Jethro Tull
Crest Of A Knave

THE REVIEW

So, before the EVIL (just kidding, he already said he wouldn't take it from me) Pibroch snatches this review too, I've decided to write it. The year is 1987; the decline of great bands like Deep Purple, Genesis et al. is confirmed, but not all the greats have fallen: Jethro Tull, as confirmed by this 'Crest Of A Knave', are still alive and kicking, even if not quite as inspired as in the past.

"Steel Monkey" is the first song and, to be honest, it's not very good, in fact, I'd even say it's bad: a kind of exhausted hard rock glazed with very annoying electronic keyboards, despite a good guitar impact. Well, as an opening, it's not looking good at all... but luckily we are rescued by "Farm On The Freeway", a song that can still be defined in '87 as progressive. An intro with keyboards providing a fantastic atmosphere, a decidedly non-trivial singing (sorry for the pun), and a nice instrumental section make this song one of the best tracks on the album. "Jump Start" and "She Said She Was A Dancer" are two typical Tull folk rock pieces, the former is nice, although not exceptional, while the latter turns out to be a rather clichéd and boring mood ballad (and in certain passages, sugary).

"Dogs In The Midwinter" leaves me perplexed; it's a fairly nice song, more than decent, somewhere between """"pop"""" and rock, absolutely coherent, but with something missing (could be the electronic drums, could be the rhythm that doesn't feel at all like Tull, perhaps a certain underlying compositional fatigue... who knows!). "Budapest" clears all doubts about the album: it's a stunning song, the masterpiece of the record, with its amazing riff that sticks in your mind forever, the solemnity, the very length of the song (10:07), the inherent sadness of the song, which, however, never even comes close to being sugary, the majestic progression of the instrumental... "Mountain Men" starts with crystalline atmospheres, then leads into the vocals, which turn out to be epic, after a shaky start, with absolute cohesion between voice and instruments. Perhaps the song is overused in its structure, but it is simply beautiful. "The Waking Edge", on the other hand, is a rather dull song, almost like a cookie commercial, on par with "She Said She Was A Dancer". Little or nothing to say. "Raising Steam" closes the album with a hard rock similar to "Steel Monkey", but manages to be at least decent or, at least, better developed.

So, what is 'Crest Of A Knave'? Simply an album. The Tull manage to condense in this album several well-developed good ideas and the slips in style are tolerable (we are in '87, after all), creating an album that may not be a masterpiece, but manages at least to stay afloat.

Fuck Scaruffi.