Jethro Tull - Curious Ruminant

by Kevin Wierzbicki

Jethro Tull has endured many lineup changes over their more than 50-year career and they've had some dormant phases too; this is certainly not one of them as with Curious Ruminant the band has released three albums over the past few years. Singer, songwriter and flute player Ian Anderson remains in fine voice, both in his singing and with his lyrics, and his flute playing still sets a high bar for musicians working in any genre. This all is another way of saying that Curious Ruminant is a very good album that will likely thrill fans of the band's past work.

A brief snippet of understated piano provides the introduction to opening cut "Puppet and the Puppet Master;" that melody quickly gives way to a rocking arrangement featuring the full band, of course with Anderson's flute and vocal work up front, but also with ripping guitar riffs from Jack Clark. While it is not quite that, some will hear "Puppet and the Puppet Master" as a throwback to Tull's much-beloved Aqualung era. Pianist John O'Hara again gets the opening few chords on title cut "Curious Ruminant" where the lyrics interestingly mention daffodils, asteroids and other oddities in a delightfully oblique musing on existence; this one is a perfect example of Tull's propensity for prog rock, both in music and words. Anderson's penchant for folk music shines through on the sublime reading of "Dunsinane Hill" which eventually gets to an extremely catchy hook that plays out around Anderson's phrasing during a repetition of the song title. Ian's flute is really rocking at the beginning of "The Tipu House" and the band rocks out pretty good too throughout; this one will also draw comparisons to the Aqualung era. The effects at the onset of "Savannah of Paddington Green" briefly hint that the song will be weird; to the contrary the mood quickly turns to bucolic as the song title indicates it will be, enhanced with nice accordion playing from O'Hara. You can almost see the impish dance of non-human creatures as "Stygian Hand" plays out while "Over Jerusalem" is a jazzy commentary on the seemingly endless contradictions of the Holy Land.

The centerpiece of Curious Ruminant comes near its end with the nearly 17-minute "Drink from the Same Well." Fully the first half of the song is instrumental and focusing on Anderson's flute playing, from a sublime passage to a spritely and folk-y dance but the mid-section of the song is a vocal movement with lyrics that are basically about how we are all equals. The song reverts to instrumental as it moves to a conclusion. Speaking of conclusion, closing cut "Interim Sleep" is about death and not having a fear of it. Anderson speaks the song's lyrics and a metronome-like bit of percussion mimics a (normal) heartbeat through most of the song; the beat slows and eventually stops at song's end. Some listeners will have a very emotional reaction to this cut but mostly Curious Ruminant will bring elation to Jethro Tull fans as it overflows with all the instantly-recognizable hallmarks that the band has long been known for.

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