Jethro Tull
Heavy Horses

THE REVIEW

The moment came to follow up the beautiful "Songs From The Wood", and Jethro Tull decided to continue down the path they had just embarked upon. In 1978, "Heavy Horses" was released, with a strong folk backbone, where sudden bursts of the band's typical hard rock and acoustic touches worthy of their best years flare up. Perhaps a tad below its predecessor, it is nonetheless a beautiful and very rich work.

The first track, "...And The Mouse Never Sleeps", is characterized by a very effective flute riff and a very tight rhythm culminating in an obsessive chorus. A cough, and here opens up the green England, in all its rural spaces: Ian Anderson's mandolin takes us into "Acres Wild", where the singer expresses his feeling of "omnipotence" ("I'll make love to you in all good places"), a concept that already appeared in "Minstrel In The Gallery", in the concluding "Grace".
Another change of register for what might be the hardest song in the work, "No Lullaby": Barre's guitar captures very well the unrest of the lyrics... "Keep your eyes open"! It is followed by a very diverse trio, of rare quality: the beautiful "Moths", with very incisive flute and guitar; "Journeyman", a properly Tullian track, more straightforward and less immediate than the previous, but of great charm (highlighted by Glascock's bass); "Rover", more catchy and ironic.
After the white duck, we get the brown mouse. And what a mouse!! "One Brown Mouse" is one of the best tracks on the LP, with great rural beauty, Evan's keyboards, and, in my opinion, a beautiful singing. A worthy prelude to what will come. "Heavy Horses", the title track, opens with another spot-on riff by Barre and bursts into a wonderful and poetic voice-piano dialectic, until the powerful chorus ("Heavy horses, move the land under me"). Then a violin opening (the guest is Darryl Way, yes, or maybe still, I don't know, from Curved Air) gives chills and leads to the grand finale. Fantastic. It closes with "Weathercock", beautiful in its arrangement (important is the contribution of the sixth Tull, David Palmer, who was still a man at the time) and in its progress driven by the skilled Barlow's drumming.

I know I haven't delved much into the album’s themes, but I honestly don't think I'm capable, Anderson's English is certainly not mine. I'll end with some advice: if you decide to buy this jewel, go for the remastered edition, with the two bonus tracks, "Living In These Hard Times" (one of the most complex lyrics in history: "You know what you like, and you like what you know: but there’s no jam for the tea"... wow!!) and especially the absurdly beautiful "Broadford Bazaar", acoustic and with a whistle that sends shivers down your spine.

Great Tull, as always.