A Passion Play (An Extended Performance)

After releasing the excessive classic Thick As A Brick in 1972, the boys in Jethro Tull thought they would take the theatrics to a whole new level. The result is the often criticised and under looked record, A Passion Play.Since I became a fan of Jethro Tull, I have always found A Passion Play to be an interesting album. I love the fact that it continues down the same complex theatrical road as Thick As A Brick as an album featuring two lengthy songs (A Passion Play pt. 1 and 2), both of which have a similar theme and a lyrical concept that brings the whole thing together. The way the band pull this off whilst creating some of their most complex music is impressive and I reckon it works a lot better than some people want to give it credit for.As a whole, A Passion Play is a fantastic album that (in my opinion) flows beautifully from track to track, that is until you hit the one fatal flaw. To satisfy the band's desire for off the hook English humour, they stuck in a track titled, The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles at the start of A Passion Plat pt 2 as an interlude. This interlude is suppose to act as some comical relief between the two parts, unfortunately no matter how much I hear it, I just don't understand it. It doesn't matter how much I love the likes of Monty Python, the odd ball humour of this track goes right over my head and a vast majority of people who hear the album.There is also a matter of lack of rock hooks, the kind found through out Thick As A Brick. This album is considerably more melodic and almost jazz like in the band's approach to song writing. The lyrics are witty, the music is melodic but lacks the memorable hooks found on A Passion Play's predecessor or the albums that followed. Thankfully, the record is superbly produced and sounds great after all these years. Even better is the Steve Wilson mix of the record. This new edition cleans up the tapes and gives each instrument more room to breathe bringing new life to an old record.For those out there who want the most out of this album, the previously mentioned Steve Wilson mix is the way to go. If you can locate the box-set that features The Château d'Hérouville Sessions, you're in for a real treat. These sessions are for a double album the band worked on but sadly abandoned for whatever reason. In my honest opinion, the more rock driven songs from these sessions is exactly what A Passion Play lacks and to have two cracking albums in one box is money very well spent.But if we exclude that second disc for a moment, you'll find that A Passion Play is not the best place to start if you're getting into Jethro Tull. It is best to acquire the more accessible records first and then dive head first into this oddity. Technically speaking, this record is fantastic and I love it. But I can't help but feel that the interlude drags the record down a bit. It is certainly a momentum killer and the record flows beautifully when it is removed. If you fancy checking out this album, the An Extended Performance box-set is the way to go.Published by Steven Lornie of Demonszone

Having enjoyed their hit singles in my formative radio listening years, I got fully into Jethro Tull in the mid 1970's since which time I've been a lifelong fan of the band. "Thick As A Brick" has always edged it as my favourite Tull album, perhaps unsurprisingly given my penchant for more 'progressive' rock generally. Logic then, would dictate that "A Passion Play" should at least have been my second choice, if not actually being my preference over "TAAB". However that was never the case. Indeed, throughout the 'vinyl years' this album languished in my collection as the great ignored Tull album; the one I just couldn't get into. And there was one very good reason for that! ...You see, many truly great albums, particularly those in the more progressive genres, require the listener to put a little work in, getting beyond what may at first seem 'complex' or 'difficult' on the ear, to truly recognize and appreciate the genius of the artists on display within the multifaceted music. ...Sadly I always found that having to leap up and fiddle about trying to place the needle in the groove so as to avoid my ears being assaulted by several minutes of dreary, childish and thoroughly annoying old tosh about a bloomin' pantomime lagomorph, entirely spoiled my listening experience! I refer of course to 'The Story Of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles'. I have never understood what the point of this poorly executed piece of nonsensical drivel was ever supposed to be, and I doubt I ever will. Even at first listen it isn't funny, nor even slightly amusing, and if it's supposed to be a metaphor or parable, conveying some kind of deep message then I'm afraid it is an utterly hamfisted attempt that entirely fails to do so. For me, the only thing this annoying interruption achieved was to entirely spoil what was probably a good album, rendering it impossible for me to ever properly get into the music. So despite my brain telling me otherwise, to my ears "APP" remained a dense and difficult listening experience that I was never able to fully assimilate and enjoy. - Years passed and along came the advent of CDs, and various remasterings, but each time, the vinyl error of not making the track a separate band that could be easily skipped, was replicated. Only in more recent years when I finally managed to make a rather iffy copy of the album on my computer, with the dreaded interruption rather clumsily edited out, could I finally listen properly to this album and begin to discover what a great musical work it truly is! Which was utterly wonderful - like discovering a brand new Tull album from their 'classic' early '70s period. ...And now, joy of joys, I have in my hands a brilliant sounding remixed version with all the music now in separate track bands, so that I can at last programme out the offending track 8 and listen to the musical work in all its splendid remastered glory, sans hare! The myxomatosis mix! Whoopee! - Plus a wonderful new, full version of the "Chateau d'Herouville" album that very nearly never was, and all the rest of this excellent package to boot. Following on from the very good, if not quite wonderful "TAAB 2", and the extremely excellent, best stuff in years, new album "Hommo Erraticus", this has all made me a very happy bunny indeed, with or without my spectacles!