Minstrel in the Gallery
| Minstrel in the Gallery | ||||
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| Studio album by Jethro Tull | ||||
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Publication |
1975 |
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| Label (s) | Chrysalis | |||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
7 + 5 |
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running time |
44:50 (LP), 58:30 (CD with bonus tracks) |
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| occupation |
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Studio (s) |
Maison Rouge Mobile Studio |
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Minstrel in the Gallery is the eighth studio album by the progressive rock band Jethro Tull .
occupation
Jethro Tull recorded the album with Ian Anderson , Martin Barre , John Evan , Barriemore Barlow and Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond . David Palmer contributed string arrangements. As usual with Jethro Tull, the lyrics and compositions come from Ian Anderson, who also produced the album .
history
The band recorded the album in 1975 while touring the previous album War Child within two months. The location was Monte-Carlo . The album was released in September 1975. In 2002 a remastered CD was released with the songs from the LP version and five bonus tracks . In 2015 the CD was released as a 40th Anniversary Edition with mixes by Steven Wilson and thus reached the highest chart position in its history in Germany.
album
The pieces contain elements of progressive rock and folk in a varied sequence . Ian Anderson mainly uses the flute as a rock instrument, while his acoustic guitar is in the foreground in the quieter passages . There are more string arrangements to be found than on previous Tull albums. All pieces in the LP version are written in minor keys . In some of the poetic and allusive texts, Ian Anderson worked on his divorce from Jennie Franks in 1974. Five of the seven pieces in the LP version begin with words that appear to be spoken casually.
LP version
The title track is about a minstrel who looks down at people from above. Some are from the past, others from the modern age. Several stanzas are accompanied by the acoustic guitar before a rocking intermediate piece begins and the same stanzas are sung rocking.
Cold Wind to Walhalla is set in the Germanic world of legends in which the Valkyries ride to Valhalla . The text is poetic and dark. The piece begins with the spoken title and continues with vocals, acoustic guitar and flute, and increasingly also strings. Later the piece becomes very rocking with Martin Barre's electric guitar playing.
Black Satin Dancer is about a dancer in black silk who is poetically courted by the singer. He wants her to go to bed with him. The song starts slowly. In addition to singing, acoustic guitar, flute and electric bass, John Evan can be heard on the piano. The piece develops into the rockiest piece on the album, with long instrumental phases. At the end it returns to the starting motif, in which strings can also be heard this time.
The piece Requiem is about being abandoned. As a bird and a butterfly suddenly disappear, the singer is abandoned by a woman. The tempo is measured, the mood of the song depressed, according to a requiem . In addition to Ian Anderson, who sings softly and cautiously and plays the acoustic guitar, only Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond on bass and the strings can be heard, including a cello .
One White Duck / 0 10 = Nothing at All refers to a decoration common in England. There are three flying ducks on china hanging on many of the walls. There is only one duck left in the song, which suggests the singer's broken family. He stands there with empty hands, also symbolized by the statement that zero to the power of ten equals zero. The song was only recorded by Anderson and strings who play the chorus pizzicato .
The longest track on the album and the third longest on all Jethro Tull albums is Baker St. Muse , which describes the existence of a street musician in London's Baker Street - Anderson lived on this street in 1974. Similar to a suite, the piece is divided into six parts, the middle four of which have their own titles. The theme describes the street musician and his fate. Pig-Me and the Whore is a short man and prostitute that the singer describes. Nice Little Tune is an instrumental piece followed by Crash-Barrier Waltzer , which describes a homeless person and a police officer. Mother England Reverie is again about street scenes and the musician. The final part corresponds to the first part, concluded with a short audio piece. You can hear Anderson putting his guitar aside, humming the title of the song again and walking to the door, which is locked - whereupon he exclaims angrily: I can't get out! - “I'm not coming out!” The music styles change frequently; In the course of the piece and also within individual sections, there are always changes between progressive rock and folk sounds. There are clear transitions between the sections of Baker St. Muse . Pig-Me and the Whore can almost be assigned to classic rock, while the following Nice Little Tune is a tricky composition typical of Tull. The opening theme is repeated at the end, but this time in a rockier version.
Grace is a particularly short piece. The singer welcomes the sun, bird, his “lady” and breakfast and asks ambiguously whether he / she can buy it again tomorrow. The song is sung by Anderson and played on acoustic guitar and accompanied by strings. A solo string melody ends this last piece of the LP version.
Bonus title
The bonus track Summerday Sands was the B-side of the single Minstrel in the Gallery , March the Mad Scientist and Pan Dance are from an EP that was released in 1975. Summerday Sands is the only piece on the CD version in a major key . Sometimes the acoustic guitar also dominates, sometimes a bit harder sounds. March the Mad Scientist is a folky but complex song that is accompanied by acoustic guitar and bass. Pan Dance is an instrumental piece with a focus on the flute, which contains elements of baroque music , but also jazz . The last two tracks on the CD release are short excerpts from tracks from the original album that were played live in the studio.
Cover
The record sleeves differ slightly depending on the edition. The front shows a section from an 1838 lithograph by Joseph Nash , Twelfth Night Revels in the Great Hall, Haddon Hall, Derbyshire , from his book Architecture of the Middle Ages. ("Architecture of the Middle Ages"). It is a sepia-white or black-and-white grainy scene in a historical hall. There are numerous people there, many of whom are masked, and some animals, including a crocodile that a child is riding on. On the wall hang a knight's armor, deer antlers and several flags. On a gallery or Gallery ( gallery ) in the background Five also costumed minstrels ( minstrels ). They play instruments from ancient times, such as a lute . The lettering of the album is in black, relatively small letters in the upper center; the label and its logo are even less noticeable in the lower right corner and are not even shown on other issues. The back of the cover shows in color Jethro Tull on a similar gallery in a modern concert hall, Ian Anderson is the only one dressed in dark, while the other four musicians wear white. In the hall there are cardboard boxes and all kinds of utensils such as a dartboard , some musical instruments and small furniture. The hall is largely in the dark. Information about the album is printed on the back. The back is upside down in relation to the front. The lyrics are printed on the inner sleeve in some editions.
effect
The album peaked at number 20 in the UK and number 7 in the US. At Allmusic the album received four out of five possible points. It reached the highest chart position in Germany with 14th place in 2015 with the new edition as the 40th Anniversary Edition.
Track list
page A
- Minstrel in the Gallery (8:09)
- Cold Wind to Valhalla (4:17)
- Black Satin Dancer (6:51)
- Requiem (3:41)
Side B
- One White Duck / 0 10 = Nothing at All (4:35)
- Baker St. Muse (4:40 pm)
- Pig-Me and the Whore
- Nice little tune
- Crash Barrier Waltzer
- Mother England Reverie
- Grace (0:37)
Extra title
The revised CD also contains these five tracks:
- Summerday Sands (3:44)
- March the Mad Scientist (1:48)
- Pan Dance (3:25)
- Minstrel in the Gallery - Live (2:11)
- Cold Wind to Valhalla - Live (1:32)
Web links
- Reviews of Minstrel in the Gallery on the Babyblauen Seiten
- Minstrel in the Gallery at Allmusic (English)
- Description of the album at rollingstone.com
- Detailed information about the individual versions of the sound carriers at musik-sammler.de
- Lyrics at cupofwonder.com (archive version)
- Information about the lyrics at cupofwonder.com (English; archive version)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b data from officialcharts.de , accessed on May 8, 2015
- ↑ Analysis of the lyrics at cupofwonder.com (English; archive version )
- ↑ Cast list at discogs.com (English), accessed October 10, 2011
- ↑ Description of the work , accessed on October 17, 2011
- ↑ Detailed information about the individual versions of the sound carriers at musik-sammler.de, accessed on October 11, 2011.
- ↑ Minstrel in the Gallery in the UK Charts, accessed on February 3, 2016.
- ↑ Minstrel in the Gallery at Allmusic , accessed October 8, 2011.
- ↑ a b Description of the album from Allmusic , accessed on October 10, 2011.