It was a bit of a surprise to me when I heard a couple of months ago there was a new Jethro Tull album expected in early 2022. After all, the last studio release of new original material credited to the band was J-Tull Dot Com, which came out in 1999.
Singer, songwriter and head-of-operations Ian Anderson has of course been recording and releasing albums under his own name since then, including Thick as a Brick 2 in 2013 and Homo Erraticus in 2014. In fact, the core group of musicians on these solo efforts are the same players credited on the new Tull release. Which raises the question: What exactly differentiates the albums of Jethro Tull from those of Ian Anderson?
As far as I can tell, it seems to be because Ian Anderson says so, and this goes back to Tull’s 1980 release A. Anderson’s intended solo debut was eventually credited to Jethro Tull under apparent record company pressure. The band got a whole makeover as well, with only Martin Barre keeping his electric-guitar spot.
It’s convenient to see this as a break between the classic Jethro Tull recordings (everything up to and including 1979’s Stormwatch), and modern Tull/Ian Anderson, and given that, where does 2022’s The Zealot Gene sit?
This latest version of Jethro Tull contains performances by the band mixed in with a few solo acoustic efforts by Anderson, as well as a few parts assembled over the internet through the miracle of modern-day technology when the pandemic hit. However, since any given Tull album has a mixture of solo acoustic and full band performances, it’s very consistent with many of their other releases.
The opening track, “Mrs. Tibbets” and “Sad City Sisters” might run the spectrum here; the drums, keyboards and electric guitars of the former feel appropriately matched with the accordion of the latter, making both instant additions to my personal list of favorite Jethro Tull tracks.
In fact, I’d say The Zealot Gene in many ways represents the best elements of the current Tull/Anderson sound: well recorded, well played, alternately and simultaneously straightforward yet intricate. This one is definitely in the early running for the top lists of classic artists’ releases for 2022.
- How David Bowie’s ‘The Next Day’ Stripped Away All of the Artifice - March 15, 2023
- Why Deep Purple’s ‘Who Do We Think We Are?’ Deserves Another Listen - January 11, 2023
- In Defense of the Often-Overlooked Mott the Hoople - November 10, 2022
