http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?pamg&sql10:5mmtk60xlkrj link] * Robert Christgau (C-) http://robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?namejethro+tull link] * [[Rolling Stone]]http://www.tullpress.com/rs22jun72.htm June 22, 1972] * Georgiy Starostin (13/15) http://starling.rinet.ru/music/tull.htm#Brick link] | Last album [[Aqualung (Jethro Tull album)|Aqualung]]
(1971) | This album Thick as a Brick
(1972) | Next album = [[Living in the Past (album)|Living in the Past]]
(1972) | Misc } Thick as a Brick is a [[concept album]], and the fifth studio album, by [[England|English]] [[progressive rock]] band [[Jethro Tull (band)|Jethro Tull]] released in [[1972 in music|1972]]. Its lyrics are built around a poem written by a fictitious boy, "[[Gerald Bostock]]" a.k.a. "Little [[John Milton|Milton]]" (Ian Anderson himself). The album featured only one song, lasting nearly 45 minutes. To accommodate the album on LP vinyl and cassette, the seamless track was split on both sides of the record. It reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Pop Albums chart. == Album information == The epic is notable for its numerous time signature and tempo changes (not uncommon to the newly emerging [[progressive rock]] subgenre of [[rock music|rock]]), as well as a large number of themes throughout the piece, resembling a typical classical symphony in this regard, rather than a typical rock song. Released in 1972, Thick As A Brick was Tulls first true progressive rock offering, four years after the release of their first album. Not only was the musical structure complex, but many instruments uncommon in rock music were added. Whereas in prior numbers the band were content with guitar , Drum kit piano Hammond organ and Ian Anderson (musician) s signature flute Thick as a Brickadditionally included harpsichord xylophone timpani violin lute trumpet and a string section. While the previous album [[Aqualung (Jethro Tull album)|Aqualung]]stretched the bands wings further from the blues of the first three albums, it was still basically mainstream rock. Band leader Ian Anderson was surprised by the critical reaction to [[Aqualung (Jethro Tull album)|Aqualung]]as a "concept album", a label he has firmly rejected to this day. In an interview on In the Studio with Redbeard (which spotlighted Thick as a Brick, Ian Andersons response to the critics was: "if the critics want a concept album well give the mother of all concept albums and well make it so bombastic and so over the top."lt;/ref> Ian Anderson has been quoted in concerts (most recently 8/14/2009, Schwetzingen Castle, Germany) as stating that Thick as a Brickwas written "because everyone was saying we were a progressive rock band, so we decided to live up to the reputation and write a progressive album, but done as a parody of the genre." With Thick as a Brick the band created an album deliberately integrated around one concept: a poem by an intelligent England boy (named Gerald) about the trials of growing up. Beyond this, the album was a send-up of all pretentious "concept albums". Anderson also stated in that interview that "the album was a spoof to the albums of Yes (band) and Emerson, Lake & Palmer much like what the movie [[Airplane!]]had been to [[Airport (film)|Airport]]. The formula was successful, and the album reached number one on the charts in the United States The ensuing tour involved a single 42-minute performance without intermission, but with short comedic interjections and extended instrumental solos. One comedy item involved Anderson announcing that a horse had strayed into the theater, whereupon a crew member sitting in the audience would stand up in a spotlight, take off an overcoat revealing a jockey suit, and leave the auditorium carrying a saddle. Despite the length of the performance, only the first half of the album was performed, the second half being represented only by the coda. There are no known official video or film recordings. Later live performances feature a shortened version of the first side, such as the 12 minutes and 30 seconds version on the live album [[Bursting Out]]

Cover

image:DirkvdM thick as a brick.jpg The original LP cover was a spoof of a twelve by sixteen inch (305 by 406 mm) multipage local newspaper with stories, competitions, adverts, etc., lampooning the parochial and amateurish local journalism that still exists in many places today, as well as certain classical album covers, and even contains a review of the album itself. The "newspaper" also includes the entire lyrics to the song, and references to the lyrics are scattered throughout the articles. The spoof newspaper had to be heavily abridged for conventional CD covers, but the 25th Anniversary Special Edition CD includes a partial facsimile; some content is missing, such as the original connect the dots activity and part of the "front page , however the picture was restored to its full size which restored the entire image of "Geralds chum", Julia.

Track listing

In pop culture

In the end of the The Simpsons episode "Girls Just Want to Have Sums , Thick as a Brickwas sung by Martin Prince with the actual song then playing during the end credits.

Chart positions

| class"wikitable" !Year !Chart !Position |- |rowspan2|1972 |Billboard200 |rowspan2|1 |- |Kent Music Report Albums Chart |- |}

Artists

*Ian Anderson (musician) – Singer Steel-string guitar flute violin trumpet *Martin Barre – electric guitar lute *John Evan – piano organ (music) harpsichord *Jeffrey Hammond (as "Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond"): Bass guitar Singing *Barriemore Barlow – Drum kit Percussion instrument timpani *Dee Palmer – Brass instrument and string arrangements

References

External links

* * (UK) * http://remus.rutgers.edu/JethroTull/Albums/ThickAsABrick-lyrics.html Complete lyrics] * http://www.cupofwonder.com/essays9.html Jethro Tull, Progressive Rock and Thematic Approach], essay by Dave Morris * http://www.orthogonal.com.au/music/taab/index.htm Scans of the pages of the LP cover mock newspaper] Category:Jethro Tull albums Category:1972 albums Category:Concept albums Category:1972 songs Category:Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab albums Category:Chrysalis Records albums Category:Reprise Records albums Category:Island Records albums Category:Capitol Records albums cs:Thick as a Brick de:Thick as a Brick es:Thick as a Brick fr:Thick as a Brick it:Thick as a Brick ka:Thick as a Brick hu:Thick as a Brick nl:Thick As A Brick pl:Thick as a Brick pt:Thick as a Brick fi:Thick as a Brick sv:Thick as a Brick tr:Thick as a Brick