August 21, 1989 - Rock Island

Five days after my last release and two years since "Crest Of A Knave", Jethro Tull released their seventeenth studio album "Rock Island" on August 21, 1989. Ian Anderson, Martin Barre and Dave Pegg are still around and Doane Perry, who played on parts of Tull's last two albums, is now the official drummer. They still don't have a full-time keyboardist, so the keyboards on this album are done by Anderson, as well as former member Peter-John Vettese. I'm really not a fan of Vettese, but let's see how things sound before we judge too harshly!

The album begins with "Kissing Willie" and Barre leads the way with a cool guitar riff and Anderson briefly syncs up with him for some cool flute before he begins to sing the first verse. Barre continues to carry things with some solid guitar ad Anderson sings about an attractive woman he likes, but she cheats and keeps kissing his best friend Willie. After a couple verses Barre breaks away for a guitar solo and it sounds pretty good as he plays some nice fast stuff. Anderson joins in on flute for a nice instrumental part, then they reset the song and start from the beginning. Anderson repeats the title line a bunch of times at the end of the song but as things slowly fade out Martin and Ian both get some nice final licks in. The next song is "The Rattlesnake Trail" and it opens in a similar fashion with Barre leading the way with some nice guitar and Anderson briefly joining in with some cool flute before they settle into the main riff. Barre plays some decent guitar in the verse and chorus and Anderson's vocals sound decent as well. It may not be Jethro Tull's finest work (it's much simpler than their progressive days) but it's still a catchy and solid rock song. After another verse you'd think the chorus would follow, but they do a nice job of faking that and instead Barre breaks into a solo! I like that it breaks from the pattern and Barre does a pretty good job as we've come to expect with some cool guitar. After the solo they do reach the chorus and from there they roll right into a final verse before ending the song with another long and slow fadeout. Track 3 is called "Ears Of Tin" and Anderson opens it with some slow but pretty cool flute as he sets the stage nicely for this slow but epic-sounding main riff. Barre plays some lighter but still decent guitar while Anderson sings a slow verse but things shift dramatically once they get to the chorus. It's a much louder and even slightly heavy riff in the chorus as Pegg plays some nice bass and Anderson adds bits of nice flute as well inbetween his vocals. They quiet down for another verse, get loud for the chorus, and then they take off in a new direction as Vettese plays a simple backing keyboard riff, then Barre comes in with some cool new guitar.  Anderson sings a nice new verse and this leads to another solid Barre guitar solo. They nicely tie the end of the solo back to the quiet main riff and then close out the song by jamming out a couple choruses. Up next is "Undressed To Kill" and they kick right into a catchy main riff with some slowz guitar by Barre and some great flute from Anderson. Ian sings a few lines, then plays some cool flute and repeats that process and it makes for a pretty cool main riff. There's no real chorus as they just continue the verse until Ian sings the name of the song, and then they reset and the catchy verse just keeps jamming along. Barre gets a couple chances to solo inbetween the long verses and he plays some decent stuff but it's nothing really that special and left me wanting more. This song is good for sure, but it's just good and never really reaches out and grabs your attention as they're happy to just jam along for the whole five and a half minutes. Track 5 is the seven minute title track "Rock Island" and Vettese plays some backing keyboards that sound fairly decent and lay the groundwork for this slow main riff. Anderson comes in and out with bits of cool flute inbetween his lyrics as he leads this slow and epic verse. It leads right into the chorus, which is pretty short and just has Ian singing the name of the song a couple times and then it's right on to the next verse. After another quieter verse Barre finally joins the fray with some loud guitar and he spices up the following couple verses with some decent stuff. After several rounds they shift into an instrumental part that has some great guitar and flute. Barre and Anderson both sound excellent as they play off each other and they both stop a couple times to let Pegg have a bit of spotlight with some cool bass as well. After this cool instrumental bit the guitar falls away and they restart the song with a quiet, slow verse before Barre joins in again. They play a final verse and then Anderson continues to sing the name of the song as Barre begins to solo overtop of the chorus. He doesn't go very fast but he still plays some nice guitar as they slowly fade out this part to end the first side.

Side two begins with "Heavy Water" and Anderson leads a pretty solid rock and roll riff with some great flute and the rest of the guys nicely keep the pace. After a cool flute opening Anderson sings the first verse and there are good contributions from everyone, even Vettese, that combine to make this a catchy main riff. It flows right into a similar chorus which in turn leads back to the main riff. After another verse and chorus Barre gets a chance to solo but once again he never really takes off and goes crazy, he's happy to just play along to the beat. It's not a bad solo but it's certainly an underwhelming one and from there it leads to a very predictable ending with a final verse and then jamming out the chorus and cue the slow fadeout. Track 7 is the only single off the album, "Another Christmas Song", and Anderson opens it with some pretty Christmas-y flute and Barre and Pegg play some lighter music in the background. Anderson's voice sounds pretty good and he sings about staying connected during the holidays and it's easy to see why this was their choice for the single. The song follows the same pattern of flute bit and a verse and it's yet another song off this album that is decent, but nothing really jumps out and grabs you. Track 8 is "The Whaler's Dues" and it's the longest song on the album at just under eight minutes. It has a very slow and quiet opening as Anderson plays some light flute overtop a backing keyboard riff and Barre eventually joins in with some slow and epic guitar. Anderson leads the way with some fantastic flute until he finally begins the first verse almost two minutes into the song. He sings slowly and nicely along to the epic main riff and Barre plays some decent guitar bits inbetween the lyrics. They slowly make their way through several verses and Anderson's flute continues to be the highlight whenever he plays it. Barre gets a chance for a brief guitar "solo", but it's short and the flute plays along with him anyway so it's hardly noticeable. They never stray away from this slow and epic main riff but Anderson's great flute playing keeps things interesting throughout this lengthy song. The next song "Big Riff And Mando" was written about a fan who once stole Martin Barre's mandolin. Ian sings a verse telling us all about it while Barre plays some mandolin, and it sounds pretty good! It's a quiet but fast-paced mandolin riff and it sounds pretty good carrying the main riff. They shift nicely into the chorus as Barre switches to electric guitar and plays a nice heavy riff and as always Anderson sneaks in some cool flute parts whenever he has a break in singing. They play another verse and chorus in the same vein but when they reach the thirs verse the light mandolin is gone and Barre now plays that riff on electric guitar as well, and it sounds great on either. After the chorus Anderson takes off on a flute solo and he does a fantastic job leading the way with some always captivating stuff. It gets quiet once again and the mandolin is back as they hit reset and go through the process again. Perry gets a rare chance in the spotlight as he plays some faster, solid drums as they jam things out at the end of the song. The album wraps up with "Strange Avenues" and Barre and Anderson play off each other nicely as they take turns playing some slow and epic guitar and flute parts. We hear some epic keyboards at times as well and this pretty cool opening goes on for nearly two minutes until Pegg and Perry finally join in, and then everything just gets louder! It's a more full and emphatic riff now and there are great contributions from everyone. At the two and a half minute mark Anderson finally begins the first verse and he sings quietly. They briefly return to the better instrumental part, but then it's another quiet verse and the song and album ends rather abruptly. I wish they would have kept the song instrumental because the first part was much better in my opinion.

That is the end of "Rock Island" and I thought it was still a decent rock album, but it's a step back towards mediocrity for Jethro Tull. Their last album "Crest Of A Knave" was much better I thought and it's a little disappointing to see the great Jethro Tull make what is by their very high standards, a bit of a lacklustre album. I thought it was better than their other albums with Vettese as a main member and I would give it a slight edge over "Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll: Too Young To Die!" but the buck stops there as I don't think it was better than "A". Well 80s Jethro Tull pales in comparison to their 70s stuff, but what will the 90s bring? Jethro Tull aren't finished yet!