August 23, 1999 - J-Tull Dot Com

A month after my last release and four years since "Roots To Branches", Jethro Tull released their 20th(!) album "J-Tull Dot Com" on August 23, 1999. Bassist Dave Pegg left the band midway through their last album and he is replaced on this album by new bassist Jonathan Noyce. Jethro Tull continue the same style as their last album as they blend their classic prog-rock style with world music influences. Let's check out album number twenty by Tull!

The album begins with "Spiral" and Ian Anderson comes roaring in with some cool flute and Martin Barre plays some nice lead guitar to lead the way. Anderson sings a decent verse overtop the solid music but things definitely sound better when he's on flute and not singing. Things get quiet at one point as Doane Perry's drums remain and it makes the loud return to the main riff hit nice and hard. A solid enough opener! Up next is "Dot Com" and it's got a slower pace, but Perry plays some cool light percussion and Anderson leads the way with some pretty epic flute. The verse and chorus has some light guitar and some light piano and other keyboards by Andrew Giddings. Just like the last track, the singing parts are decent, but the parts with Anderson on flute are definitely the highlight. There's a female backup singer echoing Ian almost the whole song, but I don't find she adds much. Track 3 is "AWOL" and Anderson plays a catchy and cool flute riff until he sings a soft verse overtop some droning keyboards by Giddings that is alright, but once again the flute part is way better. Giddings steps up his keyboards to some cooler stuff and Barre plays some decent guitar on the chorus. There's a long solo that is mostly some awesome flute but Barre and Giddings each get turns to play some cool guitar and keyboards respectively. After another verse and chorus we repeat the awesome solo bit before Ian plays us out with some cool flute as things fade to an end. The next track is less than a minute long and it's called "Nothing @ All". Giddings plays some epic grand piano for the whole thing and it's a pretty cool little interlude that takes us to track 5, "Wicked Windows". Anderson goes right into a light verse overtop of some more solid piano by Giddings until things snap into a more typical Tull sound with some cool flute and a solid rock riff. They alternate between these two parts and guess which one I like better? The one where Ian is playing flute and not singing. The instrumental parts are definitely the highlight of this song and Giddings plays some solid keyboards. Up next is "Hunt By Numbers" and Barre leads the way with a pretty cool guitar riff that everyone else builds nicely around with some nice flute and keyboards especially. Anderson sounds good singing as well and this is a pretty cool main riff! Andsrson and Giddings each get turns in the spotlight with some pretty sweet flute and keyboards while Barre keeps the pace on guitar. I liked this one for sure! Track 7 is "Hot Mango Flush" and it's got a lighter feel but it still has some cool flute and some solid guitar. I'm not a big fan of Anderson's vocals on this one, but the instrumental parts are pretty cool and the song is about half of each. Lots of good flute, guitar and keyboards in the instrumental parts, pretty boring verse though. The next track is "El Niño" and Anderson plays some nice flute before they settle into a slow and space-y verse with Anderson sounding more like his usual self again. The chorus is just the name of the song a couple times, but the guitar is really good as Barre plays a catchy chorus riff that ends with a nice flourish. Anderson adds some cool flute to the verses and also the final chorus which really spices things up! Another pretty solid tune! Track 9 is "Black Mamba" and it has a nice intro that sets up an epic main riff with some cool guitar by Barre, of course some cool flute by Ian, and some epic, orchestral keyboards by Giddings. The piano from the intro returns at times and it sounds pretty good as well. Anderson gives us a short but pretty sweet flute solo and it carries over into the next verse as well. They continue to nicely jam things out and there's lots of great flute on this track! Up next is a very short song called "Mango Surprise" and it should be called Hot Mango Flush (Reprise) because it's a pretty cool reimagining of the song we just heard not long ago. I actually like this short version better, it is pretty interesting! Track 11 is "Bends Like A Willow" and Anderson plays some nice flute overtop the slow main riff before coming in to sing a decent verse. The guitar and bass is alright but nothing too special and once again the parts with Anderaon on flute are way better than the singing parts. There's an instrumental break with some cooler guitar and keyboards, but then it's back to the fairly tame main riff. The next track is "Far Alaska" and we hear some catchy and cool flute followed by some solid guitar by Barre and this is a pretty cool main riff! The verse is quite at times, but the loud parts have cool guitar, keyboards and flute that all sound pretty good. Anderson, Barre and Giddings each get a chance at a short solo as well and they each play some pretty good stuff! This is one of the better songs on the album for sure, lots of cool stuff here! Track 13 is "The Dog-Ear Years" and it has a pretty classic Tull feel to it with some nice acoustic guitar, flute and smooth vocals by Anderson. Giddings plays some interesting keyboards as well as they slowly and smoothly jam along. Ian plays some pretty cool flute at the end as they wrap things up and this was a light but still solid song. The album wraps up with "A Gift Of Roses" which is listed at over nine and a half minutes, but don't get too excited, it's not one long prog-y song. Anderson starts us off with some nice flute and Barre comes in with some nice guitar as well before Anderson sings a solid verse that matches the mood perfectly, and he even references "A Passion Play"! Giddings adds some interesting keyboards to the mix in the chorus and they continue into a nice instrumental break where Anderson plays some nice flute. The song really ends at 3:54 and then after a bit of silence we hear a bonus song called "The Secret Language Of Birds", which would go on to be an Ian Anderson solo album. It sounds a lot like a Jethro Tull song of course, but a light one for sure as there is no electric guitar at all. There's some solid flute and it's not a bad song by any means, but I'll stick with Tull over Anderson solo.

That is the end of "J-Tull Dot Com" and I thought it was a solid but not spectacular album. It definitely had some cool stuff that shows Ian Anderson is very much still engaged, but it also had some blander and less interesting parts. It's a big step down from their last album "Roots To Branches" but I do think it's better than their other 90s album "Catfish Rising". I don't think it surpasses "War Child" though so 14th out of 20 is where this latest effort falls in my rankings. It's gonna be a long time before we hear from Jethro Tull again, but they're not finished yet!