Band:	Jethro Tull
Album:	Thick As A Brick
Style:	Folk rock, Progressive rock
Release date:	March 1972

01. Thick As A Brick (Part I)
02. Thick As A Brick (Part II)
03. Thick As A Brick [Live at Madison Square Garden] [bonus]
+ Interview With Jethro Tull [bonus]

Thick As A Brick could well be one of the most ambitious albums ever made; certainly back in its day it was. Although this kind of concept was not entirely original, it had never been done before to this extent. It combines every aspect of rock material with truly clever and humorous lyrics, making Thick As A Brick such a special album within the progressive genre.

Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick[/band] certainly made a huge impact on the new progressive rock scene during the early 70's, considering that the band never originally intended to be associated with the term progressive rock in the first place. That is according to Anderson's comments about the term 'progressive' being used by critics to describe their previous release, [i]Aqualung. As a result, Anderson decided he would create the mother of all concept albums, and he certainly did that by creating a two-sided record, with each side containing just one long song. Although it is said that the main purpose of this concept was to actually mock the progressive rock genre itself, it in fact did the complete opposite; instead this concept became genre-defining. Many progressive rock bands would later go down this same route, creating concept albums where the music would simply flow as if you are listening to just one long epic song, in contrast to featuring separate tracks that you can skip at any time.

The concept itself is a relatively simple one; intended as a spoof to other progressive rock bands at the time, it was also meant to point fun at Jethro Tull themselves. Anderson stated that he wanted to combine a witty sense of humour with complex music, so he took the humour of the British comedy show Monty Python as a main influence. He stated that his wife, Jenny, was also a huge influence on the concept of the album, as she helped with the humorous lyrics. Jenny was also said to have been the mastermind behind the character Aqualung. Some of the the lyrical content is rumoured to be based on experiences from Anderson's childhood, as well as Bostock's own point of view on life.

So much went into this album, with so many varieties of instrumentation, prominently the flute, organ, harpsichord, lute, and the acoustic and electric guitars (all of which were used on previous albums); however, the saxophone, violin and trumpet were also used. Due to the complexity of the songwriting, it requires your full attention to detail, to grasp every aspect of its true brilliance. Because of this. there was divided criticism at its release. Unlike Aqualung, and the albums prior, there was no single track that would stand out, such as "Locomotive Breath", or the classic title track "Aqualung". This made it difficult for listeners in the day who were used to single song material to get to grasp with its concept, but then there were those who took to it straight away.

I will admit listening to both parts in one go has poised a challenge for me in the past; usually by the time I have started part two, my attention span has been interrupted, or I have simply got fed up. So I tend to allow myself time to listen to both parts separately, but others may not find this an issue, and listen to both parts in one go; either way I would recommend anyone interested in progressive rock to listen to this at least once.