Jethro Tull – The Broadsword and the Beast
hello all! we’re back today on the Jethro Tull discography journey with their 14th record – The Broadsword and the Beast!
The Broadsword and the Beast gets its title from the opening tracks on each side of the record – Beastie, a track about facing fears and inner demons opens the album, and Broadsword, a historical or fantasy song about repelling invaders from the sea, leads the back side of the album. i quite like both tracks – i def think they deserve to be highlighted like that for this record.
i think there is intended to be a kind of thematic split for the two halves, and while i can kind of see it its not super strong. the front half does deal a lot with anxiety and interpersonal communication, but i think the second half touches on a lot of the same points (like on Watching Me Watching You). There’s a lot of parallels even between Flying Colours and Seal Driver. the thread might be a bit stronger if considered musically, but the whole record is pretty consistently moody and a blend of what ive come to expect from Tull with more blended integrations of the synth sounds theyve been playing with. like, if that was the way it was intended i think Clasp would’ve been a side two track.
amongst that, there is def some strong tracks overall – Clasp feels like the dark horse here to me. a very earnest song about trying to make some kind of connection. plus the intro and outro sound like Metroid Prime music. Fallen on Hard Times is extremely folky, with a very good flute intro. it’s a very rogue-ish song in tone. tracks like Flying Colours and Pussy Willow both tracks where they have really strong component parts but don’t quite fully coalesce for me.
on the whole, i liked this one a lot! i mentioned literally in the last review seeing how they mix some of the more synthetic sounds with their older styles and it def feels like its already paying off.
faves – Beastie, Clasp, Fallen on Hard Times, Broadsword
dislikes –
The Broadsword and the Beast – 7/10
next up, we’re checking out Under Wraps.
first: This Was | previous: A| next: Under Wraps
all my reviews for Jethro Tull
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