Thick as a Brick
"Thick as a Brick" is perhaps Tull's definitive progressive rock album.
Born from a desire to really produce a concept album after the rock critics
so dubbed the previous year's "Aqualung," the record features a
rock first: one continuous song on both sides. The music, and the lyrics,
are challenging
to the listener and reflect complex influences of folk, jazz, and rock. With
"Thick," Anderson and company broaden rock beyond the limitations
of the short song format.
Understanding "Thick" requires recognition of the popularity of
Monthy Python in the early 1970's. Anderson meant
for the album to be a send up of
rock pretentiousness,
critics, and the band itself. The album cover claimed, outrageously enough,
that the lyrics had been written by an eight year-old boy, Gerald Bostock,
and set to music by the band. Even today, Anderson still gets the occasional
person asking about Bostock or commenting about the prodigy's advancing age.
While the "Aqualung's" lyrics are fairly straightforward, "Thick's" metaphorical
tendencies " are intentionally intricate, obscure,
and bewildering as part of the
running
joke.
If there is any true central theme, perhaps it is the sociological experiences
of gifted youngsters in the modern world with a touch of paternal relations
again. The lyrical incohesiveness, far greater than "Aqualung,"
leads Craig Thomas,
who
penned
Tull's
25th
Anniversary Set booklet, to seriously question whether it is properly deemed
a concept
album. Rather, he views it more of an adaptation of the "kind of free-jazz...improvisations
of the 1960." Indeed, several segments were recorded in just one improvisional
take.
No discussion of "Thick"" is complete without noting the legendary
12-page newspaper, "The St. Cleve Chronicle" original cover packaging.
Written by Ian, Jeffrey
Hammond, and John
Evan, the paper actually took longer to produce
than the
music. There are a lot of inside puns, cleverly hidden continuing jokes
(such as the experimental non-rabbit), a surprisingly frank review of the
album
itself,
and even a little naughty connect-the-dots children's activity.
The 1972 tour featured the entire album (with a brief break featuring comedy
skits between sides). The tour established the band's reputation for often
outlandish theatrical-type performances. By today's standards, the concerts
were hardly major productions. But for the time, Tull was rather unique.
"Thick" hit #1 in the U.S. and arguably represented the band's height of
popularity in America. Somewhat unfairly and commercially limiting as musical
fashion changed, the album would define Tull as a progressive rock act.
The creative 12-page newspaper packaging took longer to produce than the album.
what Fluffy the Duck
is watching in this "family fun" activity from the original newspaper (requires
