War Child

Artist: Jethro Tull
Label: Capitol
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Original recording reissued
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 094632106728
EAN: 0094632106728
ASIN: B000008H24

Release Date: 1990-10-25

War Child

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Tracks:

Warchild
Queen And Country
Ladies
Back-Door Angels
Sealion
Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day
Bungle In The Jungle
Only Solitaire
The Third Hoorah
Two Fingers

Similar Items:

Songs From The Wood
Stand Up
Living in the Past
Stand Up
Crest of a Knave

Customer Reviews:

"Meanwhile back in the year one....".......2003-04-26

When "War Child" came out they were playing "Bungle in the Jungle". It seems that with some groups, one of the weakest songs on an album becomes a top 40 hit. "Bungle" didn't even sound like Tull's style. But on a friend's advice, I went ahead and bought War Child. It has some of Ian Anderson's best acoustic guitar ("Only Solitaire", "Skating Away"). I turned on to this sound, listened to it a lot, don't like it as much now, but loved it then. Songs like "War Child" (the sirens at the beginning sound real) "Back-Door Angels", "Sealion" are some of Tull's best. "Back-Door Angels" has some great rhythms and heavy electric guitar. This was more conventional than Tull's previous work but not something I would say fit into mainstream rock and roll. It went with the time well, although I didn't buy it until early Fall of '75. "Minstrel in the Gallery" came out at about that same time, both were new to me at the time. Although I think "Minstrel" is better, "War Child" to me is still one of the best. The band has excellent musicians and Ian Anderson's lyrics are deep and poetic like Neil Peart's of Rush.

"A Million Generations Removed From Expectations".......2003-04-19

I definitely agree with the spotlight reviewer on why so many Tull fans hate War Child. I go one step further and state that this album is one of Tull's best. In fact, I think it is the best Tull album post-Thick As A Brick. It is not as brilliant as Aqualung, Stand Up, and Benefit, but it is more solid than Too Old..., Songs From the Wood, Heavy Horses, etc. I became a Tull fan in the late 1980s, and purchased their back catalogue in the order in which I found their records, not by chronology (A Passion Play being the last I bought). I, therefore, had no expectations when I put on War Child. I liked it when I first heard it and, unlike other albums, I like it more today than then. It has a folk sound, but not a woodsy sound like Songs From the Wood and Heavy Horses. It has a folk sound that might be appropriate on a old sailing ship setting off to find riches for jolly ol' England. It is also more solid than their later albums. Usually Tull albums have a song or two I skip or do not enjoy very much. I can play War Child straight through. It is a real pleasure to listen to. The only time I cringe is
during the last part of the otherwise soothing ballad "Ladies".

Besides this one complaint, the rest of the tracks are amazing. The heavy use of accordion and tracks like "Queen and Country" and "The Third Hoorah" gives the album a sea expedition theme. "Bungle in the Jungle," the most familiar track, may be a little too commercial but is still a fun number and probably attracted new fans (is that so terrible?). "Skating Away" is beautiful and so is "Only Solitaire" if you don't pay attention to the crude lyrics. "Back-Door Angels" and "Sea Lion" hook together to make a wonderful 9:00 theatrical number. "Two Fingers" is a version of "Lick Your Fingers Clean" which is on the boxed 20th anniversary set and is highlighted by excellent acoustic guitar. War Child is also the last album where you hear Ian Anderson's low, smooth voice. It begins to get a little higher on Minstrel in the Gallery and definitely changes by Songs From the Wood. My advice is to not listen to disgruntled Tull fans who dismiss this record as a "sell out". Besides "Bungle", nothing else on this album is outwardly commercial. "Skating" may be the more accessible of the other tracks but it does not sound like a sappy ploy for radio play. Grab a copy and find out for yourself.

"Stripped-down" Tull.......2002-09-20

"War Child" contains all the magical musical and lyrical mayhem and adventure one could expect from a Jethro Tull album: even from a more basic work such as this. Although the suites from albums such as "Aqualung" and "A Passion Play" aren't present here, they're really not necessary in this case, since Ian Anderson and crew must've been worn to a frazzle since creating and producing three previous masterworks ("Aqualung", "Thick As A Brick" and "A Passion Play"). Hence, the band needed a break, so they just broke the concept down to a more simplified approach - writing mostly short and simple songs dealing with war and tyranny ("War Child"), victory ("Queen And Country"), freedom [from strife] ("Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of A New Day"), and just plain celebratory mayhem ("The Third Hoorah"), among other subjects. Ah, but since Jethro Tull was exhausted from completing (really) four "Stand Up" concept albums ("Living In The Past" included), the band felt they could afford to flirt with some nonsensical ideas, as presented in the silly lyrics and the semi-progressive flute and guitar drives featured in the whimsical "Sealion" - perhaps the standout track on "War Child". Even a poppish tune works well here in the sweet cadences of "Bungle In The Jungle", a number which reached the Top 30 in the U.S.. A further note of interest: At one point during the 1974-'75 concert tour in support of this album, Ian Anderson would introduce the title of the above latter selection as..."Rumble In The Bathroom"! (I wonder if he had a unique set of lyrics to go with the title change?) Funny stuff! One would call it "potty humor", if you get the joke. Anyway, as was sort-of stated earlier, virtually all the songs fit together to create a story of "biblical" proportions (mini-suites, as is the case here), as Jethro Tull had been known for in prior works. Even though a majority of the tracks on "War Child" contain a slight slant towards commercial pop, it still retains a grand degree of progressive charm, a Tull trademark. "War Child" will grow on you after the first listen, so pick this up only after you've listened to one of Tull's previous excursions ("Aqualung", "Thick As A Brick" or "A Passion Play") if you're one of the Tull uninitiated. Well worth the purchase (trust me)!

An underrated Tull album.......2002-02-17

Fans of the prog rock side of Tull don't like it because it's not "Thick as a Brick" or "Passion Play"; fans of the celtic-acoustic side of Tull don't like it because it's not "Songs from the Wood" or "Heavy Horses"; heavy rock fans don't like it because it's not "Aqualung". This, combined with the radio success of "Bungle in the Jungle"--a brilliant piece of music with bizarre lyrics that remains an occasional oddity on classic rock stations--turned off some people to "Warchild". However, I truly can't believe there are real Tull fans (or any people, for that matter) out there who think that this is one of the weaker albums in the Tull repertoire: "Warchild" is an excellent album. After two complex concept albums, I think that Ian Anderson was looking for a new direction with the band. Of course, that's what has kept Tull interesting for all these years. "Warchild" was originally intended to be a film (a film ABOUT WHAT has never been made entirely clear, although Rolling Stone at the time reported that Ian was going to play God). Too bad that never happened. I think that the plans for a film score are why this album introduces really complex orchestrations (courtesy of David Palmer and the Philamusica of London) along with the songs. Although Palmer had done orchesteral arrangements for Tull before this album, it was really on "Warchild" where the orchestra got to sound like part of the band, in a way that no group had done (or has since done). The running themes in the songs are also intriging--there's war, Britain, interesting ladies, the circus, victory, loss, religion, life, and death. The whole album seems to laugh at the oddness of the world we have constructed. However, the best thing about this album is the music: Listen to the driving guitar and complex percussion of "Sealion"; the vocal harmonies of "Only Solitaire"; the overall merriment and musical diversity of "Skating Away". There is really nothing else like this album. (P.S. I took off 1 star because I prefer "Lick Your Fingers Clean"--a song intended for "Aqualung" that was ultimately dropped from the album--to its reworking as "Two Fingers" on "Warchild". A minor point, really.

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