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Post by Helmut83 on May 8, 2015 18:04:59 GMT
What I can say in advance is that it was a bit less weird and more "digestible" than what I expected it to be. Glad your choucroute was digestible, Helmut... but is it normally that weird?! lol Unfortunately I'll have to wait like 2 months to open and start eating the choucroute I made the other day, so I still don't know wether it's digestible or not, or worse still, if it's weird. But now that you mention it, there seem to be many similarities between choucroute and this Jethro Tull album, which is what I was talking about originally, I think.
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Post by Helmut83 on May 9, 2015 6:40:44 GMT
I'll give my review tomorrow.
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Post by Helmut83 on May 9, 2015 17:49:08 GMT
- “And the mouse police never sleeps”: for some reason it recalls a rustic, mountainous landscape for me, like from the Scottish highlands. I like it. It has a nice atmosphere and quite an original rhythm. I found the chanting at the end unnecessary.
- “Acres wild”: a mix of disco elements and Celtic influences on this one. Sounds almost like a tribal song at times. Pleasant, but not very moving.
- “No Lullaby”: I never liked this kind of proggy stuff. Too many changes in one song makes it not have any leit motiv and be completely amorphous. I think they were trying too hard to be original. Not good to this ears, and way too long.
- “Moths”: a somewhat pop melody with Tull’s signature flute accompanying. An OK song I guess, but again, it didn’t reach me.
- “Journeyman”: it’s the nice instrumental arrangements on this one between phrase and phrase and at the end what make this song. Good one.
- “Rover”: the song I liked most of the album. The riff is magnificent, very inspired and original. The twisting melody of the verses is very effective too, it catches your attention. Very good song.
- “One brown mouse”: nothing special. I wouldn’t say it’s plainly bad, but it has nothing good on it either. - “Heavy horses”: why so long, to start with? I think the slow parts have a nice melody and very good background instrumentation, but when it speeds up it ruins itself and the atmosphere it has created before. In the whole, I didn’t like this one.
- “Weathercock”: I wouldn’t say this one is bad, but the problem is that is sounds so much the same as all of the previous ones and at this point my ears are tired from 40 minutes of hearing the same thing over and over. This album needs more variety.
To be fair, I didn’t enjoy this album much, as I never enjoyed any Jethro Tull album. It’s a band I don’t like. I dislike Ian Anderson’s husky tone of voice and their general style. However, by Jethro Tull’s standards, this one may be the best of their albums I’ve heard (yeah, I don’t think “Aqualung” is the masterpiece they say it is). There are very few plainly bad songs IMO, only 2 to be more precise, which gives it an advantage over other Tull albums I’ve heard. However, I feel like there aren’t many good ones either (only “Rover”), and it is incredibly plain in terms of style and sound. All of the songs sound the same, all of them are aimed at the same place and with the same means, so the result is too similar in all of the cases, with no exception (even if, as said, the quality is better in one or two cases). This tired me up towards the end of the album. All in all I’d say I didn’t find it a very interesting album, but then again, I was never a fan of the genre and I wouldn’t be an ELO fan if it were for their first three albums so maybe I’m not the most qualified judge.
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Post by unomusette on May 9, 2015 22:07:27 GMT
What pleases me most about the reviews by Chippa and Helmut83 is that despite not liking it much you still found something positive to say - but also you weren't afraid to list all the negative stuff too. That way I know you're really speaking your minds, not being kind just for my sake. Plus I do agree with some of the negative points, sorry, Mr Anderson. I'm especially impressed by Helmut giving it almost two listens - chopping cabbage must be VERY boring. Who am I kidding? I've chopped a mountain of it in my time and even listening to would make it more fun.
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Post by Helmut83 on May 9, 2015 22:23:10 GMT
Uno, I gave it three listens in total, one more today! So I didn't take the thing that lightly. Hahaha... yes, you are right, chopping cabbage is boring as hell; what's fun is eating it (even if you have to wait such a long time).
And yeah, this section is for honesty, always having in mind not to offend whoever posts the album. The fact that I am being honest about the negatives lets you be sure I'm not lying about the possitives just for being kind. Also, knowing that you would never take it personal makes me feel at ease to criticize when and what I want to.
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Post by queenofthehours on May 22, 2015 15:45:40 GMT
1. And the Mouse Police Never Sleeps – Straight away - flutes! I can’t actually here a tune here – are you sure all the musicians are playing the same song??
2. Acres Wild – Better. Reminds me a little of ”ELO’s Rustic Album”.
3. No Lullaby – Not bad. I know it’s prog but I wish it didn’t sound so much like five tunes in one!
4. Moths – Olde worlde beginning, I like that. This is a good track. I like it. The flute sounds better here – if it is a flute; maybe it’s a recorder.
5. Journeyman – This is good, a nice groove.
6. Rover – The “magic” flute here is a bit pan-pipey. I like the electric guitar.
7. One Brown Mouse – Very good tune.
8. Heavy Horses – I don’t know many other songs about horses… Very nice. Interesting drums. Reminds me of something very proggy.
9. Weathercock – This album gets better as it goes on. The is one of the best tracks.
I'm still not sold on Tull (they seem slightly creepy to me) but I feel I understand them better. This album is basically rural prog which I like.
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