01	Crossfire						03:55
	02	Fylingdale Flyer						04:35
	03	Working John - Working Joe						05:04
	04	Black Sunday						06:35
	05	Protect And Survive						03:36
	06	Batteries Not Included						03:52
	07	Uniform						03:34
	08	4.W.D. (Low Ratio)						03:42
	09	The Pine Marten's Jig						03:28
	10	And Further On						04:21

1980 I.Anderson - M.Barre - D.Pegg - E.Jobson - MCraney
originally solo album of Ian Anderson published as a Jethro Tull album

Jethro Tull
A
Chrysalis (7243 594773 0 5)
UK 1980

Ian Anderson, flute, vocals; Martin Barre, electric guitar; Mark Craney, drums; Dave Pegg, bass; Eddie Jobson, keyboards, electric violin

Tracklist:
1. Crossfire - 3:55
2. Flyingdale Flyer - 4:36
3. Working John, Working Joe - 5:05
4. Black Sunday - 6:39
5. Protect and Survive - 3:37
6. Batteries Not Included - 3:53
7. Uniform - 3:34
8. 4.W.D. (Low Ratio) - 3:43
9. The Pine Marten's Jig - 3:29
10. And Further On - 4:21
disc 1 time: 42:52

1. Introduction
2. Black Sunday
3. Dun Ringill
4. Flyingdale Flyer
5. Songs From the Wood
6. Heavy Horses
7. Sweet Dream
8. Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll
9. Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day
10. Aqualung
11. Locomotive Breath
disc 2 time: 0:00

total time 42:52


Links:

conrad

After three folk-influenced albums from Jethro Tull, Ian Anderson decided to take some time out to produce a solo album. The project was called A, for Anderson, and featured dodgy early-80's keyboards in the music, as well as dodgy early-80's jumpsuits on the cover. Somewhere along the line though Martin Barre got invited to the recording sessions, and the project became the new Jethro Tull album, with a new line up.
Despite the a move from a folk sound (which I love) to a more conventional early 80's pop/rock sound (which I don't), Anderson's songwriting is still very strong on parts of this album. Pointed lyrical observations, strong melodies and a few unique Andersonisms with respect to time signatures are all here. For me these all come together best on "Flyingdale Flyer," whose lyrics are about an unidentified blip on the radar and hint at possible Cold War consequences. The other lyrical highlight is "Batteries Not Included," which concerns Christmas day disappointment, but is unfortunately married to a weak piece of music.

For old Tull fans, a selling point of the new CD will be the accompanying DVD, entitled Slipstream, which is almost worth the money in itself. Much of the footage appears to have been intended to be played at live performances on the A tour, while the rest is straight concert film. The prerecorded visuals are hardly ultra-slick by any standards other than Dr. Who, but are filled with typical Anderson humour and whimsy. Fans of the television series "The Prisoner" will also get a kick out of a quick nod paid to that show. Musically, the highlight is "Black Sunday," which seems to have an energy that translated extremely well to live performance.

Those who enjoyed Tull's folk period will probably be disappointed by A as an album, despite being slightly mollified by "The Pine Marten's Jig," which would not have been out of place on Songs from the Wood. On top of the change to a style that has not aged well, the songwriting had become a little more patchy. While "Black Sunday", "Flyingdale Flyer" and "And Further On" are all strong, there are also duds like "4.W.D. (Low Ratio)," which lack melodic invention. This is a good album in a number of places, but is not essential Tull by any means. Recommended to those who were going to buy it anyway.

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