Webmaster's note: many thanks
to Martin Webb of "A New Day," the independent Tull fan magazine, for
penning this overview with some modest contributions from yours truly.
“ Aqualung” and “Thick
As A Brick” tend
to be cited as defining the 1970s’ Jethro Tull – but arguably “Minstrel
in the Gallery” is the quintessential 1970's Tull album.
The band had decamped to a studio in Monte Carlo (Jeffrey
Hammond-Hammond having ridden there from England on a motorbike which
he managed to spectacularly
crash on the way) which is pictured on the back of the album sleeve with
the five minstrels standing in its gallery. The size 
of the studio also
made it ideal for impromptu games of badminton, while the local beach
provided its own temptations. Ian has since opined that such distractions
and other personal problems within the band meant that it was not functioning
as well as a unit as it had on previous albums, and he found himself
taking more of a prominent and introspective role than he would have
wished.
The upside of that was that the album contained a liberal sprinkling of the type of personal acoustic ditties which had graced the “Aqualung” album, with the string-adorned “Requiem” being possibly the most romantic song Ian has ever written, and the closing “Grace” – more whimsical in its romanticism - clocking in at a whole thirty seven seconds. And after the forty-plus minute “Thick As A Brick” and “A Passion Play” epics, Ian once again dabbled with an extended suite of music with “Baker Street Muse”, a seventeen minute four-part observation of the seedier side of his then home town of London.
The acoustic guitar and strings are to the fore
in most of the other songs, but the likes of “Cold Wind To Valhalla” and “Black
Satin Dancer” then explode into full-blown rockers, with Martin
Barre’s electric guitar taking the spotlight as the band thunders
along behind him in an adventurous exploration of unpredictable key-changes
and time-signatures. That juxtaposition of acoustic and electric has
been a feature of Jethro Tull’s music throughout their career,
but is perhaps never better exemplified than on “Minstrel In The
Gallery” which, after earlier albums’ tags of ‘blues’ and ‘prog’,
is unequivocally a ‘rock’ album, albeit with a maturity and
sophistication both lyrically and harmonically which highlighted Tull’s
originality.
Though "Minstrel" is heavily acoustic, songs from the disc rarely
appear in concert set lists in recent years. Partly, this could very
well be due to "Minstrel's" rather dark, often very personal subject
matter
and
tone for many of the acoustical tunes. Ian was just coming off a
divorce
and
"One
White
Duck/0¹º =
Nothing At All" addresses the end of his marriage. "One White Duck" is
related to a common British concept (and even wall ornament) that a married
couple have their "ducks in a row." A sole duck, hence, represents separation.
In February 1975 Jethro Tull sold out five nights at the 20,000-seater Los Angeles Forum, prompting the Melody Maker to run the headline “Jethro – Now The World’s Biggest Band?” Indeed the venues became so huge that by 1976 Tull had become one of the first bands to use giant screens for stadium shows – nicknamed “Tull-A-Vision”.
Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond’s final live show with Tull was in November 1975, after which he ceremoniously burnt his stage clothes and retired from the music biz to resume painting.
Ian
Anderson - flute, acoustic guitar, saxophones, vocals
Barriemore
Barlow - percussion
Martin Barre -
electric and spanish guitars
John Evan -
piano, organ, synthesisers, piano accordion
Jeffrey
Hammond - bass guitar and string bass
David
Palmer - (orchestral arrangement and conducting)
Guest Musicians
Patrick Halling (lead violin)
Elizabeth Edwards (violin)
Rita Eddowes (violin)
Bridget Proctor (violin)
Katharine Thulborn (cello)
