September 14, 1979 - Stormwatch

A month since my last release and a year and a half after "Heavy Horses", Jethro Tull released their twelfth studio album "Stormwatch" on September 14, 1979. This album is the third and final one to have more of a folk influence and is also the third and last one to have this current line-up. Bassist John Glascock was suffering from a cardiac infection and only ended up playing bass on three of the album's ten songs due to his worsening health. This is obviously sad to hear and Ian Anderson takes over bass duties on the other tracks, adding to his already large repertoire. Let's give it a listen!

The album opens with "North Sea Oil" as Anderson plays some nice flute and Martin Barre plays some nice guitar. Ian sings a few lines, adds a bit of flute and repeats this process with success as things sound pretty good. The chorus is short and fits right into the main beat as Barriemore Barlow plays some speedy drums and Anderson continues to lead the way. They never really stray from the main riff in this short song but Anderson's flute sounds great throughout and I thought it was a solid opener. Up next is "Orion" and Glascock plays a heavy bass riff to start it as Barlow and Barre add some nice bits as well. This heavier opening lasts only 30 seconds or so before they settle into a quieter main riff with Anderson playing acoustic guitar and singing along nicely. John Evan plays some nice piano in this slow verse and Dee Palmer adds some nice orchestral music that fits the mood well. The heavier part turns out to be the chorus as they resume the solid opening riff, then it's back to this well-done slow main riff. The soft to hard formula works really well and Palmer's orchestral stuff sounds pretty good. They finish it with one final chorus as this solid song comes to an end. Track 3 is a short song called "Home" and Anderson starts by himself as he sings and plays some light acoustic. Barre adds some electric guitar overtop and Palmer's orchestra can be heard again in this interesting slow main riff. Anderson holds a long "hooooome" in the short chorus and Barre plays some cool lead guitar. They replay this verse/chorus formula a couple more times and then this short song is over. It was light, but I thought it was still a decent tune. The next song "Dark Ages" is over nine minutes long, showing that Tull still have some prog in them! It has a very epic opening with Barre playing some cool guitar and Evan mimics the same riff on piano and it sounds very dark, I love it! Anderson sings inbetween the epic notes in this pretty cool verse and his bass playing is pretty solid as well! The piano continues to sound amazing and Barre even goes off for some sweet guitar bits! Palmer adds some crazy synths and orchestral stuff as well and they take all these different instruments and turn it into some very cool music. After the 2:30 mark Barre's guitar takes the song in a new direction and Barlow plays some nice drum fills and Anderson plays some nice flute overtop of this cool new riff. They begin a new verse with some classic Tull vocals as Anderson is playing some really great bass! Barre's guitar is sweet as well and Barlow is playing his drum kit expertly too! This all amounts to easily the best song on the album so far and it's not even done yet! They jam out this new verse as it connects into the same chorus as earlier! They move into a guitar solo as Barre delivers some really great stuff, but Anderson is playing both bass and flute in this "solo" as well and they both sound pretty awesome! Along with Barre's wicked guitar this makes for an excellent little instrumental section before they resume the fast-paced verse. After another regular chorus Evan joins on piano for another chorus as they move into another new riff led by some nice flute. Barlow delivers a nice little drum fill and things quiet down and seem to resume the opening riff. It's the same notes and melody but this time played on some crazy keyboards that I'm not a huge fan of. It moves into a final slow chorus as Barre and Anderson continue to lead the way and bring this prog epic to a finish. I am partial to the more progressive songs always, and once again I thought this was easily the best song yet. The final song on this side is the instrumental "Warm Sporran" the beginning is led by bass and piano as Anderson once again shows off some great bass playing! The bass carries the beat as Anderson's flute takes the lead with a nice melody. The flutes seem to act as the vocals of this song and they do a fine job! Anderson even goes off for a flute solo and he shows off on that too! They resume this solid main riff and continue to jam it out as the song and side slowly fade to a close. 

Side two begins with "Something's On The Move" and Barre drives this riff with some nice guitar and Anderson contributes some solid bass as well as some cool flutes. Ian sings in his typical voice and inbetween lines adds in bits of nice flute in another fairly heavy verse. Evan adds some piano to the decent chorus before they repeat this formula. After another chorus Anderson plays a flute solo that sounds pretty good and then it's back to the main riff. After another couple verse/chorus it seems the song might be over but for the last 30 seconds we hear a nice instrumental ending with some solid guitar, piano and drums. The next song is "Old Ghosts" and it's driven by a marching rhythm section as Barre, Evan and Anderson all add some great bits of guitar, piano and flute respectively. The verse follows the same formula but it's much more tame as Anderson sings lightly along. There's still flashes of cool stuff but it's inbetween the verses that we hear the best stuff as Anderson is better served on flute than singing in this one I think. They play another solid verse/chorus and then we hear some more great flute by Anderson. They continue to jam out the same beat for several minutes as this song eventually fades out. The first two songs on this side were a little repetitive, but still pretty good. Track 8 is called "Dun Ringill" and it begins with some odd talking as we hear Anderson sounding like a weatherman layered over a bunch of times. This fades into a soft acoustic guitar riff as Anderson sings and plays this song by himself. It's reminiscent of the shorter acoustic songs on "Aqualung" as things are pretty quiet but Ian plays some nice acoustic on this short and sweet song. Up next is this song's longer, progressive song "Flying Dutchman". Evan kicks it off with some nice piano and Anderson plays some great flute as usual. Barre plays flashes of nice, heavy guitar before Evan's piano drives the main verse. Anderson sings softly along once more and again I find that things sound better when Ian is playing some cool flute rather than singing softly along. Evan's piano sounds pretty good in this slow verse though and a Barlow drum roll signals a shift is coming, but it's not what you'd expect as they shift into a new riff with some mandolin but it sounds good as this turns out to be the chorus. Anderson gives us some nice flute briefly then sings another slow piano-led verse. After another chorus we finally get a real Anderson flute solo as he plays some beautiful stuff that fits the mood really well. It kind of drops off at the end as they seem to resume the opening riff with some even better flute. This leads to the final verse and they use the same segue into the chorus which they play a couple times. Anderson shows off with some more excellent flute while Barre's guitar drives the riff. Anderson brings it to a close with some final low notes as he reminds us all how great of a flute player he is. The final song on this record is "Elegy", an instrumental written by Palmer. It has a very sad feel to it and has Barre and Anderson playing some sappy guitar. Palmer adds some orchestral stuff that completes the elegy feel and Anderson leads the way with some sad but solid flute. It takes a more typical Tull turn as Barre delivers a slow guitar solo that sounds pretty good. Then it's back to the sad main verse with Barre playing electric guitar overtop. They play out a few more rounds before this sad song brings this album to a close.

That is the end of "Stormwatch" and I thought it was a good album but it was easily the worst of the three albums with this line-up. "Dark Ages" was the easy favourite for me and this was still a solid Tull album, but I thought it seemed like a tamer version of what they'd been doing recently. But where does it fall in the extensive Jethro Tull ladder of albums? I think that this newest album was still definitely better than their worst two and I'd also give it the nod over their debut album "This Was". However I draw the line there as I thought "Benefit" was a better album overall. Where will Jethro Tull be off to next? I'll be here to listen!