Customer Reviews

Crest of Knave

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Finally someone, somewhere in the music industry wised up and re-issued this stunning masterpiece! Following a 3-year hiatus from recording, and one full year away from music, Tull returned to the studio (Ian's house) with a band consisting only of Msrs. Anderson, Barre, Pegg and some part-time percussionists. Some years removed from their last strong effort, and following Ian Anderson's illness in which his magnificent voice was severely and permanently damaged, one could hardly imagine that Tull would return with what may be the finest and most powerful Tull album of all.

The album opens with a fast-paced rocker (Steel Monkey) -- an effective if somewhat mundane starter song (not helped at all by the use of the drum programme), which provides no real clue to the power and quality of what is to come. And, in fact, come right away: Farm On The Freeway is an intriguing mixture of protest ballad and rocker, lamenting thoughtless urban sprawl, and containing unparalleled instrumental passages. It is perfectly designed to be a live-concert mainstay. An absolute gift to a tight band. Jump Start is a heavy rocker most notable for Martin Barre's strident guitar work. A good song, well-known and widely played, but definitely NOT the best rocker on the album.

Tull's music, throughout the years, is redolent with gorgeous and unique melodies -- usually (but not always) found in shorter, less structurally complex works. Little jewels with timeless melodies that provide not only a change-of-pace but are an adornment of such beauty that they become as memorable as any works in the set. Of all these, I can think of none any more fetching than Said She Was A Dancer. Centered around a gorgeous bluesy melody, it is the humorous story of a western rock star -- Ian Anderson in the first person -- attempting, vainly, to put a line on a comely-but-distant Muscovite in a Russian bar one winter's night ("It was snowing outside and in her soul"). While our protagonist gets progressively frustrated ("I'm your Pepsi-Cola but you won't take me out the can"), he still tries one big, clumsy move at the end, stealing a kiss. . . alas to no avail ("She looked at me like I was Jack-the-Ripper"). Our distant Muscovite may have been cold-as-ice, but there is plenty of soul in Martin Barre's beautifully reserved guitar work and Mr. Anderson's vocals and keyboards.

Dogs In The Midwinter follows, and is positioned on the album in such a way that it becomes an easily overlooked song. Placed among master-works, this less-accomplished Cold War song becomes the most forgettable on the album -- which is unfair as it is one of those many Tull works which improves with time and familiarity.

Which brings us to the place where, at least for me, all critique becomes subjective. IMHO, the next 17 minutes of this album is one of the finest achievements not only in Tull music, but in all of the rock era. Budapest is perhaps the most accomplished work in the entire Tull repertoire. Not merely an asymmetrical rock ballad, it is best described as a Tone Poem sans symphonic orchestration. Ric Sanders' gypsy-like violin and the acoustic guitars (Anderson and Barre) work powerfully with the eastern-European influenced melodies to transport the listener right into the hot, sweaty night at the very edge of the iron curtain. The story is of a stunning and athletic local girl helping set the band up for a concert in the brutal atmosphere. The lecherous men (band and roadies) were all interested in her (physically), whereas she was interested in the bright and shining "west-lands" from which they came. Their crude and single-minded lust, is shamed by her friendly assistance and deeper concerns. Our guys didn't have anything else to worry about -- Budapest, however, had bigger issues to deal with.

A half-heartbeat from the fadeout of Budapest, Mountain Men opens slowly, quickly building into what would become one of Tull's finest rockers. It appears to be, in actuality, two songs: an incomplete section of one song used as the intro to the second, with a trademark Tull time-signature change just at the 2-minute mark. The opening of the song is essentially an unhurried crescendo, which at its apex must either explode into nothingness or take relief in another form. The latter is chosen, moving into the potent and attractive melody upon which the remainder of the song is centered. Mountain Men is a song saluting the people of the Scottish Highlands and islands, Ian Anderson's home country. No finer honor could be given than through this most compelling of Tull rockers.

Another immediate transition ushers in the mile-long intro to The Waking Edge. The intro is the most interesting aspect of this fine song, no matter how often it is heard one still trips over whether it is a coda to Mountain Men or something else entirely. It is the latter, transitioning slowly into a country-tinged ballad touching on a familiar Tull theme: Distance from the loved-ones left at home. Mr. Anderson's vocal limitations are most apparent here. The rocker Raising Steam, the closing number, is one of two Tull songs about the railroad since the famous Locomotive Breath. It's a catchy number, powerful and fun at the same time. It will never be as renowned as that earlier railway number, but it is a nice ending statement from the band: They are indeed back, bringing the old locomotive up to steam, getting us smiling ear to ear.

This is the most controversial album Jethro Tull has ever put out before or since and it's all due the the Grammy commitee. 1988's winner of the "Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal" Grammy is neither. However it is an exellent album.
One of it's main strengths is the guitar work of Martin Barre. My favorite is his solo on "Budapest" because he demonstrates that one doesn't have to crank the amps up to 11 to have a kick bottom guitar solo. Ian Anderson says that "Budapest" is the song that he is most proud of, as it has a little bit of everything in it.
This album also has the song "Farm on the Freeway" which is today a concert favorite amongst the fans.
What's unfortunate about this album is Ian's voice is merely a shadow of what it once was due to throat problems a few years back. I wish Martin Barre's guitar had been mixed a little higher in the song "Steel Monkey", and I really wish this package had included the original 20 minute version of "Budapest."
Overall though, a terrific album and worth the money. Come to think of it, the flute can be heavy and it is made of metal so perhaps what the Grammy committee meant when they gave Tull the award.

Just kidding.

Back in 1987, a lot of people whined because this Tull album beat out Metallica for a Grammy award in the "heavy metal" category. Even some longtime Tull fans thought there was a problem here. But let's think this through.

The Grammy award for heavy metal was a _new_ category that year. And maybe the category wasn't (and isn't) quite as well-defined as Metallica fans would have liked us to believe. (You'd probably call Led Zeppelin a heavy metal band, wouldn't you? Did you ever listen to "Stairway to Heaven"? What's that instrument you hear? Could it be -- gasp! -- a _fl*te_?)

Besides, Tull had been around for _twenty years_ at that point and had never won a Grammy of _any_ kind. Considering how much the heavy-metal category owed, and still owes, to Tull's music (especially Martin Barre's searing guitar and Ian Anderson's manic on-stage presence), doesn't it make sense that the Grammy judges would think it appropriate to launch the new category with a bit of well-deserved homage to its so-far-unrecognized roots?

Then, too, this album was, and is, one of Tull's finest. Anderson was recovering from some severe throat problems and had recorded most of this album at home, with Martin Barre, Doane Perry, Gerry Conway, David Pegg, and some electronic instruments (notably a keyboard and a drum machine). But even so, it was a _lot_ closer to Tull's earlier rock than it was to the electronic-synth stuff they'd been releasing during the 1980s to that point.

Still not convinced this is "heavy metal"? Okay, maybe it isn't quite. But what category _does_ Tull belong in? If you wanted to give them a well-deserved Grammy, can you think of a better one?

The CD version includes a couple of tracks that weren't on the original vinyl LP ("Dogs in the Midwinter" and "The Waking Edge"). They're not exactly "extra" tracks, because they've always been available on the CD, but I still think of them as "extra" because I didn't have them in 1987. They're good.

My favorites from this album, though, are always going to be "Farm on the Freeway," "Said She Was a Dancer," and "Budapest". The latter two are especially funny if you're aware of Tull's reputation as the diametrical opposite of "party animals" and not a lot of fun for groupies to hang around with. Ian and the boys tend to read books and go to bed early, and none of them do d-r-*-g-s or anything. So it's kind of fun to hear Ian singing about a couple of times (one fictional, one not) in which he completely struck out with a member of the fair sex.

The word "singing" is sometimes a bit of a stretch, though; Anderson was taking it easy here, still recovering from those nasty throat problems, and he was keeping the melodies within a range that he could "speak" rather than roar. As a result his sound on this album has been compared to Mark Knopfler (aided, no doubt, by Barre's delightful guitar work on "Said She Was a Dancer"). That's okay -- the man was entitled to a rest and we were all glad he was in a condition to release albums at all.

The first time I heard Tull was on MTV's "New Video Hour" back in 1987. The music video for "Steel Monkey" played. Normally, I would not have paid much attention but my favorite band at the time, Iron Maiden, named Tull as a major influence in numerous articles I read. So I recorded the video. It had an almost country rock sound which was very different from what I was used to hearing. I was a heavy metal fan. Still, I liked it and went out and bought Crest of a Knave, my first Jethro Tull studio album. It was the first of many Tull records I would buy so it definitely sparked a new musical interest in me. I'll always have a soft spot for it and was very happy Jethro Tull won the hard rock grammy. Now that I've listened to all of Tull's previous studio releases many times through the last 15 years, Crest of a Knave is towards the bottom of my top Tull list. It's not a bad album by any means. It is a soothing album at times with tracks like "Farm on the Freeway," "She Said She Was a Dancer," and "Budapest." A lot of the songs are about loss, whether it be a way of life or an intriguing woman. There is some sadness to this album. There is also two references to Jack the Ripper which might make a great Tull trivia question. My favorite track is "Raising Steam" which is, in contrast, a fun rocker. The single "Steel Monkey" is, lyrically, very clever. It gets three stars because Tull's earlier releases were so amazing. They raised the bar. As much as I liked this album in 1987, I found better music when I "discovered" earlier Tull albums one by one (a very fun time for me). Unlike most Tull fans, I wish Ian Anderson continued in the direction of "A" and "Under Wraps" (a more interesting and innovative path) rather than towards the more country rock sound of the late 1980s early 1990s. Note for those like me living in the vinyl and cassette past: this CD has two more tracks: "Waking Edge" and "Dogs in the Midwinter" (I've always thought 7 tracks was a bit skimpy).

I am so glad someone has re-discovered how great this piece of Tull work is. My vinyl copy has long since gone and CD is now readily available. Staight forward, electric rock and roll. Anderson combines his masterful lyric and flute talent with a more raw metal sound than Tull fans are or were accustomed. This is my all-time favorite Tull album. When the clips are up, check out "Steel Monkeys", "She Said She was a Dancer" and my personal favorite "Farm on the Freeway". This is Tull at their metal best!!!!!

While I do not place "Crest" in the list of my top 5 Tull albums, I do think it falls somewhere comfortably in 6th or 7th place. Considering Tull's huge output, that's really saying something. Basically, "Crest" was a nice recovery from the miscalculation of "Under Wraps" and features some of the band's finest instrumental interludes, melodies, and poetry. While I am not a big fan of drum machines (and this album is loaded with them), I still think "Crest" manages to maintain a warm, human sound that is greatly enhanced by Ian's deep, gruff voice. And yes, it does feature one of Tull's greatest songs in "Farm on the Freeway." Powerfully executed, with a devastating middle instrumental section, "Farm" stands with the best of Tull's classic tunes. "Budapest" is another wondrous piece, and "Said She was a Dancer" features a particularly memorable and heartfelt melody and a resounding poignancy and sadness.

I've seen many Grammy shows with various music industry-types bemoaning the fact that Crest won the 1989 Grammy for best hard rock/metal album. Taken purely on artistic merits, it was indeed the best hard rock album of the year, far superior to even Metallica's heavily-favored "...And Justice For All." So Grammy folks, quit whining and suck up to the fact that you got your butts whipped by the one and only Jethro Tull.

Unfortunately for Jethro Tull most people know this album for having the dubious honor of winning the first best "heavy metal / hard rock" category at the Grammy awards in 1988. It has become a running joke over the years since Tull beat out several true metal acts such as Metaillca for the award. The album has served as a continuous punch line of jokes at awards shows ever since. The sad thing about all of this is, that this really is a great Tull album and I think it was very cool that it was awarded a Grammy (even if it was not in the right category). "Crest" marked a bit of a comeback for Jethro Tull. The band had not fared so well in the 80's putting out several so so albums that were completely ignored by radio. Sales figures had slipped significantly during this period as well. With the release of "Crest" the band actually received praise from the critics and two songs, "Steel Monkey" and "Farm On The Freeway" were actually heard quite a bit on AOR radio. The "band" by this point had been reduced down to just Ian Anderson, Martin Barre and Dave Pegg. This album rocks in places and simmers in a cool mellow way in others. There is very little of the band's folk-ish sound to be found here, and the album was very modern sounding for it's time. The opener "Steel Monkey" almost sounds like 80's era ZZ Top. Martin Barre has some great stuff here and I think this is one of his best albums. There are some great songs on this disc especially "Farm On The Freeway", "Budapest", Mountain Men", and the sexual double meaning "Raising Steam". The only negative thing really is that by this time Anderson's voice was continuing to deteriorate, but for the most part things are notched down a peg and he sounds good here. Although different from their earlier works I have always really like this album and thought that it was a nice return to form for the band at the time of it's release.

When I first listened to this album, I was stunned how much Ian Anderson's voice had changed between 1984 and 1987, caused by a severe throat infection during the "Under Wraps" tour. It was tough to swallow at first (no pun intended),but every time I listen to this cd, I enjoy it more and more. This album has some of the most complex and nuanced songs ever recorded by Jethro Tull. Besides the well-known classics here, such as "She said She was a Dancer" and "Budapest", there are some hidden gems like "Farm on the Freeway", about urban sprawl, and also "Mountain Men." I think you'll also appreciate "Part of the Machine" which features some of the most beautiful lyrics in any Tull song.

As with most Tull albums, there is much to notice and discuss. Different listeners will be struck by the genius of different songs, as the reviews posted here demonstrate. I want to call attention to "Farm on the Freeway" as one of the best of all Tull songs. Initially sounding careless and relaxed, it's wonderful the way the song modulates into a rhythmic intensity. The flute accomplishes much of this mood swing with changes in timbre and timing. The instrumental section is one of the best examples of -- what history will judge as Tull's enduring contribution to Music -- the combination of a purcussive flute sound with the electric guitar. It's so delicious, it's like eating chocolate. On top of this, the lyrics are straightforward and affecting. Anderson delivers them with exquisite control to invoke feelings of nostalgia, sadness, humor and irony.

I like my rock heavy and since this won best metal album of the year oh some 20 years ago now (if I remember correctly), it had to be good right?

Well it is good, exceptional good that is and what a surprise, it's is not metal, go figure?! What we have here is a heaping mound of Tull that is a slight change from what we're used to. Simply put, this entire cd from start to finish is excellent. All the tunes are great with Budapest and She Said She Was Dancer being simply fantastic. Yes it's a different Tull sound in some ways as it's perhaps a little heavier sounding in spots, however the darn thing rocks big time. I really can't say enough about this release, it's just that good. If I had to keep just one Tull cd, this would be the one but that's probably because I like prog bands with some edge to their sound and this cd has that.

This remastered edition is very cool with added notes and pics as well as a bonus track that fits in with the rest with ease.

If you like prog rock Tull style, you'll love this cd.