Ian Anderson

Six records out of Fresh Produce this afternoon, and a hundred-pack of BCW outer sleeves, which tells you something about where this is heading. The shelf has gotten big enough that I am now spending money to protect the records, not just buy them. That is a threshold of some kind.

Two more Tull came home: this one at ten dollars and Crest of a Knave at twelve. Songs from the Wood I am happy about — it is the front end of the folk-rock trilogy, so now it sits beside Heavy Horses and I am only missing Stormwatch to have the whole run.

Tonight, then, Tull. Quite a bit of crackle-and-hiss at the outset. Ugh. But as the title track played it cleared up and started sounding really good — better than Heavy Horses, I think. The tambourines are sharp, and so is Anderson’s acoustic. The drums have more presence. “Songs from the Wood” is just a great song.

Big soundstage on “Jack-in-the-Green.” The rest of side one sounded pretty good. “Ring Out, Solstice Bells” is cooler than I remember.

Side B tomorrow — Autumn and I spent the rest of the night on season two of The Pitt.

Darlene Fairbanks introduced me to this album back in the late eighties, when Jethro Tull was having a bit of a Renaissance in Cincinnati. All right — at least at my house. I was digging Rock Island after hearing “Undressed to Kill” on the radio and buying the record.

This one sounds even more analog. “The Mouse Police Never Sleeps” is good, but “Acres Wild” is where it starts sounding better to me — a live sound, and great separation. Anderson’s voice is a bit recessed, which is a shame; his vocal acrobatics are a big part of what I enjoy about Tull. There is a mandolin in the right channel. This is a minstrel song.

Side B is the best side, I must say. All of it is excellent, starting with “Rover.” What is better than Anderson belting out “because I’m a rover”? Then back to the minstrel acoustic stuff with “One Brown Mouse” — very much like “Moths,” though it brings in some electric guitar. Martin Barre always reminds us that Tull is a rock band.

And of course the epic, the prog: “Heavy Horses.” Great song. Heavy song. Not only does it sound better than anything else here, I can hear Anderson singing at least three parts, probably more. There are strings. It should be longer. I need more “Heavy Horses” — which I think was rather the point.

“Weathercock” is a lovely end to this bucolic stroll with the rockin’ Renaissance minstrels. Typically Tull: an acoustic frolic, then the flute arrives for a little naughty sauciness. A good Barre solo later. Solid end.

I don’t think I started appreciating the album’s characteristic engineering until the very end. I would like more detail and separation, and that is not what we got here — it is more of a twirl, a broad paint stroke, an impressionistic sound. I don’t know. Maybe I’m talking out of my ass.