hello all! today’s review is Jethro Tull’s Rock Island, the last Tull record of the 80s!
alright, so. i wanna be upfront. i dont dislike this album. i have disliked very little of the jethro tull music. but man i think a bit of fatigue is setting in. it is fairly structurally similar to the last record – a big push back towards more hard rock sounds. Kissing Willie starts the record with a fairly straightforward rock track, with most of the tracks falling in line.
i think im reaching the opinion though that i either like the much more straightforwardly folky influenced music from Tull or when they lean more into a concept or a theatrical presentation. between Ears of Tin, The Whaler’s Dues, and the album title/art/title track, there’s a bit of a whiff of a nautical theme, which might have been when my ears perked up the most. but it’s just sprinkled in. there’s chance here that im also really just not a fan of the sequencing on the record – it feels like it comes in hard and fast and then the last three tracks hard change the pacing so much it feels strange.
i do also want to note that Rattlesnake Trail feels very much like the “scumbag tone” rock song that Pat Finnerty of What Makes This Song Stink wrote (which was called Dead Man’s Trail, even)(which was called Dead Man’s Trail, even). might be the best part of this album, tbh.
faves – Rattlesnake Trail
dislikes –
Rock Island – 4/10
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