Bring Me My Broadsword, and Clear Understanding (The Broadsword And The Beast - Jethro Tull)

Member Name: mattygroves10

Product:	The Broadsword And The Beast - Jethro Tull
Date:	11/10/05 (132 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some good songs - fabulous cover art . The lyrics make more sense than is typical for Tull

Disadvantages: Not classic Tull - overarranged with too many sounds fighting for space

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Introduction and Background
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I have been a Jethro Tull fan since I was around 15. For a time, I bought EVERY album I could find. One of the later purchases I made before CDs came to the fore, was Broadsword and the Beast.

Copyright 1982 (with the superb cover art bizarrely copyright 1983, according to my CD), this album was very different from the rock of Aqualung or the (at times) gentler 'rock/folk of Songs from the Wood or Heavy Horses. It might even be called a radical departure. Tull followed the times, and used the then newish and very popular electronic instruments, to an extent neglecting their strengths in the guitar, and, of course, the trademark flute of Ian Anderson.

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Overview
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For the time-poor among you, this album has some superb, lovely songs (detailed below). It also has a few that are, I feel, below par. Many of the songs are 'overarranged' - too much going on, so the lyrics and the melody are lost amongst all the electronic trickery. There is also not enough flute - after all, that's what made Tull unique (or at least, different). In some cases (case in point - the song playing now - Pussy Willow) they have replaced the flute with electronic flute fakery. They were trying TOO hard to be 'modern' (for the early 1980s).

Having said that, Broadsword has, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful and original album covers I've seen (both front AND back). Sadly, this worked better in vinyl - it's hard to reproduce on a little tiny CD.

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The Line Up
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Jethro Tull changed line up more often than you and I change loo rolls.

First, there is Ian Anderson, the mainstay - vocalist, instrumentalist and, of course flautist. He is credited on this album with vocals, flute and acoustic guitar.

Next, we have Martin Barre - credited with electric and acoustic guitars.

Dave Pegg had been with the band for ages - he left not too long ago (around 1997, I think) to focus on his true love - Fairport Convention (whom I also adore - they are a folk rock band, been around since 1967). Peggy (as he's affectionately known) plays bass guitar, mandolins, and, apparently, vocals (his voice is quite high...).

Next, we have a chap with whom I'm totally unfamiliar (apart from on this album) - Peter-John Vettese - he's credited with piano, synthesiser and vocals. I would guess (but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) he was brought in for electric feel to the album.

Finally, we have Gerry Conway - drummer and percussionist. Last time I saw Fairport Convention, he was playing drums with them. There was a point where you could call the groups "Fairport Tull", or "Jethro Convention", there was so much overlap between the two!

Unsurprisingly, Ian Anderson wrote the music and lyrics, although Peter-John Vettese is credited with 'additional material.'

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The Songs - Side One - Beastie
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Beastie
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The original album (as with all vinyls) was on two sides. The sides (and the first track on each side) had titles that are themed with the album title. Side one is Beastie, and side two, Broadsword.

The instrumentation of Beastie begins vaguely fantasy-like (keeping with the album cover). This song contains in addition to the electronic 'wizardry', a fair amount of guitar. The lyrics too have a fantasy feel at the start: "...he is the hundred names of terror...He roved up and down through history - spectre with tales to tell."

By the second half of the song, it becomes a parable of 'modern living' - "Feel his burning breath a heaving, smoke oozing from his stack...He's the lonely fear of dying and for some, of living too". The song ends with a 'call to arms', "Stare that Beastie in the face and really give him Hell".

This song is a bit of a transition between 'old Tull' and the new. The introduction contains the rock guitar (though not much [if any] flute), which continues at intervals throughout the song. However, this is the first introduction to the electronics that become so typical of this album.
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Clasp
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Finally - the flute enters, along with yet more electronic trickery, including voice distortion (on purpose). Again, the lyrics start with a vaguely fantasy feel: "We travellers on the endless wastes in single orbits, gliding cold-eyed march towards the dawn...meeting as the tall ships do...".

Once again, the song later glides into social comment: "In high rise city canyons dwells the discontent of ages. On ring roads, nose to bumper crawl commuters in their cages." And yet again, the song ends with a call to action: "Let's break the journey now on some lonely road...Grip the reins of history."

This song starts well, but, as is becoming obvious on this album, simply not classic Tull. Like much of Anderson's lyrics, it gets pretentious at times, and sometimes just plain weird.
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Fallen on Hard Times
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This song departs from the fantasy theme (as do the next few). Again, there's some good flute work in it.

As is common with the album, the song does indulge in 'social commentary'. The lyrics were especially relevant in Britain during the early and mid '80s - the times of the 3 day week (due to the coal miners strike), inflation, and high taxation: "Oh, dear Prime Minister, it's all such a mess. Go right ahead and pull the rotten tooth...Looking for sunshine - oh but it's black and it's cold, Yet you say that milk and honey's just around the bend..."

This song is, even with the electronics, rock. It has the guitar and the flute, and so is not completely typical of the 80s synth music. It's not one of my favourites, but nevertheless, it's a competent song. I'd give it a C.
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Flying Colours
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Again, no fantasy here. This song is about an arguing couple - more specifically, one member of the partnership refusing to battle any more: "Shout if you will, but that just won't do, I, for one, would rather follow softer options...it's just a way of mine to keep from flying colours."

The song starts softly, and crescendos before returning to the previous melodic theme (much as an argument does). Melody-wise, I like the beginning and end better than the middle (though that's obviously subjective). Once again, there is some nice flute, but as is becoming clear, it is over arranged with too many instruments and sounds fighting for prominence.

Regarding the lyrics, I find them painfully true (I'm married). "Shout - but you see it still won't do. With my colours on I can be just as bad as you. Have I had a glass too much? Did I give a smile too few?" very close to home at times. Of the 'social comment' songs, this one is the most relevant for me.
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Slow Marching Band
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My favourite song. A sad love song (about gentle yet regretted partings) in a slow tempo and a minor key. The flute work is haunting and there are fewer instruments competing for space - drums, guitar and flute are the main, although keyboards, both piano-type and pure synth, do play a part.

It also has lovely (if somewhat enigmatic words): "Would you join a Slow Marching Band? And take pleasure in the passing of all we shared through yesterdays in sorrows neverlasting." The song, I think, is a suitable follow up to Flying Colours - the colours have finished flying, and now he asks her to "Dream of me as the nights grow cold still marking time through Winter..."

The song has (not unexpectedly) a quiet marching beat running throughout, sometimes in time with the words, sometimes as a beat within itself. This is the song I am most likely to replay. Again, and again. This one harks back to classic Tull.

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The Songs - Side Two - Broadsword
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This side of the album brings us back to the fantasy theme - more or less and mostly.
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Broadsword
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This is the song on which the cover art is based. It starts with ethereal sounding electrics - very spooky - one could imagine it as a soundtrack to some fantasy TV movie. We then get a drum and bass beat, - as the beat of the drummer setting the tempo for slave oarsmen. Then, we get some guitar and back to the drum and synth, with Anderson's distinctive vocals intoning very fantasy lyrics: "I see a dark sail on the horizon...Bring me my Broadsword and clear understanding..."

There is some good guitar work here, sounding more 'rocky', albeit 80s rock (think Van Halen at one point), although no flute. Also, in this song I think I can catch a bit of Dave Pegg's vocals, hence, I suppose, the credit.

I do like this song - this is the title track (in away), and to me, obviously the one that was meant to be released as a single.
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Pussy Willow
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This song could have been so much better. It starts with a high instrument, which should have been a flute but is instead synthesiser. Shame. I mean, why? It's also, in places, over produced.

The song carries on the fantasy theme, but from a different twist - it's about a young woman having fantasies (not the dirty kind!): "...and across her face dancing, the first shadows fly to kiss the Pussy Willow. In her fairy-tale world she's a lost soul singing..." The theme of social comment also continues: "Pussy Willow - down fir-lined avenue brushing the sleep from her young woman eyes, runs for the train...cutting dreams down to size again.

(Note - the sleeve notes actually spell 'fir' as 'fur', but given that I've never seen mink down my street...you get the picture).

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Watching Me Watching You
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Very synthesiser based - this is obvious from the very start. This song is a paranoiacs dream. The electric instrumentation, the lyrics, the vocals and the beat are designed to invoke a feeling of fright and, well, paranoia.

We finally find a bit of flute, but there is a lot of use of distorted vocals, thus making the song difficult, I should think, to play live. The guitar doesn't appear until halfway through the song.

Is the protagonist of the song paranoid, or is there an invisible someone really watching him: "And the way he stares [the word 'stares' is chanted often throughout the song] - feel like locking my door and pulling my phone from the wall. His highs, like lights from a laser burn..."

Again, this song could be interpreted as social comment - especially in hindsight. Britain anyway is loaded with speed cameras, closed circuit cameras...we are being watched!
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Seal Driver
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This song starts with the electrics, but we do get a fair amount of guitar in this one, as well as 'real' drum and cymbal.

The song continues with the fantasy theme: "Take you away for my magic ship...", but it becomes clear it is, nevertheless, modern and social fantasy, as the very next line is "I have two hundred diesel horses thundering loud..."

When you examine the lyrics closely, you realise that again, it is social comment, concerning modern man, rather than ancient pirates: "Well, I'm an inshore man and I'm nobody's hero..." Does this song follow on from the last two? Is he be asked to, and does he want to fulfil Pussy Willow's dreams? Decide for yourself!

Despite the electrics, this is a more 'Tull' sounding song than many, although some flute would be nice....
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Cheerio
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Many Tull albums have a very short final song (Too Old to Rock n Roll, Too Young to Die, Living in the Past... amongst others. This album does too. A four-line song, finishing "I'll pour a cup to you my darling, raise it up - say Cheerio".

Not much to say about this - it's pretty, but the only instrumentation is synthesiser - no guitar, no flute. Too bad.

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Final Thoughts
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Well, way back when, many words and a day and a night earlier, I gave you my overview - what I thought. I do like the album, but it truly isn't one of Tull's best. There are snippets of classic Tull here and there, and a couple of very good songs.

Having said that, Tull has managed to keep itself going by changing somewhat with the times. I mean, who would have guessed that in 1986 (I think that was the year), an album of Tull's that more or less went back to their roots, Crest of a Knave would win a Grammy for Best Heavy Metal Album. (And as a quick aside, it's a good album - my only complaint is that Ian Anderson, for throat reasons, dropped his register. This makes him sound suspiciously like Marc Knopfler from Dire Straits).

Cheerio!

Summary: Despite absolutely knock-out cover art, this is a sub-par Tull Album, though typical of its times