A Passion Play
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| A Passion Play | |||||
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| Studio album by Jethro Tull | |||||
| Released | July 13, 1973 (UK) | ||||
| Recorded | March 1973, Morgan Studios, London | ||||
| Genre | Progressive rock | ||||
| Length | 48:13 | ||||
| Label | Chrysalis Records | ||||
| Producer | Ian Anderson | ||||
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| Jethro Tull chronology | |||||
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A Passion Play is a concept album released by Jethro Tull. Apparently concerning the spiritual journey of one man in the afterlife, it is similar to Thick as a Brick in that it is one long track split across both sides of the LP vinyl record (actually a medley of segued shorter songs,) save for the interruption of the oddly-whimsical spoken word piece "The Story Of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles". The dense lyrics, filled with wordplay and allegory, along with music that some found lacking in creativity compared to earlier work, have made A Passion Play one of the most disputed albums in Tull's catalog. On its release in 1973, it received generally negative reviews; nevertheless, it sold well enough to reach #1 on the charts in the U.S (in the U.K however, it was a commercial disappointment,reaching #13). Even today, Jethro Tull fans are still divided over the merits of the album.
Script of the concept:
- Act 1: Ronnie Pilgrim's Funeral: a winter's morning in the cemetery.
- Act 2: The Memory Bank: a small but comfortable theatre with a cinema-screen (the next morning).
- Act 3: The business office of G. Oddie & Son (two days later).
- Act 4: Magus Perdē's drawing room at midnight.
Contents |
[edit] Releases
Subsequent to the original 1973 release, the album was released on CD. Later, in March 1998 Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab released a CD, which indexed tracks as per the radio-station promo (see below) and in 2003 a remastered CD version with an additional video track was released.[1]
[edit] Track listing
All songs written by Anderson unless stated otherwise.
- "Lifebeats"
- "Prelude"
- "The Silver Cord"
- "Re-Assuring Tune"
- "Memory Bank"
- "Best Friends"
- "Critique Oblique"
- "Forest Dance #1"
- "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" (Anderson / Hammond / Evan)
- "Forest Dance #2"
- "The Foot of Our Stairs"
- "Overseer Overture"
- "Flight from Lucifer"
- "10.08 to Paddington"
- "Magus Perdē"
- "Epilogue"
[These titles were provided by Anderson for the 1973 DJ pressing of the LP, though they were not included for the standard pressing. The gold Ultradisc Original Master Recording cd contains cueable tracks for each title, but the standard cd releases contain only one or two tracks, depending on the version.]
The 2003 release includes an additional 4-minute QuickTime video "The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles", showing a part of A Passion Play's stage presentations.[1]
[edit] Chart positions
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Billboard Pop Albums | 1 |
[edit] Personnel
- Ian Anderson - flute, acoustic guitar, saxophones, vocals
- Barriemore Barlow - Drums, percussion
- Martin Barre - electric guitar
- John Evan - piano, organ, synthesizers, speech
- Jeffrey Hammond - bass guitar, vocals
[edit] References
- ^ a b allmusic - A Passion Play (bonus tracks) - Overview. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
[edit] External links
- An excellent line-by-line annotated interpretation of the lyrics can be found at The Ministry of Information.
- A Passion Play (1973) at Allmusic
- A Passion Play (2003) at Allmusic (bonus tracks)
- A Passion Play at Ground and Sky.
- A Passion Play at Progressive World.
| Preceded by Chicago VI by Chicago |
Billboard 200 number-one album August 18 - August 24, 1973 |
Succeeded by Brothers and Sisters by The Allman Brothers Band |
