September 10, 1991 - Catfish Rising

A week after my last release and two years after "Rock Island", Jethro Tull released their eighteenth studio album "Catfish Rising" on September 10, 1991. For the first time in a decade there were no line-up changes to Jethro Tull since the last album and they continue to play the same style of rock as their previous album. "Rock Island" wasn't my favourite Tull album, but Tull don't make bad music, so let's see where this newest offering stands!

The album begins with "This Is Not Love" which is also the first single and Doane Perry starts things off with a solid drum beat before Martin Barre comes in with a decent guitar riff to lead the way. While not an official member, Andy Giddings adds keyboards to this song and a couple others, but his synths thankfully stay in the background while Barre drives the verse and Ian Anderson sings solidly overtop. The verse flows right into a short and similar chorus and Anderson plays a short but cool flute bit, then it's back to the main riff. After another verse and chorus Anderson's flute part becomes a flute solo and Ian does a nice job playin some cool flute. They sing half a chorus, and then it's Barre's turn to solo! He doesn't shred it, but he plays a solid solo that fits the mood well and this seems like a decent choice for a single. They play a final verse and chorus and then close out the song with Barre and Anderson alternating short solos on guitar and flute. This might be the best part of the song, and they choose to fade things out before it's over! That always irks me, Ian was clearly not finished and things were sounding great! Up next is "Occasional Demons" and they kick right into a decent little riff with Barre leading the way on guitar and Dave Pegg copying him on bass. Both fall away for the beginning of the verse as Anderson sounds pretty good singing loudly and the guitars come in and out a verse that is somehow a little epic sounding despite being fairly tame. Barre plays some nice lead guitar overtop everything else in the chorus as Anderson sings in a low voice that also sounds good, especially for someone who had throat surgery! They slowly jam their way through another verse and chorus before Anderson explodes with some cool flute and Pegg plays some cooper bass to back him as well. The flute solo segues to guitar and Barre plays a short epic bit and then they tie things nicely back to the main riff. They play a final verse and then jam out the chorus, only with Anderson adding some great flute bits inbetween his lyrics. Another pretty solid tune! Track 3 is "Roll Yer Own" and Anderson plays an acoustic mandolin riff that sounds pretty catchy and Barre comes in and out with snippets of electric guitar. Ian begins the verse and this reminds me a bit of Tull's folk-ier older stuff as they play a nice verse. It "rolls" right into a similar chorus and then Anderson plays a cool mandolin bit that sets the stage for an early solo. Barre begins to play and you think it's a guitar solo, but his part is quite short and then Anderson comes in with a surprise flute solo! He sounds pretty great as usual and plays some nice flute in this solo. They play a final verse and chorus and things fade out, the end seemingly here, but the song then fades back in and they lightly jam it out for a bit longer before finally ending things. The next song is "Rocks On The Road" and Anderson leads the way with an acoustic guitar riff and some nice low vocals. The verse flows right into the chorus and Barre comes in and out with bits of electric guitar. Perry and Pegg join in for the next verse and chorus and then when they hit the third verse Giddings joins in on piano as well. Next is a cool instrumental part with nice bits of guitar, flute, bass and piano at times. Then they play a final verse and chorus before ending the song with a nice back-and-forth bit with Barre playing some nice guitar and Anderson playing some cool flute as well. Track 5 is "Sparrow On The Schoolyard Wall" and it has a quietly epic opening with Anderson playing flute overtop some synths in the background, but Ian switches to acoustic guitar to drive the main riff and Barre plays some nice electric lead guitar overtop as they shift into the first verse. Anderson sings a decent but quiet verse and the chorus isn't much different. Barre has a few more guitar licks between verses, but the verse and chorus is a little dry and bland. After another go round Anderson sings a brief new, but similar verse and then they just lazily return to the main riff and play another bland verse and chorus. They do end the song with a lengthy back-and-forth part that has some nice guitar and flute, but it's too little too late to save this lesser Tull song. Up next is "Thinking Round Corners" and Anderson plays acoustic guitar, flute and sings and all of it sounds pretty good! The guitar is light but the main riff still has a nice, rockin' feel to it as they slowly jam along. Anderson has a weird edge to his voice on this song and I'm not sure how I feel about it, it's strange for sure. His flute between the verses sounds great though and after another verse and chorus Barre breaks out for a nice short guitar solo. They then play a final verse and chorus and Anderson plays one final flute bit to finish things off. Track 7 is called "Still Loving You Tonight" and it has a very blues-y feel to it as they play a slow, sad guitar riff and Anderson sounds good singing a slow verse to match the sombre mood. It sounds pretty epic when everything stops and Anderson plays a nice mandolin riff before they settle back into the slow blues jam and Barre has a few moments where he plays some nice slow and epic guitar. They don't stray far from this main riff and eventually the song just fades out but I thought they did a decent job with this blues-y song. The next song is "Doctor To My Disease" and it's got a nice rock and roll beat to it with Pegg and Barre playing some cool bass and guitar. Anderson sings a decent verse and he throws in little bits of flute in the verse and chorus. He ends the chorus with a nice flute bit and after another verse and chorus it's time for a full-blown flute solo! Ian does a great job playing a fast and cool solo and his flute Carrie's over as Barre begins a guitar solo. The guitar solo is much less exciting, but it's still alright and the flute continues to sound great. They play a final verse and then jam out the chorus riff as Barre and Anderson play some final cool guitar and flute bits before the song fades out. Track 9 is "Like A Tall Thin Girl" and Anderson drives the song with a nice mandolin riff and Barre plays some heavier guitar overtop. Anderson sings a soft verse that fits the mood nicely and the music doesn't change at all as Anderson moves into the chorus and sings the name of the song. It's a quiet riff but it's quite captivating and it rolls on to the next verse which Anderson spices up with some flute. We get another full flute solo in this song and Anderson unsurprisingly plays some pretty sweet flute. The mandolin continues in the background the whole time and it makes for a seamless transition back to a final verse and chorus to finish it off. The next song is the longest on the album at 7:45, titled "White Innocence". Giddings plays some light and slow keyboards to start this one off and things sound fairly epic as they move into a quiet first verse with Anderson singing lightly and playing acoustic guitar. Barre comes in with short lead guitar bits that sound good and Giddings' piano actually sounds good in the background. Barre plays a nice slow guitar riff in the chorus and Anderson yells the name of the song several times before they return to the quiet main riff. After another verse and chorus it would seem like solo time, but they just jam out the chorus unexcitedly until finally shifting to a new part. Anderson sings a short verse and then we hear a nice instrumental part with some cool flute and some epic keyboards. The first half of this instrumental part is nice and upbeat, but they slow things down for the second half as Anderson and Giddings shift into some slower flute and keyboards that still sound pretty good together. Anderson sings another short verse after this part and then they bring it back to the main riff without you even noticing as it slowly morphs into a final verse. They jam out the chorus for the final minute or so, but Anderson is playing some great flute overtop and things are pretty rockin' to close out this one. Track 11 is "Sleeping With The Dog" and Pegg keeps the pace with some decent bass while Anderson, Barre and Giddings add snippets of flute, guitar and piano to this slow, almost blues-y riff. Anderson sings a quiet verse and then we hear some cool flute and guitar before they start up the next verse. After this verse we do reach a chorus as Anderson sings the name of the song and also adds some more nice flute. There's no real solo in this song as they play a final verse, another short flute/guitar bit that sounds good, and then they jam out the chorus several times to unexcitedly end it. Up next is "Gold-Tipped Boots, Black Jacket And Tie" and Anderson plays a nice mandolin riff that drives the song while also playing some great flute overtop. He switches from flute to vocals for the verse as the mandolin keeps jammin' along and things sound nice and upbeat with Barre coming in with flashes of electric guitar. Anderson eventually does sing the name of the song, but the music never really changes as they continue to nicely jam along in what seems like one huge verse until we hit the solo. Anderson plays some great fast-paced flute in this pretty sweet solo and they segue nicely back to the main riff and jam things out a little longer to end this pretty cool song. The final song on the album is "When Jesus Came To Play" and Anderson plays some light mandolin while Barre nicely plays his guitar around the backing riff. Anderson sings a decent verse about being at a bar when Jesus, the frontman of the band, comes through the door with all his equipment and apparently played a set! He tells this interesting story nicely as he sings overtop the light music and the chorus is just the name of the song sung a few times before it's on to another verse. Anderson erupts out of this light jam with some loud flute, but it's fairly tame for him and not his best solo. The final verse of the song tells us that Jesus was apparently so bad that everyone left! A funny twist for sure and they jam out the light chorus riff as Anderson delivers some much better flute in the closing part until it finally fades to a finish.

That is the end of "Catfish Rising" and I thought it was a solid but not spectacular Jethro Tull album. It's still very Jethro Tull and I like it more than most of their recent albums as it did have some great moments. But compared to their amazing music of the 70s this was fairly tame; still good music for sure, but not nearly as exciting. I think the only album by Tull from the 80s I find better than this one was the unusually good "Crest Of A Knave", but this latest offering surpasses the rest of them for me. Aside from the unusually lesser "Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll: Too Young To Die!", this album doesn't touch any of their 60s and 70s works; even "War Child" is better than "Catfish Rising" so where we finally end up is 13th out of 18 (studio) albums. They still have that knack for music and I look forward to even more Jethro Tull later!