Feeling like a dead duck, spitting out pieces of his broken luck

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts.

13/06/71 : Aqualung - Jethro Tull

Our second visit with JT and last time my verdict was "just odd" - which feels like something that will fit in nicely in '71, so let's see...

Well, it is quite odd indeed. There's all sorts of stuff in here with rock, prog and folk contributing the main elements but you can never tell which one is going to take the forefront - but whatever's going on, you can tell these guys know their way round their instruments. Yes, there's too much flute on it but that's what you get with Ian Anderson and there's more than enough other stuff to make up for it. And, for some unclear reason, I quite enjoyed it - I've absolutely no idea why this happened though, except that maybe it was a lot rockier than I was expecting.

We're at #19 in the charts this week on their twelfth week of an impressive twenty week run, with it having peaked at #4 in its second week. The top five this week were The Rolling Stones, Paul & Linda McCartney, Motown Chartbusters Vol 5, Simon & Garfunkel and Andy Williams (a collection of covers I just couldn't face) with the highest new entry being Emerson, Lake & Palmer (#6).

Wikipedia has a load of text (220 milliPeppers) and it tells us this is their fourth album and apparently it "addresses themes of religion and spirituality, alongside social issues such as homelessness and prostitution". Its comments on religion lead critics to telling the band it was a concept album, to which the band replied "errr - no, it isn't" - but of course the critics weren't that easily dissuaded. There's remarkably else little of interest - you probably wouldn't guess that the character on the album cover is Aqualung, but why would you? 

Critically, it was pretty well reviewed at the time (although Rolling Stone thought its seriousness undermined its quality, which seems like a nonsense argument) and retrospectively there's general agreement this is a PRETTY IMPORTANT ALBUM - it even got a Steven Wilson 5.1 remastering for its 40th anniversary (which is quite a big thing these days). And commercially it also did well, making the top five in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy and Norway and even #7 in the US. 

discogs.com tells us if you fancy a copy of this it will set you back four quid but if you want the numbered, limited edition, deluxe, double, 45 rpm, 200 gm, clarity vinyl box set (phew!) then it's going to set you back £450! And in case you don't know what clarity vinyl is (because I certainly didn't) it doesn't use carbon black pigment which (allegedly) reduces magnetism and improves the sound detail. I really quite liked this though - yes, it's of its time, but it doesn't fit in with either the prog or folk clichés we've frequently experienced in this year.

20/06/71 - I quite liked this

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