Heavy horses
| Heavy horses | ||||
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| Studio album by Jethro Tull | ||||
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Publication |
April 10, 1978 |
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admission |
January 1978 |
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| Label (s) | Chrysalis | |||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
9 + 2 |
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running time |
43:05 (LP) |
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| occupation |
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Studio (s) |
Maison Rouge Studio, Fulham |
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Heavy Horses is the eleventh studio album by progressive rock - band Jethro Tull .
occupation
Jethro Tull recorded the album with Ian Anderson , Martin Barre , John Evan , Barriemore Barlow , John Glascock and David Palmer . On Acres Wild and the title track, Darryl Way performed as a violinist, known from the group Curved Air . As usual with Jethro Tull, the lyrics and compositions come from Ian Anderson, who also produced the album . Martin Barre and David Palmer contributed “additional material”. Robin Black was responsible as the sound engineer.
It is the last studio album by Jethro Tull, on which John Glascock contributed to all songs. Due to his heart disease, he could not fully contest the Heavy Horses Tour . He died in London on November 17, 1979.
history
The band recorded the album in January 1978. The recording location was the Maison Rouge Studio in Fulham , London . The album was released in 1978. In 2003 a remastered CD was released with the songs from the LP version and two bonus tracks . In contrast to the original version, the strings are missing from the Rover mix on the revised CD.
In March 2018, the 40th Anniveraey Edition was released as a set of three CDs and two DVDs. Among them are the original tracks, remixed by Steven Wilson and Jakko Jakszyk.
album
Heavy Horses is the second of three albums of the band's folk rock phase after Songs from the Wood . Like its previous album, it also contains progressive rock elements, but the lyrics do not refer to Celtic myths, but to situations of the present or the recent past.
LP version
… And the Mouse Police Never Sleeps is about a cat. The song is relatively fast and rocky and ends with the chant of two voices and a concluding cough. Acres Wild is a love song. It is interpreted in a folky and powerful way, among other things by Anderson's mandolin playing and the violin Darryl Ways. Not only in nature, but also in less attractive places in the city, Anderson invites a woman to engage in sexual acts. The place of the event is - shown in encrypted form - the Scottish island of Skye . No Lullaby (“No Lullaby”) is a longer piece in which acoustic, slowly performed passages contrast with faster and more rocky sections. The song is primarily aimed at a child who is warned of all kinds of evil.
Moths is about moths that fly into a candle. The woman who is undressing reminds the singer that people are also mortal. The instrumentation is mostly acoustic, but it is becoming increasingly rocky. Journeyman's text describes business people on the train returning from work at night. The song is kept in a continuous rhythm that is reminiscent of a moving train.
In the play Rover , Anderson sings about a woman, but he also tells her that he will leave her soon because he is a rover , a wanderer. This song also contains many acoustic, but also rock elements. One Brown Mouse is another folky piece that also features the electric guitar, which makes the song rockier. It is based on the poem Ode to a Mouse by Robert Burns , written in 1786, and consists of the singer's address to a brown mouse.
The title song is a long, sentimental song of praise for horses that are used as draft animals in agriculture. Musically, the piece is characterized by alternating rock and acoustic phases. The chorus is performed in a pounding rhythm with a dominant electric guitar, while Anderson sings the verses rather restrained. Weathercock sings of a weathercock in poetic language . The song is arranged in a folky way, but becomes rockier towards the end with the use of the flute and electric guitar.
Bonus title
Living in These Hard Times had already been published in 1988 on the album 20 Years of Jethro Tull under the heading Flawed Gems and Other Sides of Tull (about: "Faulty gems and other pages from Tull"). It deals ironically with complaints about the "bad times". Broadford Bazaar is a rock piece about the place Broadford on Skye, which was released in 1993 on the compilation CD Nightcap .
Cover
The front shows Ian Anderson in a dark / light green frame with golden embellishments in rustic brown clothes and a hat against a light green background. He holds the left and right depending on a brown cold blood -Pferd with white blaze on the reins and looks at the floor. The band name is written in capital letters, also squiggled and in the middle of the upper quarter of the cover, a little further down on the right side is the name of the album - Heavy Horses - also in capital letters. In the lower left edge of the picture, the following quatrain from the title song is written in golden print:
Bring me a wheel of oaken wood,
A pure of polished leather,
A Heavy Horse and a tumbling sky,
Brewing heavy weather.
The photo on the front was taken by James Cotier.
The back is also framed like the front, but the band name is shown in the middle at the top of the frame and the record label is shown in the lower middle. You can see the band partly sitting, partly standing in an old-fashioned study, all in a black suit with a bow tie and a filled glass in their hand. Barriemore Barlow wears soccer socks and cleats, Ian Anderson, sitting at the desk, wears the same hat as on the front of the album and also has a cigarette in his hand, in which he also holds the glass. Martin Barre wears a monocle . The picture was taken by Anderson's wife Shona Anderson.
The dedication reads: This album is dedicated to: The Highland, Welsh Mountain, Shetland, Fell, Dales, Cleveland and the other indigenous working ponies and horses of Great Britain, who, however tiny or great in stature, can truly count themselves as being amongst our HEAVY HORSES; also, Lupus, Fur, Tigger and Mistletoe - and of course, Shona and young Master James. (German as: "This album is dedicated: the Highland Ponies , Welsh Mountain ponies , Shetland ponies , Fell Ponies , Dales Ponies , Cleveland Bay and other native ponies and horses Britain, which, whether tiny or large, can definitely count themselves to our 'heavy horses'; also Lupus, Fur, Tigger and Mistletoe - and of course Shona and the little master James [Anderson's wife and son]. ")
Depending on the edition, the inside of the LP version contains an insert sheet that is printed on both sides, framed in the style of the cover on a green background in white lettering, or two sheets of one-sided printing with the same content.
effect
The album peaked at number 20 in the UK and number 19 in the US. The single Moths was not placed on the Billboard Hot 100 . At Allmusic the album received four out of five possible points.
| Charts | Top ranking | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Chart placements | ||
 Germany (GfK)
|
4th (16 weeks) | 16 |
 Austria (Ö3)
|
18th (17 weeks) | 17th |
 Switzerland (IFPI)
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30th (1 week) | 1 |
 United Kingdom (OCC)
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20th (11 weeks) | 11 |
 United States (Billboard)
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19th (17 weeks) | 17th |
Track list
page A
- … And the Mouse Police Never Sleeps (3:09)
- Acres Wild (3:21)
- No Lullaby (7:52)
- Moths (3:22)
- Journeyman (3:54)
Side B
- Rover (4:11)
- One Brown Mouse (3:19)
- Heavy Horses (8:56)
- Weathercock (4:01)
Extra title
The revised CD also contains these two tracks:
- Living in These Hard Times (3:10)
- Broadford Bazaar (3:38)
Web links
- Reviews of Heavy Horses on the baby blue pages
- Heavy Horses at Allmusic (English)
- Heavy Horses at Musik-Sammler.de
- Lyrics at cupofwonder.com (archive version)
- Information about the lyrics at cupofwonder.com (English; archive version)
- Meeting at rollingstone.com ( Memento from April 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Scott Munro: Jethro Tull's Heavy Horses set for 40th anniversary reissue. teamrock.com (English), accessed March 9, 2018
- ↑ a b c Information on the lyrics at cupofwonder.com (English; archive version )
- ^ Cover of the long-playing record from 1978, Chrysalis 1175
- ↑ Heavy Horses in the UK Charts , accessed on August 29, 2012
- ↑ Heavy Horses in the Billboard 200 ( Memento of May 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on August 29, 2012.
- ↑ Description of the album from Allmusic , accessed on August 29, 2012
- ↑ a b c d e Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
- ↑ Description at discogs.com , accessed September 2, 2012