The Broadsword and the Beast

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The Broadsword and the Beast
Studio album by Jethro Tull

Publication
(s)

April 10, 1982

admission

1981/1982

Label (s) Chrysalis

Format (s)

LP , MC , CD

Genre (s)

Progressive rock , rock

Title (number)

10 + 8

running time

38:19 (LP), 68:03 (CD from 2005)

occupation

production

Paul Samwell-Smith

Studio (s)

Maison Rouge Studio, Fulham

chronology
A
(studio album 1980)
The Broadsword and the Beast Under Wraps
(studio album 1984)

The Broadsword and the Beast is the fourteenth studio album by the progressive rock band Jethro Tull .

occupation

Jethro Tull recorded the album with Ian Anderson , Martin Barre , Peter-John Vettese , Dave Pegg and Gerry Conway . For Vettese, who joined the band during the recording, and Conway it was the first albums with Jethro Tull. Conway had previously been a member of the folk rock band Fotheringay and drummer in the back band of Cat Stevens . The texts and compositions are, as is usual with Jethro Tull, by Ian Anderson, but Vettese was also involved as a composer.

history

The band recorded the album in the winter of 1981. It was originally supposed to be named Beastie after the first song , but the band decided to include the first B-side track, Broadsword, in the title. The two LP sides had separate titles with Beastie and Broadsword . For the first time in the band's history, an external producer, Paul Samwell-Smith, was brought in.

The subsequent tour was the last Jethro Tull tour to be played on a theater-like stage. The stage was designed as a pirate ship.

The singles were Fallen On Hard Times / Broadsword, Falling On Hard Times / Pussy Willow, Pussy Willow / Beastie and Broadsword / Watching Me Watching You. In 2005 the album was released for the first time as an expanded, remastered CD with eight bonus tracks, which, like the other pieces on the album, came from the Broadsword Sessions and were first released in 1988 on the 5-LP set 20 Years of Jethro Tull .

Vettese recorded his first solo album Walk Into the Light with Anderson in 1983 . Cheerio formed the end of all Jethro Tull concerts for the next 15 years.

album

The Broadsword and the Beast is stylistically - similar to the previous album A , between the folk-rock- oriented Jethro-Tull albums of the late 1970s and the increasingly synthesizer-oriented recordings of the follow-up album Under Wraps .

LP version

Several of the lyrics deal with the subject of "fear". Beastie is a catchy rock song about the fear of "wild animals". According to the lyrics, it affects not only children, but also adults in other forms. Anderson advises looking into his face and chasing it away. Clasp (German roughly: "handshake") describes people who shy away from shaking hands, but also from shaking hands as a facade, for example from statesmen. The singer recommends getting into conversation with strangers and thus achieving true connectedness. After the start of a synthesizer, the flute dominates as an accompanying instrument.

Fallen On Hard Times got off to a folky start. The piece is based on a Scottish melody and is becoming increasingly rocky. The text is about the fear of the future that many people had in the early 1980s. The conservative politicians Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan are addressed and criticized by their official titles. Flying Colors refers to couples who, after a long relationship, make themselves bad in public with “flying colors ”, ie openly aggressive. After a calm, elegiac beginning, the piece becomes more dynamic; Synthesizers and electric guitar emerge as solo instruments. Slow Marching Band is ostensibly a funeral march , but it also contains Jethro-Tull-typical twists. The title refers to musicians playing at funerals, but the lyrics are about separation. Possibly it refers to former band members who left Jethro Tull in anger ( you played for me, that's all for now ... - " you played for me, that was it ...").

Broadsword is a worn, rocking piece. It describes the attacks by Nordic invaders on what is now Scotland from the perspective of the inhabitants, the attackers and finally both groups. The survival and protection of the family is paramount for all. Pussy Willow describes the dreams of a girl who has to get up and catch the train that takes her to work. The piece begins folk-like and continues with a pounding rock rhythm. In the piece Watching Me, Watching You , Anderson sings about a person staring at him all the time and the resulting feelings of aversion and curiosity. The synthesizer dominates this piece.

Seal Driver's text is ambiguous - it's about a man who invites someone to ride on his humble fishing boat. Nor is he a Viking or a pirate, just a landlocked country. The ship can also be seen as a metaphor for the life that he would like to share with the person addressed. The song is rocky and more progressive rock than the other songs on the album. Cheerio is a short, lyrical song with four lines of text. On a coast, Anderson toasts another person with a mug in winter.

Extra title

The CD contains eight additional titles from the same era as the pieces on the LP.

Cover

Iain McCaig designed the cover. The focus is on Ian Anderson as a grim-looking fantasy warrior with butterfly-like wings and a long tail, leaning on a broadsword . In the background you can see a stylized Viking boat on the rough sea against an almost night-black sky. The frame is designed like a picture frame, with pictures of the heads of the other four band members in the corners. The band name and the album title are placed in calligraphy in the middle of the upper edge, the calligraphy was designed by Jim Gibson. A little water drips from the picture frame onto the surface in front of it. The first four lines of Broadsword text are written in Anglo-Saxon runic script on the frame , starting on the left side of the cover.

The reverse shows the ship up close in the same frame, with a dragon head and yellow sails sailing towards the viewer. The sails cover part of the frame. On these sails - on the LP version - the title tracks and the names of the people involved in the album are printed as calligraphy. In front of the picture frame, the amount of water has increased significantly due to the waves overflowing.

The inlay of the LP version consists of a black and white print of the same frame as on the cover. Inside the frame, the song texts of the individual pieces on the Beastie and Broadsword pages are printed in calligraphy .

effect

The album peaked at number 27 in the UK and number 19 in the US. At Allmusic , the original edition received 2.5 out of five possible points. The music magazine Rolling Stone awarded two out of five points. The reviewer particularly criticized Anderson's preaching style.

The single Fallen On Hard Times reached number 20 in the UK charts, and Beastie number 50.

Track list

page 1

  1. Beastie  (3:58)
  2. Clasp  (4:18)
  3. Fallen On Hard Times  (3:13)
  4. Flying Colors  (4:39)
  5. Slow Marching Band  (3:40)

Page 2

  1. Broadsword  (5:03)
  2. Pussy Willow  (3:55)
  3. Watching Me, Watching You  (3:41)
  4. Seal Driver  (5:10)
  5. Cheerio  (1:09)

Extra title

  1. Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow  (3:22)
  2. Jack A Lynn  (4:40)
  3. Mayhem Maybe  (3:06)
  4. Too Many Too  (3:28)
  5. Overhang  (4:29)
  6. Rhythm in Gold  (3:08)
  7. I Am Your Gun  (3:19)
  8. Down at the End of the Road  (3:31)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jethro Tull page at discogs , accessed on January 16, 2015.
  2. a b c d e f Information on the lyrics (2nd part) at cupofwonder.com (English, archive version )
  3. a b c d Information on the lyrics at cupofwonder.com (English, archive version )
  4. Lyrics at cupofwonder.com (archive version )
  5. The Broadsword and the Beast in the UK charts , accessed January 8, 2015.
  6. ^ The Broadsword and the Beast at Allmusic , accessed January 8, 2015.
  7. Assessment of Rolling Stone , accessed on January 10, 2015.