Thick as a Brick
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Thick as a Brick (1972) is a concept album by the rock band Jethro Tull. Its lyrics are built around a poem written by a fictitious boy, "Gerald Bostock" or "Little Milton". The album on LP vinyl runs as one seamless track on both sides of the record, being thus "one song".
Band leader Ian Anderson was surprised by the critical reaction to the previous album Aqualung as a "concept album", a label he firmly rejected. With Thick as a Brick, the band set out to create an album deliberately integrated around one concept: a poem by an intelligent English boy about the trials of growing up. Beyond this, the album is intended to be a send-up of all pretentious "concept albums". The formula was successful, and the album reached #1 on the charts in the United States.
The original LP cover was a spoof of a 12 by 16 inch (305 by 406 mm) multipage local newspaper with stories, competitions, adverts etc., lampooning the kind of horribly parochial and amateurish local journalism that still exists in many places today. The spoof newspaper had to be heavily abridged for conventional CD covers, but the 25th Anniversary Special Edition CD includes a partial facsimile; some content is missing, such as the original join the dots activity and part of the "front page".
Jethro Tull's next album is Living in the Past.
Personnel
- Ian Anderson: Vocals, acoustic guitar, flute, violin, saxophone, trumpet
- Martin Barre: Electric guitar, lute
- John Evan: Piano, organ, harpsichord
- Jeffrey Hammond (as "Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond"): Bass guitar, vocals
- Barriemore Barlow: Drums, percussion, timpani
Track Listing
- "Thick As A Brick" (Ian Anderson/"Gerald Bostock")
The 25th Anniversary Edition CD added two additional tracks:
- "Thick as a Brick" (Live at Madison Square Garden, 1978)
- Interview with Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, Martin Barre and Jeffrey Hammond-Hammondnl:Thick As A Brick (Jethro Tull)