Jethro Tull's Aqualung (33 1/3) Paperback – August 10, 2004

Reading this book sent me into a Jethro Tull whirlpool. While reading the book I listened to Aqualung non-stop, and the song in particular. The author, Allan F. Moore, wrote a bit too high brow for the subject matter, but I suppose he did that to give the album literary credibility, or perhaps that is the only manner in which he knows to write. Nonetheless, it is a great and fun read. In fact, it made me want to read more of the series, something I have yet to do. In Aqualung, Moore dissects each and every song, and spends a great deal of time writing about "Aqualung" and "My God." He also divides the album in halves by its original lp sides, and discusses them as separate themes, something I'd toyed with when listening to the album in the early seventies, but never could delineate such as Moore did. I found myself wanting to listen to each song as I read about it, and try to get a good grip about the themes he discussed. Sometimes I agreed, sometimes I thought he was a bit adrift. At slightly over 100 pages, it went fast and since I had great interest in the topic, it went particularly fast for me. It works well to listen to the album first, then read the book all the way through, then read it and listen to each song as he discusses them.

One of the strengths of the 33 1/3 series is also its weakness - the books are all structured differently, inconsistently.I used to be a fan of progressive rock back in the seventies and Aqualung, particularly, appealed to me in two ways. As a Catholic schoolboy with doubts the religious questioning in the album hit home - it was sort of like secondary lessons to what I was hearing at Brother Rice High School. This album seemed to be particularly important to me, in my own musical and philosophical development. In addition to that there are not many prog rock albums that "rock" like this one. I loved the guitar parts here.When I first started reading 33 1/3 Aqualung I felt it was a little pretentious, stilted, and boring. As I read on I found the author to have a true love of this music which he was analyzing in his own style - he is very interested in structure and form - and I think I am also. The intricate form of the songs on this album lend themselves to this type of analysis. Good thing he didn't decide to tackle *The Ramones.*There isn't too much mystery as to what the songs are about - they are mostly straightforward, although *Locomotive Breath* was interesting to dissect.When I became college aged I became interested in other (less bombastic) types of music and eschewed all the prog rock I loved in high school - but over the past several years (thanks to iPods and long distance running) I have begun to revisit many of my old favorites - this book was a welcome companion to that journey to the past.

The author, the head of the Department of Music of Surrey, is both knowledgable of music, Jethro Tull and of the era in which Aqualung was created. For me, it was a true joy to read this -albeit too short- book. The music and lyrics are discussed with the same seriousness one might expect in reading about a significant symphony.

This book was written by a "Professor of Music" and boy does he want you to know that. I am such a big fan of the 33 1/3 series and have read probably half what they have. I buy the highest reviewed books first and it took me a bit to get to this one. Occasionally I have wildly diverged from the opinions on amazon.com and found a great book where no one else did, so it was with an open mind I picked this up. But no, I really side with the negative reviews on here. The book is really, really dry and focuses on the least interesting things about Aqualung - a record I have loved since I heard it as a teenager, decades ago (!). There are slight, side references to things which sounded very interesting (recording in a new studio with rented instruments, for instance) but a lot of stuff turns out to be about what channel the electric guitar comes in 35 seconds into Cross Eyed Mary, where the recorders pop up in the LP and who else used recorders back then and boy aren't those recorders just neat. The Professor Of Music even takes the Aqualung theme and reproduces it on the treble clef. I guess having read a ton of these books I figured the author would (if they didn't do anything "creative" which can be good or bad!) talk about the changing personnel (Clive's last, Evan's first, and the introduction of non-musician Hammond on the bass) (Tull fans, don't hate me! I LOVE Jeffrey Hammond!), how the record began the association of Tull with "heavy rock" (and acoustic rock at the same time!) , how it is really a bridge between the discrete song orientated LPs of Tull's past with the sprawling epics of the future.....I mean, this LP is FULL of insights waiting to be found. None of this is touched on whatsoever. But instead, let's talk about what the F# major chord in "Wind Up" "means"! (note to the author: Anderson most likely used the chord because he liked it). I hate this book.

The author is highly knowledgable in the subject matter and for the Tull afficianado buying the book is a must. The only misgiving is that if you do not have a musical theory background then the more technical side may be slightly off putting for the reader. It does contain the musical note sequence for the main Aqualung riff.....which I can NOW play on the flute...after 30 years of trying to work out!!

Unless you are both a music student/professor and a diehard Jethro Tull fan, I fear that like me you will discover this book is likely to be very hard going. Allan Moore is both and that style permeates the whole analysis of this 1971 breakthrough album by Tull.The interesting thing about the 33 1/3 series is how variable and eclectic the variety of writers are. The thing that hits one most about this specific book is that unless you really know the album inside out and Tull's greater musical history, you are hampered from the outset and the greater part of the book proves pretty unfathomable. Every song gets dissected with a musical surgery analysis that drains any desire to go and listen to the album further and the numerous footnotes to other books, articles and websites (including a fair number by theauthor) and discourses on religion leaves you wondering if you have ended up in some heavy version of a music pseuds corner.One of the least enjoyable of the series I have read so far!