Passion Play [Import, Original recording remastered]

Jethro Tull | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 17, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Toshiba EMI
• ASIN: B0000942EX
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #708,477 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. A Passion Play Pt 1

2. A Passion Play Pt 2

Editorial Reviews

Japanese remastered reissue of 1973 album, that's unavailable domestically, packaged in a limited edition miniature LP gatefold sleeve features 3 tracks including one bonus enhanced video track, 'The Story Of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles'. Toshiba-EMI

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Progressive, Experimental and Artistic Tull, August 27, 2006

By 

Lonnie E. Holder "The Review's the Thing" (Columbus, Indiana, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Passion Play (Audio CD)

Many critics initially reviled this album when it first appeared in 1973, though Tull fans loved it so much that it went to number one on the charts. With time better explanations of the music exist, and music has evolved to the point where the music of "A Passion Play" has achieved a better perspective. However, the music and the composition, confusing as it may initially appear, allows you to recognize that this was an attempt to create an epic and eclectic work. In some ways the work is unfinished, because the original studio sessions stopped before the original concept was completed, and thus Jethro Tull had to cut three albums sides of material to two. Some of the music originally intended for this album appeared on later albums; one example is "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of a New Day," which eventually appeared in "Warchild."

The album was intended to tell the story of a recently-deceased man seeing his own funeral, and his journey in the afterlife, including purgatory and hell, and eventual reincarnation. In addition to this primary story was the inclusion of "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles," a story likened to stories from Winnie the Pooh to Peter and the Wolf.

"A Passion Play" combines ten tracks into a single work (according to the official Jethro Tull web site). As in "Thick as a Brick," there is an occasional uneven spot in the transition from one track to the next. However, as in the earlier album, the transitions and concept works nearly as well. The music is certainly well refined, with hard-driving rock riffs, drums and synthesizers keeping Jethro Tull at the more experimental, progressive edge of rock. I warn you, though, that the music requires a good sound system to be able to listen to music that extends from very quiet to very loud. I compare this music to classical music, which similarly has sounds that extend from soft to loud and also requires a good sound system. I also warn you to attempt to understand the lyrics at your own peril. The lyrics verge on the incomprehensible, even for those who have studied them at length. The lyrics are poetic and symbolic, and attempt to describe events and concepts barely attainable by the human mind, much less by a human language.

Music such as this does not attempt to pander to a "style" or to commercial success. This music is art. Thus, a listener should interpret the meaning, significance and relevance of the music individually. I will not pretend to tell you that I understand this work in its entirety. Perhaps Jethro Tull never intended for listeners to understand the music, in the manner of Yes's "Tales from Topographic Oceans."

Note that this version of "A Passion Play" is a Japanese remastered release of the original 1973 album. This version includes an enhanced video track of "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles." While the video is nice to have, the cost of this CD is significantly greater than the cost of a U.S. release without the video. I recommend purchasing the U.S. release and then buying a Jethro Tull DVD, or several, given the price difference.

While I may not be able to define or understand progressive rock, I know it when I hear it, and this music is definitely progressive rock. Listen to this music only if you are prepared to be open-minded and to accept it for what Jethro Tull and Ian Anderson attempted to do, and not for the misguided interpretations of those who think they have the divine ability to judge the work of an artist as trash.

Enjoy!

4.0 out of 5 stars Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull offer up another concept album, April 19, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Passion Play (Audio CD)

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