IAN ANDERSON: Thick as a Brick 2...

'Thick as a Brick' was released on 1972, and it was the answer of Ian Anderson to critics and media when they were 'accusing' Jethro Tull of having become a Progressive Rock band. I believe the whole idea was extremely sarcastic, but in the end became one of the best and most famous albums ever recorded by the band.
The record contains just 1 song in 2 parts, (one part on each side). (approx. 20 mins each). If it was today, it could be one song of 40 mins length, but back then they had to make the song  in two parts, because of the two sides of the vinyl records.
   And now, on the album's 40th anniversary comes from Ian Anderson 'Thick as a brick 2'. The sequel...
 Truth is that except the title, and very few tunes that brings to the mind the first album, these two albums are quite different. Thick as a Brick 2 is a concept album, it contains 17 tracks, that most of them are between 2-4 minutes long. (Only exception the song 'A change of horses' that is 8 minutes long).
 But the songs are so cleverly placed in order, and also they have no space between them, that the final outcome is very nice. Here Ian Anderson tells the story of the 8-years-old-poet 40 years later. The story also incudes a few different options of our poet's future, given with the so familiar sarcastic way of Ian Anderson.
   For me part 1 of the first 'Thick as a Brick' was a masterpiece! Here you will not find any materpiece, but instead you will listen to a mature album, and by far the best Ian Anderson's solo work. (Also compared to Jethro Tull's latest records this is a better one.)
  His voice is in a good form, (or the studio engineers did a very good job), the songs are over the average, and the record as a whole is a very interesting job, that bends towards Prog-Rock in my opinion.
   Allthough in this record almost all the musicians who are playing are the ones under the name of Jethro Tull the last years, the record was released as a solo album.
   I believe that we live in a time that new good rock releases are very rare, and this record is one of them. It sure is worth giving it a try...
   Here you can watch the official trailer for this album: