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Rating:
I came to Jethro Tull later than other prog bands, perhaps because I had only listened to Aqualung, a masterpiece, yes, but not very prog, and since until some time ago I only listened to that genre...
Then I got my hands on this Minstrel in The Gallery. Not very convinced, I start listening to it... The title track is one of the two main masterpieces of the album, with a very medieval initial atmosphere, decidedly chilling (especially for myself, who loves medieval), with two subsequent tempo changes, the first leading to an electric guitar instrumental, with Barre having a lot of fun, and a second one that brings us back to the singing with a hard rock-like piece. "WOW! I like this one!" "Cold Wind To Valhalla" is a practically epic song, with an underlying vein of melancholy, along with some nice appearances of violin, with a catchy riff even if not predictable. The change between acoustic and electric guitar is beautiful. "Beeeeeeautiful..." A flute introduction leads us to the next "Black Satin Dancer", in my opinion the second masterpiece among the masterpieces of the album, a song suspended between the sad and the carefree. The violins here are very pronounced, increasing the pathos already given by the singing and the piano, while Barre, in the instrumental, creates a solo that's nothing short of perfect. Through various passages, we then return to the initial part. "HHHH!" "Requiem" and "One White Duck/0 (tentH) = Nothing at All" are two wonderful acoustic ballads, the first one sadder, in contrast to the semi-carefreeness of the second. Needless to comment on them, they are simply wonderful. "(orgasm (or orgasmo? I don't know...))"
"Baker St.Muse" is a suite, in my opinion the worst song on the album, but an absolutely relative worst (which is a bit like saying lowly high), it remains a masterpiece (if only all albums had a worse song of the mentioned kind!). Through four different parts, we pass between quite unsettling pieces and others that calm a lot (like the beginning), between huge strumming and "fluting" (with violins and similar almost omnipresent in the calmer parts), to ultimately create a decidedly beautiful song. "I like it a little less, but it's gorgeous." "Grace" is definitely the shortest song of the album, with a style following in the wake of "Requiem", but quite original, a little gem that worthily closes a wonderful album. "Nooo, is it over already?!"
"Minstrel In The Gallery" may not be the band's absolute masterpiece (which is probably "A Passion Play", the review of which will come shortly : -)), but, alas, it's marvelous. Then I go on scaruffi.it and I only see a 6 (which for scaruffi is like saying 1)... And there I decide to become a hacker!
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Minstrel in the Gallery (08:13)
The minstrel in the gallery
Looked down upon the smiling faces.
He met the gazes observed the spaces
Between the old men's cackle.
He brewed a song of love and hatred,
Oblique suggestions and he waited.
He polarized the pumpkin-eaters,
Static-humming panel-beaters,
Freshly day-glow'd factory cheaters
(salaried and collar-scrubbing.)
He titillated men-of-action
Belly warming, hands still rubbing
On the parts they never mention.
He pacified the nappy-suffering, infant-bleating,
One-line jokers, TV documentary makers
(overfed and undertakers.)
Sunday paper backgammon players
Family-scarred and women-haters.
Then he called the band down to the stage
And he looked at all the friends he'd made.
The minstrel in the gallery
Looked down upon the smiling faces.
He met the gazes observed the spaces
In between the old men's cackle.
He brewed a song of love and hatred,
Oblique suggestions and he waited.
He polarized the pumpkin-eaters,
Static-humming panel-beaters,
The minstrel in the gallery
Looked down on the rabbit-run.
And threw away his looking-glass -
Saw his face in everyone.
He titillated men-of-action
Belly warming, hands still rubbing
On the parts they never mention.
(salaried and collar-scrubbing.)
He pacified the nappy-suffering, infant-bleating,
One-line jokers, TV documentary makers
(overfed and undertakers.)
Sunday paper backgammon players
Family-scarred and women-haters.
Then he called the band down to the stage
And he looked at all the friends he'd made.
The minstrel in the gallery
Looked down on the rabbit-run.
And threw away his looking-glass -
And saw his face in everyone.
The minstrel in the gallery
Looked down upon the smiling faces.
He met the gazes...
The minstrel in the gallery
04 Requiem (03:45)
Well, I saw a bird today --- flying from a bush and the
wind blew it away.
And the black-eyed mother sun scorched the butterfly
at play --- velvet veined.
I saw it burn.
With a wintry storm-blown sigh, a silver cloud blew
right on by.
And, taking in the morning, I sang --- O Requiem.
Well, my lady told me, "Stay."
I looked aside and walked away along the Strand.
But I didn't say a word, as the train time-table blurred
close behind the taxi stand.
Saw her face in the tear-drop black cab window.
Fading in the traffic; watched her go.
And taking in the morning, heard myself singing ---
O Requiem.
Here I go again.
It's the same old story.
Well, I saw a bird today --- I looked aside and walked
away along the Strand.
06 Baker St. Muse (16:42)
'''Baker Street Muse'''
Windy bus-stop. Click. Shop-window. Heel.
Shady gentleman. Fly-button. Feel.
In the underpass, the blind man stands.
With cold flute hands.
Symphony match-seller, breath out of time.
You can call me on another line.
Indian restaurants that curry my brain.
Newspaper warriors changing the names they advertise from the station stand.
With cold print hands.
Symphony word-player, I'll be your headline.
If you catch me another time.
Didn't make her
with my Baker Street Ruse.
Couldn't shake her
with my Baker Street Bruise.
Like to take her
but I'm just a Baker Street Muse.
Ale-spew, puddle-brew
boys, throw it up clean.
Coke and Bacardi colours them green.
From the typing pool goes the mini-skirted princess with great finesse.
Fertile earth-mother, your burial mound is fifty feet down in the Baker Street underground. (What the hell!)
Walking down the gutter thinking,
``How the hell am I today?''
Well, I didn't really ask you but thanks all the same.
'''Pig-Me And The Whore'''
``Big bottled Fraulein, put your weight on me,'' said the pig-me to the whore,
desperate for more in his assault upon the mountain.
Little man, his youth a fountain.
Overdrafted and still counting.
Vernacular, verbose; an attempt at getting close to where he came from.
In the doorway of the stars, between Blandford Street and Mars;
Proposition, deal. Flying button feel. Testicle testing.
Wallet ever-bulging. Dressed to the left, divulging the wrinkles of his years.
Wedding-bell induced fears.
Shedding bell-end tears in the pocket of her resistance.
International assistance flowing generous and full to his never-ready tool.
Pulls his eyes over her wool.
And he shudders as he comes.
And my rudder slowly turns me into the Marylebone Road.
'''Crash-Barrier Waltzer'''
And here slip I
dragging one foot in the gutter
in the midnight echo of the shop that sells cheap radios.
And there sits she
no bed, no bread, no butter
on a double yellow line
where she can park anytime.
Old Lady Grey; crash-barrier waltzer
some only son's mother. Baker Street casualty.
Oh, Mr. Policeman
blue shirt ballet master.
Feet in sticking plaster
move the old lady on.
Strange pas-de-deux
his Romeo to her Juliet.
Her sleeping draught, his poisoned regret.
No drunken bums allowed to sleep here in the crowded emptiness.
Oh officer, let me send her to a cheap hotel
I'll pay the bill and make her well - like hell you bloody will!
No do-good over kill. We must teach them to be still more independent.
'''Mother England Reverie'''
I have no time for Time Magazine or Rolling Stone.
I have no wish for wishing wells or wishing bones.
I have no house in the country I have no motor car.
And if you think I'm joking, then I'm just a one-line joker in a public bar.
And it seems there's no-body left for tennis; and I'm a one-band-man.
And I want no Top Twenty funeral or a hundred grand.
There was a little boy stood on a burning log,
rubbing his hands with glee. He said, "Oh Mother England,
did you light my smile; or did you light this fire under me?
One day I'll be a minstrel in the gallery.
And paint you a picture of the queen.
And if sometimes I sing to a cynical degree
it's just the nonsense that it seems."
So I drift down through the Baker Street valley,
in my steep-sided un-reality.
And when all is said and all is done
I couldn't wish for a better one.
It's a real-life ripe dead certainty
that I'm just a Baker Street Muse.
Talking to the gutter-stinking, winking in the same old way.
I tried to catch my eye but I looked the other way.
Indian restaurants that curry my brain
newspaper warriors changing the names they advertise from the station stand.
Circumcised with cold print hands.
Windy bus-stop. Click. Shop-window. Heel.
Shady gentleman. Fly-button. Feel.
In the underpass, the blind man stands.
With cold flute hands.
Symphony match-seller, breath out of time
you can call me on another line.
Didn't make her
with my Baker Street Ruse.
Couldn't shake her
with my Baker Street Bruise.
Like to take her
but I'm just a Baker Street Muse.
(I can't get out!)
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Other reviews
By STIPE
One of these moments for the band came in 1975 when they released "Minstrel in The Gallery". An album that is nothing short of poor.
A horrendous album, to be avoided and never listened to!!
By v8interceptor
The Jethro Tull, at least those from the Progressive era, have never been a band of and for Ian Anderson alone.
Minstrel describes how the band was now dedicated to work... Anderson with acoustic and alone on one side and the rest of the band on the other.
By ReTarkus
I absolutely have to defend this Jethro Tull album!
Within the fabric of these guitars lies the great mastery of this unforgettable progressive rock group.
