Thick as a Brick
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".
| Thick as a Brick | ||
|---|---|---|
| LP by Jethro Tull | ||
| Released | March 1972 (UK) May 1972 (US) | |
| Recorded | 1971-1972? | |
| Genre | Progressive rock | |
| Length | 43 min 50 s
| |
| Record label | Reprise Records (US) | |
| Producer | (none listed) | |
| Professional reviews | ||
| Rolling Stone | Favorable | June 22, 1972 |
| ''Allmusic.com | 4.5 out of 5 | link |
| Jethro Tull Chronology | ||
| Aqualung (album) (1971) | Thick as a Brick (1972) | Living in the Past (1972) |
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 inch by 16 inch 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 complete facsimile.
Jethro Tull's next album is Living in the Past.
Personnel
Track Listing
The 25th Anniversary Edition CD added two additional tracks: