(i/tom lhe plevlous page)

The group’s record output is also
prolilie: Tull has released a bit over
one album per year for the past eleven
years. All or the albums are well put
together and creative, though critics
have had problems agreeing on how
well the finished product comes nit.

son. In Stornlwateli, he returns to a
more torcetul style of llute playlllgia
style which was tor the most part abs
sent from the band’s last eitort, llourr
lI-orscst He also is more daring with '
his votee than he's been since Minstrel
in the Gallery (1975). These tlilngs
help make storinirntcli the most iir

“Riggers rig and diggers dig their shallow grave/

but we’ll be saved and what we crave/

is North Sea 0il”—lan Andersen

Jethro Tull has always revolved
around Anderson, a multi~talented
singerrlyl'icistrcomposer-producer»
flutistvgultarlst. In many ways, Ander~
son’s domination caused problems
with the group and there's been a
somewhat irequent turnover of band
members. Recently, though, those pruA
blems seem to be working themselves
outt

0n storiiiwateh, it’s apparent that
Tull is together as a happy group.
Lead guitarist Martin Barre has been
in Tull [or ten years now; pianist John
Evans has been a group member toi-
nine years; drummer Bai-i-iemore
Barlow joined the band late in 1971;
Stornlwatch is bassist John Glascock's
fourth Tull album; it's the third album
{or David Palmer, who plays a variety
ot keyboards lalthough Palmer did
most of the orchestral arrangements
{or Tull dating from the first albuml.

‘ The band is comiortable playing
with each other. Barre, especially, has
emerged as a talent in his own right
and his playing here is exceptionally
exciting.

More interesting, though, is Ander-

Jlrsknsrnunnr
(iotinrtini hot rib:
. rjleraledata '2M

. IL cu; Moi.thru .

.ul ER: Mon. thrn Thurs

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terestlng Tull album in years.

Lyl‘lcally, the album takes on in-
dustrialized man‘s wasteful habits and
warns of the coming “Dark Ages."
The ﬁrst cut on side one laughs at the
salvation offered England in the form.
of “North Sea 0i1-" “Riggers rig and
diggers dig their shallow grave/but
we'll be saved and what we Crave/i5
North Sea Oil".

Later, the weatherman warns that
“Something's on the Move.” Although
the words “ice age" and “glacier” are

Ian Anderson live

never mentioned. the listener gets the
picture tin case anyone misses the
point, the back cover has a polar bear
descending eii ollrshoro oil rigs and
nuclear Dower plants)

The last out is an instrumental by
Palmer, called “Elegy" the Ilstener,
i suppose. should mentally add “for
Western Civilization.”

other cuts which stand out are
“Orion" and ”Hume.” both of which
are in the pastoral style at Hour)

[In es and Songs From the Woods.

Aurally, the album is typical Tull.
olten, the way Anderson sings the
lyrics seems to go against the rhythm
and melody, which provides an in-
teresting tension. The rhythms, too,
change irequentlyesorry, Dave: don't
try to disco to these tunes.

But “typical Tull” means “expect
the unexpected ” that's one of the
reasons Storinuntch is such a good
album. It's not a theme album, as was
the classic, Aqualung. In many ways,
it's a collection like 1974‘s Wnl'chiltl
talthougli it’s nowhere near as com-
merctal as “as that album),

In Stoi-niwntch, Tull {mds an en
ioyahle medium between the pastoral
playfulness or Songs not“ the Woods
and Henry Horses and the preten-
tiousness that some l‘clt hurl Thick as
a Brick tthought storinirnteh may be
a bit on the pretentious side).

Howcv one slices it, it makes (or ex
ceptional rock and roll.

Starlet 8. Black,

 

