Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Anderson, Ian
Label: Kscope
Released: 2014
Running time: 51:57
Rating: 4/5
Ian Anderson is one of those absolute rulers of the music world who rule with a smile and a sparkling sense of humor while writing new music, all the while running their musical subjects (read: the rest of the band) with a ‘carrot and stick’ policy. Unlike someone like Robert Fripp (King Crimson), who, in the style of the late Croatian chieftain, shows his vassals no mercy behind those stern glasses and downturned corners of his mouth, and has ruled his group under the motto ‘divide and conquer’ since the first half of the seventies, Ian has run Jethro Tull as a private fiefdom since the late sixties, though with at least a semblance of internal democracy and the occasional reward for long-standing loyalty.
All that lasted until Ian finally parted ways with longtime guitarist Martin ‘Lancelot’ Barre a few years back and set out on a solo path for good, which many longtime Tull devotees took as a slap in the face after all their patience waiting for the new Tull studio album that had been announced many times but never released. We’ll probably never know the main reason for their split, but it’s no secret that the intense tours, where he played Tull classics night after night, demanded quite a vocal effort from the aging flute genius, given that it’s long been an open secret that his vocal cords are getting rougher year by year. Tired of the grueling rhythm, he decided to take things ‘into his own hands’ and perform only those Tull classics he can still sing, or somehow adapt to the sorry state of his worn-out voice. For Barre, that was probably one compromise too many.
Ian has always seen the name ‘Jethro Tull’ as a necessary evil, hung around his band’s neck by their then-booking agent, and he could hardly wait to (temporarily?) retire the name of the legendary group. That’s of course nonsense, if not outright madness, but as the increasingly cynical master of the flute gets on in years, he frankly, to put it plainly, couldn’t care less what others think of his, to put it mildly, unusual moves of the past few years. In true uncompromising style, in 2012 he created the solo album »Thick As a Brick 2 – Whatever Happened to Gerald Bostock?«, a sequel to the Jethro Tull conceptual masterpiece from 1972, which was a surprisingly high-quality achievement as a whole, even though it left a bitter aftertaste for all the longtime fans. Stylistically it was a genuine Jethro Tull record and a worthy follow-up to the seventies concept masterpiece, even without Barre or longtime drummer Doane Perry. Ian built his new band around keyboardist John O’Hara, German guitarist Florian Opahle, bassist David Goodier, drummer Scott Hammond and additional vocalist Ryan O’Donnell. The latter has since handled all the high parts on certain songs that Ian can no longer hit, which he pulls off partly thanks to his vocal similarity to Anderson.
Ian’s latest studio product under his own solo direction is called »Homo Erraticus«, and, much like its predecessor, it’s another concept piece with Gerald Bostock, the protagonist of both »Thick As a Brick« albums, cast in the lead role of a sort of time traveler. Stylistically, »Homo Erraticus« is (once again) a thoroughly Jethro Tull album, a highly entertaining blend of the sonic look of »Roots To Branches« (1995) and the beloved folk rock classics from the era of »Songs From The Wood« (1977) and »Heavy Horses« (1978). That means it packs in plenty of varied sonic ingredients that marked some of the best Tull standards of the past: witty, rustic, salt-of-the-earth folk arrangements, numerous classical variations, and also potent hard rock passages where Opahle delivers the best imitation possible (some would say a shameless one) of Barre’s guitar technique. Longtime followers of Ian’s career will therefore notice right away, while listening to »Homo Erraticus«, how certain compositions echo past Tull and solo standards. That’s certainly good news for anyone who feared the flute-playing fidget, who will soon be shouldering his seventieth year, might have run out of compositional and arranging inspiration. At the same time, the individual arrangements are rich and varied enough that every new spin of the album turns up something new.
With his new concept, a sort of biting satire of British history from the distant year 7000 BC to the not-so-distant year 2044, Ian once again forces the listener to fire up the old gray cells and try to at least roughly grasp all his sarcastic jabs at famous historical figures and events that have already happened or may yet happen. This time too, he didn’t hold back on the blunt humor at the expense of some not overly flattering traits of most inhabitants of the British Isles, and he sprinkled in patriotism in just the right dose of good taste. Ian, or rather Gerald Bostock, lands with his time machine in the opening track »Doggerland« in the region of the same name, which once, until around 6500 BC and the flooding, connected the British Isles with the European continent. »Doggerland« is a powerful opener in the best tradition of Tull’s past album openers, loaded with raw energy that radiates most strongly from Ian’s razor-sharp flute passages, while Opahle with his honed guitar attack and O’Hara with the massive sound of Hammond organs bring in a generous helping of hard rock punch.
»Heavy Metals«, which moves Gerald’s/Ian’s time journey forward to the Iron Age, when island ‘savages’ slowly passed into their ‘barbaric’ period by forging iron objects and weapons, features cheeky rhythmic variations and sounds like some island lullaby while Celtic smiths contentedly hum into their mustaches as they swing their hammers. Crowned with a mysterious atmosphere, »Enter The Uninvited« captures the historic moment when the ancient Romans set foot on island soil and found Londinium during their conquering raids. The sarcastic lyrics nonetheless contain numerous modern pop culture metaphors that listeners will quickly recognize (Star Trek, Walking Dead, Sopranos, Madmen, etc.). »Puer Ferox Adventures«, at seven minutes the longest track on the album, features witty baroque arrangements and Ian at the peak of his vocal mockery, accompanied in the background by thick layers of Hammond organ and irritated guitar passages. An almost sacred mood takes hold here, since after Emperor Constantine’s Edict of Milan, Christianity starts spreading unstoppably across the British Isles too.
On the melodramatic »Meliora Seqamor«, where Ryan O’Donnell takes over the higher vocal parts from Ian every so often, the intense Christianization of the islanders and the active growth of early medieval monasteries continue. Bassist Goodier once again uses a glockenspiel here, which adds to the sacred touch. »The Turnpike Inn« is another moment on the album where Ian and his younger vocal colleague trade off effectively. This time it’s a spirited prog folk rocker with plenty of hard rock guitar phrases and devilish flute improvisations. The sparkling metaphors in the lyrics refer to the long reign of the gloomy Middle Ages and all the dreariness that comes with it.
»The Engineer« features excellent flute-and-harmonica arrangements that lend a mighty whiff of antiquity. Ian skips several centuries here and carries Gerald to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, as the lyrics mention the great achievements of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the 19th-century British engineer, and the boom of the first railways. »The Pax Britanica« has no shortage of sarcastic jabs at the rule of the ’empire on which the sun never sets’, as Gerald finds himself at the court of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. This time it’s another rollicking and thoroughly Tull creation that will remind many fans of certain achievements from the ‘good old days’.
In the middle of the instrumental »Tripudium And Bellum«, Ian once again fully catches fire with wild flute improvisations, while Opahle is no less passionate with his guitar passages. Eventually, classical-pastoral arrangements take over, recalling two different Jethro Tull eras: the late seventies and the mid-nineties. In »After These Wars«, Ian describes, in his typical sarcastic way, the Cold War period, when the might of the once-mighty British Empire broke down and the American ‘friends’ took over the baton as the world’s police. Fittingly, the track is ruled by an odd blend of melancholy (piercing arrangements) and mockery (Ian’s cutting way of singing). Opahle’s guitar solo this time almost shamelessly recalls Barre’s improvisational tricks. »New Blood, Old Veins« refers in its lyrics to the influx of ‘new blood’ in the form of numerous immigrants from the new countries of the collapsed empire, which means it already touches on modern times, while »In For a Pound« is a short acoustic satire on the current economic crisis.
»The Browning of the Green«, where Ian laments the disappearance of the traditional English countryside and the growing influx of former ‘city slickers’ with no ear for tradition, is crowned with a mocking chorus and melodramatic passages on flute and keyboards. In the lyrics, the flute-playing merrymaker pokes fun at himself too, which is certainly a commendable virtue. »Per Errations Ad Astra«, which isn’t really a song in the proper sense but rather Ian’s burlesque narration, refers to the near future and space expeditions into the unknown. The closing piece, »Cold Dead Reckoning«, is a kind of cross-section or collage of all the previous tracks on the album, both in terms of individual sonic elements and in the lyrics, where, amid Ian’s vehement pouring of cynicism over hopeless humanity, past and future meet, successfully rounding off the »Homo Erraticus« concept.
Even those who are fed up to the back teeth with Ian’s cynical attitude toward the ‘Jethro Tull’ name will agree that, strictly musically speaking, there’s not much to fault on »Homo Erraticus«. Despite the occasional reliance on an ‘extra vocal crutch’, it’s another very good, witty effort, once again firmly in his recognizable artistic style. In the past, Ian has repeatedly fended off the progressive rock label for his music, claiming Tull belonged in that category for only a short stretch of their long career, but this time he has no reservations about it whatsoever: he’s made a classic prog rock concept album that ranks among his best solo efforts.
Lineup
Ian Anderson – vocals, flute, acoustic guitar
Florian Opahle – electric guitar
John O’Hara – piano, organ, keyboards, accordion
David Goodier – bass guitar
Scott Hammond – drums, percussion
Ryan O’Donnell – additional vocals
Production
Ian Anderson
Track list
Part 1: Chronicles
1. Doggerland (4:20)
2. Heavy Metals (1:29)
3. Enter The Uninvited (4:12)
4. Puer Ferox Adventus (7:11)
5. Meliora Sequamur (3:32)
6. The Turnpike Inn (3:08)
7. The Engineer (3:12)
8. The Pax Britannica (3:05)
Part 2: Prophecies
9. Tripudium Ad Bellum (2:48)
10. After These Wars (4:28)
11. New Blood, Old Veins (2:31)
Part 3: Revelations
12. In For A Pound (0:36)
13. The Browning Of The Green (4:05)
14. Per Errationes Ad Astra (1:33)
15. Cold Dead Reckoning (5:28)
