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Rating:
So, greetings to all the viewers of DEBASER, I'm writing a review for which I don't ask for votes. The album WAR CHILD by the prog group JETHRO TULL is the kind of album that divides, with some despising it, others discussing it with possibilities of rehabilitation. Therefore, two reviews will be made, one by me and one by my colleague SERGIO60, to see which perspective the group's fans will find more familiar.
The genesis:
After the PROGRESSIVE marathons of the brick and mystery, the band returns to song form, but originally this album was supposed to be a soundtrack for a film in which the MONTY PYTHON were also supposed to participate; due to lack of funds, everything stalled and it transformed into a new album under the name JETHRO TULL. The song that gives the title to the work is a reference to a piece by ROY HARPER, (that Folk Singer who recorded with PINK FLOYD on HAVE A CIGAR). It was the era in which ANDERSON had produced the STEELEYE SPAN with the album NOW WE ARE SIX, and this partly explains the leader's new passion for Rock with traditionally Folk tinges that peeks through in some tracks; the rest is a bit chaotic, the band recovers pieces from previous sessions even as far back as Passion Play (ONLY SOLITAIRE, SKATING AWAY) and reworks a gestating piece that was discarded from AQUALUNG like LICK YOUR FINGERS CLEAN which here becomes TWO FINGER. Who managed this album? Anderson? Terry Ellis? Both? The fact is that many light compositions (but annoyingly heavy) replace the brainy Rock of previous works, while other songs instead want to remind everyone that Anderson does not renounce doing something with an epic, pompous, and demanding touch. The lyrics betray something, SKATING AWAY pronounces the words PASSION PLAY, indicating its origin from the famous French tapes of '72-'73, SEALION contains ecological elements and BUNGLE IN THE JUNGLE was apparently studied precisely to make the charts, Anderson would later repudiate it for that reason. The album would be 14th in England and would climb in America up to number 2. The single BUNGLE would be eleventh, again in America, but something doesn't add up; as I've always said, WAR CHILD had sessions left unreleased for years that could have turned the album into their happiest chapter. The perfect sound (even more than in MINSTREL) is found in songs like BACK DOOR ANGEL. I don't exaggerate when I say this is more JETHRO TULL than SONGS FROM THE WOOD, but the band refrains from instrumental interludes to maybe avoid the usual rifts with the press or to not lose a part of the audience that got quite bored with the PASSION PLAY TOUR. The fact is that Anderson surely did not want to renounce the serious tone the film was supposed to assume (at least in a couple of pieces). Technically, the band is still powerful, and Anderson will sing a couple of pieces very aggressively. In my opinion, BARLOW's snare is one of the most beautiful sounds on the record. The fact is that the worst or almost of those sessions would end up in this work.
The songs:
WAR CHILD opens the record with the title track that was clearly the pivot of the film, realized in many ways, even in suite version for orchestra. It's a bit far from the typical sound, Anderson doesn't throw away the sopranino sax. QUEEN AND COUNTRY is a nice piece, gritty and also compact, the percussion line of the drums is not simple. LADIES has a theater atmosphere and is not to be counted among the band's best overall, whereas BACK DOOR ANGEL certainly is. They are the real JETHRO TULL: rock, prog, and acoustically one of Anderson's best lyrics. A somewhat simple song follows the same pattern that in 1978 would have NO LULLABY, introducing an unprecedented JOHN EVAN on keyboards and Arp. SEALION, on the other hand, is overwhelming even if EVAN's accordion is a bit forced. The second side opens with the unworthy SKATING AWAY, a little song that is quickly forgotten. BUNGLE IN THE JUNGLE is just wasted, almost infamous (the band would do even worse). ONLY SOLITARIE is a classic of solo Anderson. Then it's the turn of 2 songs that were surely supposed to be film material. THE THIRD HOORAN is a very percussive piece and would have been extremely enjoyable if the whole instrumental section, PALMER hadn't delivered it by weighing it all down with the orchestra. For TWO FINGERS, however, the situation is reverse; the band tried to simplify something that could or should have been more progressive.
The unreleased:
That the band fumbled by leaving out pieces that would have made a difference is immediately noticeable by listening to SATURATION, which surfaced for the 20 Years Of box set. GLORY ROW is instead a classic acoustic rock but not bad, RAIMBOW BLUES is a song that came out as a 45 in 1976 but the sound seems like an unfortunate release of that 1974, PARADISE STEAKHOUSE is a gem that can be heard in the double NIGHT CAP cd Your round, the same goes for QUARTET, a song surely made on par with LADIES, and SEALION 2 admits no counter-arguments, it should've been part of the CONCEPT. TOMORROW TODAY was recovered for the 40th of the Album and was a piece the band was already playing in 1971-72, a great piece with BARRE hitting it with RIFF, another gem remains GOOD GOODMOTHER, a classic song also recovered for the fortieth which you'll hate at first listen, but then it's like a drug at the second, you can't do without it and I consider it one of the absolute best things from the group... well, with these pieces included and confirming BACK DOOR ANGEL, SEALION, QUEEN COUNTRY, now we'd be talking about an album that kicks ass...
Live:
WAR CHILD was performed in 1974 and immediately forgotten in the following year, QUEEN COUNTRY as well, while LADIES was used that year as a piece for BARLOW's drum solo. SEALION was performed as well not beyond that Tour's end. BACK DOOR ANGEL was brought to the stage until the SONGS FROM THE WOOD Bis Tour, while SKATING AWAY was performed everywhere like a nighttime nightmare, avoided perhaps only in 1982 (but maybe), then again in 1984 and maybe dropped from '87 onwards due to Anderson's vocal reasons. BUNGLE IN THE JUNGLE, here and there, was played in '74, '75, picked up again live in '80 and also I believe in '82. Anderson attempted it even at the DOT COM era. Another piece considered (barely) was THE THIRD HOORAN.
Musicians' considerations:
Anderson remembers the album as a period in which the band of the time collaborated; for the rest, he exalts the ecological content of the lyrics. According to Glen Cormick, the band's first bassist, BUNGLE IN THE JUNGLE remains one of those things deserving a double thumbs down.
My opinion:
Anderson could no longer make mistakes or surely couldn't risk it but also didn't want to give up his Ego, so the work will contain a bit of the GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY of the Jethro Tull of that period. Engaged lyrics, hard rock, easy-going elements, singer-songwriter lines, and sound explorations. When I listen to it again, I cannot consider it an UNHAPPY episode, indeed a thousand times better than To Old too, etc....(we understand each other a lot)... Do not give me votes, please, my friend SERGIO 60 will continue my work by giving his own opinion by reviewing it in turn, so it's not a competition....
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 War Child (04:34)
I'll take you down to that bright city mile ---
there to powder your sweet face and paint on a smile,
that will show all of the pleasures and none of the pain,
when you join my explosion
and play with my games.
WarChild dance the days, and dance the nights away.
No unconditional surrender; no armistice day ---
each night I'll die in my contentment and lie in your grave.
While you bring me water and I give you wine ---
let me dance in your tea-cup and you shall swim in mine.
WarChild dance the days, and dance the nights away.
Open your windows and I'll walk through your doors.
Let me live in your country --- let me sleep by your shores.
WarChild dance the days, and dance the nights away.
02 Queen and Country (03:01)
The wind is on the river, and the tide has turned too late,
So we're sailing for another shore where some other ladies wait,
To throw us silken whispers, catch us by the anchor chains,
But we all laugh so politely, and we sail on just the same.
For Queen and Country in the long dying day,
And it's been this way for five long years, since we signed our souls away.
We bring back gold and ivory, rings of diamonds, strings of pearls
Make presents to the government so they can have their social whirl
With Queen and Country in the long dying day.
And it's been this way for five long years, since we signed our souls away.
They build schools and they build factories with the spoils of battles won.
And we remain their pretty sailor boys, hold our heads up to the gun
Of Queen and Country in the long dying day.
And it's been this way for five long years, since we signed our souls away.
03 Ladies (03:19)
Ladies of leisure,
With their eyes on the back roads.
All looking for strangers,
To whom they extend welcomes
With a smile and a glimpse of
Pink knees and elbows;
Of satin and velvet
Good ladies, good fortune.
Ladies.
They sing of their heroes:
Of solitary soldiers
Invested in good health
And manner most charming.
Whose favors are numbered
(none the less well intended)
By hours in a minute;
By those ladies who bless them.
Ladies.
05 Sealion (03:37)
Over the mountains, and under the sky
Riding dirty gray horses, go you and I.
Mating with chance, copulating with mirth
The sad-glad paymasters (for what it's worth).
The ice-cream castles are refrigerated;
The super-marketeers are on parade.
There's a golden handshake hanging round your neck,
As you light your cigarette on the burning deck.
And you balance your world on the tip of your nose
Like a Sealion with a ball, at the carnival.
You wear a shiny skin and a funny hat
The Almighty Animal Trainer lets it go at that.
You bark ever-so-slightly at the Trainer's gun,
With you whiskers melting in the noon-day sun.
You flip and you flop under the Big White Top
Where the long-legged ring-mistress starts and stops.
But you know, after all, the act is wearing thin
As the crowd grows uneasy and the boos begin.
But you balance your world on the tip of your nose
You're a Sealion with a ball at the carnival.
Just a trace of pride upon our fixed grins
For there is no business like the show we're in.
There is no reason, no rhyme, no right
To leave the circus 'til we've said good-night.
The same performance, in the same old way;
It's the same old story to this Passion Play.
So we'll shoot the moon, and hope to call the tune
And make no pin cushion of this big balloon.
Look how we balance the world on the tips of our noses,
Like Sealions with a ball at the carnival.
07 Bungle in the Jungle (03:37)
Walking through forests of palm tree apartments
Scoff at the monkeys who live in their dark tents
Down by the waterhole, drunk every Friday
Eating their nuts, saving their raisins for Sunday
Lions and tigers who wait in the shadows
They're fast but they're lazy, and sleep in green meadows
Well, let's bungle in the jungle
Well, that's all right by me, yes
Well, I'm a tiger when I want love
And I'm a snake if we disagree
Just say a word and the boys will be right there
With claws at your back to send a chill through the night air
Is it so frightening to have me at your shoulder?
Thunder and lightning couldn't be bolder
I'll write on your tombstone, I thank you for dinner
This game that we animals play is a winner
Well, let's bungle in the jungle
Well, that's all right by me, yes
I'm a tiger when I want love
I'm a snake if we disagree
The rivers are full of crocodile nasties
And he who made kittens put snakes in the grass, he's
A lover of life, but a player of pawns
Yes, the king on his sunset lies waiting for dawn
To light up his jungle as play is resumed
The monkeys seem willing to strike up the tune
Well, let's bungle in the jungle
Well, that's all right by me, yes
I'm a tiger when I want love
And I'm a snake when we disagree
Yes, let's bungle in the jungle
Well, that's all right by me, yes
Well, I'm a tiger when I want love
I'm a snake when we disagree
Well, let's bungle in the jungle
Well, that's all right by me, yes
I'm a tiger when I want love
08 Only Solitaire (01:29)
Brain-storming habit-forming battle-warning weary
Winsome actor spewing spineless chilling lines ---
The critics falling over to tell themselves he's boring
And really not an awful lot of fun.
Well who the hell can he be when he's never had V.D.,
And he doesn't even sit on toilet seats?
Court-jesting, never-resting
He must be very cunning
To assume an air of dignity
And bless us all with his oratory prowess,
His lame-brained antics and his jumping in the air.
And every night his act's the same
And so it must be all a game of chess he's playing
"But you're wrong, Steve: you see, it's only solitaire."
09 The Third Hoorah (04:51)
Hoorah!
WarChild, dance the days and nights away
Sweet child, how do you do today?
When your back's to the wall,
And your luck is your all,
Then side with whoever you may.
Seek that which within lies waiting to begin
The fight of your life that is everyday.
Dance with the WarChild
Hoorah.
WarChild, dance the days and nights away
Sweet child, how do you do today?
In the heart of your heart, there's the tiniest part
Of an urge to live to the death
With a sword on your hip and a cry on your lips
To strike life in the inner child's breast.
Dance with the WarChild
Hoorah.
WarChild, dance the days and nights away
Sweet child, how do you do today?
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Other reviews
By Pibroch
"War Child is a solid work, with beautiful tracks, excellent arrangements, and classic Jethro Tull themes stronger than ever."
"The song 'Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day' is a gem, featuring perfect melody and chilling accordion accompaniment."
By sergio60
You can feel the entire sense of discomfort that pervades the album.
Despite being an epic flop, it managed to sell a lot, especially in the U.S.A.
