Heavy Horses is one of the albums that made me a Jethro Tull fan. This is perhaps ironic because the album’s 1978 release predated my interest in popular music by at least four years. Ironic too because this is a band who’s largest commercial success and, arguably, premier period of artistic expression was throughout the 70’s and the early 80’s. I am reviewing a work of popular music that was produced more than 20 years ago and that was never really all that popular.

As a brief aside, there are dangers in being a Tull fan. This is a band that has reinvented its sound time and time again over the more than 30 years that it has been recording. The Tull that you hear on Heavy Horses is not the Tull that you will hear in the original blues based albums of This Was and Benefit. You will not hear the progressive rock band of Aqualung. You will not hear the metal Tull of Crest of a Knave. Nor will you hear the more synthesizer based Tull that shows on A and Broadsword. And so it is difficult to know what one is going to hear when one first auditions a Tull disc. And it is even more difficult to know what to expect from a concert experience.

Heavy Horses and Songs from the Wood represent the premier folk rock incarnation of Jethro Tull. These two albums move away from the progressive rock stylings of Thick as a Brick and War Child to present a cleaner and more acoustic sound than any of the other Tull albums. The Heavy Horses disc makes heavy use of the mandolin, the acoustic guitar and xylophone as well as the occasional inclusion of more traditional orchestral components. Where the electric guitar is used, it is used to carry a clean melody and does not fly away into the reaches of a rock solo.

Of course there are signature parts to the Tull sound and these are all present on the disc. Listeners will hear Ian Anderson’s voice that has always been a hallmark of the band as the overblown flute sound that Tull has used so effectively through the years.

While the album is consistent in its sound and strength, several songs stand above the rest as my personal favorites. The album kicks off strongly with one of them – “…And the Mouse Police Never Sleeps.” This track really sets the tone of the album from the first bars. It opens with a clean acoustic melody which swiftly serves as backdrop to the classic Tull flute and lightly processed vocals of Ian Anderson.

“Journeyman” is perhaps the track closest to rock and furthest from folk that is on the disc. But the by-play between the electric guitar, the flute and the vocals as well as a strong and driving, but tight and constrained, composition make it a joy.

“Rover” follows “Journeyman” and is, to my mind, the strongest track on the album. The song kicks off with a melding of percussion, xylophone and synthesizer giving way to a stringed acoustic backdrop of guitar and mandolin underneath either electric guitar lead or vocal tracks. It sounds to me like a harpsichord is used here as well though it is not listed in the instrumentation on the lining notes.

And why the title Heavy Horses? Lyrically the songs hold true to their folk sound and seem to want to laud the rural life and the role that working horses play in that.

And why buy Heavy Horses? This is a strong offering. Not as strong as Songs from the Wood but clearly in that vein. The sound is consistent across the album. There are no hooking tracks here to front for a CD of a completely different style. And there are some very entertaining numbers. If one is completely new to Tull and wishes to explore the folk rock incarnation of the band then Songs from the Wood comes recommended first. But if one likes Songs from the Wood, then Heavy Horses is a must buy.




Recommended: Yes