almost always be used as a concert closure. In short, after the first listen, I can say that this album is truly very satisfying, better than the following "Under Wraps" (which despite everything is not a bad album either!). A must-have!