Cheap Passion Play (Jpn Lp Sleeve) (Remastered (Music) (Jethro Tull) Price

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Customer Reviews of Passion Play (Jpn Lp Sleeve) (Remastered

Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull offer up another concept album
On the one hand "A Passion Play" is clearly attempt by Jethro Tull's eccentric leader Ian Anderson to recapture the heights the group reached with their "Thick as a Brick" album. While the final judgment would have to be close but no cigar, this is still one of the better Tull albums. I have always found the parallels between the "story" and the Passion of Christ to be somewhat forced at best, but Anderson likes to be pretentious and enigmatic whenever possible when it comes to his lyrics (is Anderson supposed to be a fallen angel at one point?). The album was conceived for live performance, which included a short film of the album cover ballerina in action and the strange little interlude of "The Hair Who Lost His Spectacles" (In a nice touch for those who caught the "Passion Play" tour back in 1973 the video track for "The Story Of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" is included as well on this CD).

The story, if you want to call it such, is about a man who has just died and at the gates of heaven is reviewing his life. What he realizes is that life on Earth is better than an eternity in paradise. As always, there is the hodge-podge of musical influences with flamenco thrown in with the classical, blues, jazz, folk and rock we came to expect from Tull. This is certainly the most pretentious album from Anderson's fertile mind, which is why it ends up being less of a success than "Thick as a Brick." The less you listen to the lyrics and try to work out the message, the more you will enjoy the music and the album. The problem, of course, is that Anderson does not really want you tuning out the lyrics and the "plot" of the album.

For those who have always been wondering what the titles of the individual "songs" in this organic work are called, I offer you the following list for what it is worth:

1. Lifebeats
2. Prelude
3. The Silver Cord
4. Re-Assuring Tune
5. Memory Bank
6. Best Friends

7. Critique Oblique
8. Forest Dance #1
9. The Story Of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles
10. Forest Dance #2
11. The Foot Of Our Stairs
12. Overseer Overture
13. Flight From Lucifer
14. 10.08 To Paddington
15. Magus Perde
16. Epilogue