A Literalist Reaction to Thick As A Brick (Entire Side 1) by Jethro Tull
Вставка
- Опубліковано 27 лис 2024
- Welcome! Please SUBSCRIBE to our channel and LIKE our videos! We READ EVERY SINGLE COMMENT! Your comments help us make choices for future reactions.
We post 3 or more videos weekly!
Dave (the 36-year-old with the impressive beard) was raised almost completely sheltered from pop culture by his strict military family. He was homeschooled his entire life until he entered college. He legitimately has very little knowledge of music and bands from before 2000.
John (the guy in the dark on the right) has been a MUSIC LOVER since he was born in the 1960's. Problem is, he rarely knows or fully grasps the lyrics. Dave (on the left), on the other hand, has never heard or rarely overheard the music John chooses to play for him, but tends to take lyrics literally, sometimes to unexpected ends.
John remains in the dark both as a wry play on the situation but also because of legal issues causing his attorney to recommend maintaining a low profile.
We did not write nor do we own the Copyright for the song used in this Educational Video. This is a real, honest reaction to a song Dave have never consciously heard before and/or listened to with intent. Any "facts" offered by John "Doh" are based more on his remembrances than on any actual research. Please feel free to correct him. He loves it.
Fair use principles under Section 107 of the Copyright Act allow the unlicensed use of copyrighted materials for fair use purposes, such as commentary, criticism, teaching, and news reporting.
Modest POP hit? It was a rock staple here in Dallas. Tull is amazing, all the members. Ian is so very special. ☮️❤️
So glad you did this amazing classic. I think you are the only one to take the whole thing on!
Tull is so effin' good that this music, purposefully created to mock the genre and its fans, stands out as one of the great listening experiences of all-time in that same genre. Astounding!
The best parody is always a great example of the thing it parodies. Weird Al is an example.
The "we created this as a satire" is and always has been misdirection by Ian Anderson. He's doubled down on this since _A Passion Play_ was unfairly trashed by the press, and I think he let it hurt his later songwriting.
This album helped me pass one of my high school English classes. I typed the lyrics out using a manual typewriter. I made copies in the school office and presented it the class as an example of an epic poem. We also had a full listening of the album. It took up the entire class time which made my classmates very happy. The teacher was so impressed by it that I received enough extra credit to pass the semester. lol
well done, sir! - JD
That's because it is an epic poem. Ian Anderson wasn't Little (or Big) Milton, but I still think he was my generation's T. S. Eliot. (And I'm sure he would be horrified by that comparison.)
Ian is a stone-cold genius songwriter and this song is the pinnacle of his talents.
Yes
One of my favorite albums ever. Looking forward to part two. Thanks.
I was a senior in high school when this came out. A buddy had an 8-track recorder and recorded this LP for me. I still remember the music that was playing when the track change happened. Have driven many miles listening to this epic music.
Awesome. Thanks for sharing that with him. This is definitely one of my favorites of theirs for sure. Ian Anderson is an amazing musician and songwriter. There are so many songs that Dave would love I think. I know he doesn’t like to see a song more than once, but the Concert performance of this in NYC would be awesome. When I Sam them in the early 90’s, they had a couch on stage where occasionally they would bring up fans to sit on the couch and watch them for a little bit.
Great to see you guys doing some Tull, especially this one. Looking forward to it. Are you planning doing the 2nd side? How about A Passion Play? Another great concept album, in my opinion. I'd love to see what Dave thinks of that one. Thanks for the vids, guys!
As a kid trained in classical music, with a dad who loved and was introducing me to jazz, and while beginning to appreciate rock 'n roll, when I heard this musical escapade it completely blew my mind. Due to my classical music exposure I was more used to long-form music than my peers, and loved this in a way that my friends could not. I still think that the way all of these musical ideas are strung together is little short of amazing. (That said, I never understood the lyrics, but the music was intriguing enough that I did not care.) Thanks for a wonderful reaction! More to look forward to on side 2 (including a great Barrymore Barlow drum solo).
So listen to side two. And dive into the whole catalog of Tull. Ps I’ve seen this band over 40 times since my first Aqualung show when they played a 15 minute segment of Thick as a Brick start with the first album and see how they changed the music from there on after They released an album every year from the beginning and no two albums are alike so enjoy the musical experience of Jethro Tull!
Awesome ! I was fortunate enough to see this performed in concert! If you read more you will learn that it took longer to put the album cover together than the album itself! It was a complete fold down and open newspaper which everything was written and photographed by them! A total spoof! They actually recorded 'Thick as a Brick 2' forty years later when the made up author of the 'poem' thick as a brick, Gerald Bostock would have turned 50! To explore the many ways his life might have turned out. This time the cover was designed like a web page as opposed to a newspaper! I enjoy you guys! Thanks!!! Fred
As it happens, I saw Ian Anderson and his band at the time (not Jethro Tull) in 2012, I believe, at a somewhat smallish venue in Tulsa, OK. They played the full Thick as a Brick album PLUS the Thick as a Brick 2 album in addition to some other songs!
Not only that, but I was in the first d*mn row! LOL Great show all around!
too cool - JD
I saw Ian A. on that tour as well. Fantastic show.
Remember this was written well before CDs had been invented when albums were 2 sides and had to be physically turned over. The ending fades out and re-emerges at the beginning of side 2... effectively linking the 2 parts. Originally IA stated that the Album reflected and explained what "Life" was about. The follow up album "A Passion Play" was an explanation of life after death... and was another one-song album.
A big component that is missing is the context included in the sleeve art. It's probably impossible to read in CD form. But I remember owning the LP version back in the 80s and reading this collection of newspaper articles regarding (as I recall) a supposed child prodigy who looks about 7 years old who supposedly wrote "Think as a Brick", and how he was the second coming of Milton. Later news clippings show that the kid is a fraud.
@@acfiv1421 :
I still have mine! And as much of a crossword nerd as I am, I never let myself sully that page of the "newspaper" (or any of the pages) by ever putting a pen to it. Who knows: Maybe this album cover will be worth money some day. But I'd never sell it!
Love this song. They have a lot of songs that would make for great Literalist reactions: Songs in the Woods, Mother Goose and Skating Away on the Thin Ice (among so many...)
"Thick as a brick" is being baked, so that tells you all you need to know about the lyrics...if they make sense, you're baked!
When the album was released the cover folded out into a newspaper complete with multiple pages. The group took all the photos and wrote all the articles about the supposedly child growing to be a man based on the lyrical content of the LP.
I still have mine! And as much of a crossword nerd as I am, I never let myself sully that page of the "newspaper" (or any of the pages) by ever putting a pen to it. Who knows: Maybe this album cover will be worth money some day. But I'd never sell it!
Remember that when this album came out you had to flip it over to play the second half of the song. That "wind" gave to time to get up and walk to the "record player" to flip it. That's why the start of the second half fades back in from the same sounds and picks up where it left off.
Your comparison to Airplane! vs the Airport movies is actually spot on. Just as the spoof was so well done it eclipsed the quality of what it was spoofing, Thick as a Brick was so good it's at or close to the top of progressive rock albums in most polls.
Great reaction!! Best part is Dave’s double highball of Bombay Sapphire! 🍸
Doug (of "The Dailu Doug") did a reaction of the whole album, and he was reading that Ian would go out to lunch and come back with the next part and they would lay down that part
Ian Anderson was (and still is) a phenomenal musician, but will not take himself too seriously. When The Miody Blues lost Ray, Ian was expecting an offer to play with them.
When they went with the young lady, Ian feigned anger at Justin Hayward, saying "I'm over here!" It turns out they (the Moody Blues) thought Ian was too big of a star and wouldn't want to play with them.
Yes, all the tropes... Kind of a British prog-rock version of an American country song that would have pickup trucks, dogs, Ex-Wives, trains, ad nauseam. And yet, as you say, well done!
I’ve got my original Vinyl Album, (Great Album Cover), bought back then, when it was released in early 1972.
Saw it all performed live too, at my hometown venue, within a couple of weeks of the Album’s official release.
I was just 16. Love it. 🎶❤️🎶
Tull was my first concert (I was 15) so must have been 1979 or so. Saw them most recently in Edinburgh, Scotland on their 50th anniversary tour. Never gets old.
The truth is that the 2nd side is just as amazing as the first side
When I saw this reaction announced, I knew it was gonna be fun. Sure Dave needs to listen to part II too. Maybe for the balance Dave can also react to the lyrics of the Jethro Tull hit song Bourree.
whimsical yes, after all "and the nursery rhyme winds along"
Ian spoke in medieval parables that only made sense one stanza at a time. Don’t try to put it all together. You’ll drive yourself nuts. It’s as much Olde English Folk as it is progressive rock. A unique blend.
I wonder if anyone has tried to quantify the correlation between how seriously a bad takes itself, and its longevity? Tull and Rush would be at the far end of of that negative correlation spectrum. I have honestly not heard this tune in decades, but it is so good, thanks for reuniting me with it.
If you go look at the members of the band through time it really changed a lot. Rush was more steady by far. Both were excellent at what they did.
One of my favourite albums of all time, from my favourite band as a youth! I still love Tull, but Rush (I know you've reacted to them), whose first album came out while I was in high school (after I was already enamoured of Jethro Tull), has risen in my estimation to the same sort of status.
Glad to see you're checking out a lot of what this near senior citizen (October, when my income doubles; gotta love my country, Canada 🇨🇦, and how it takes care of us old guys ... though you likely already recognized by my spelling of certain words that I'm not American 🤭) considers the best of the best!
Assuming good choices on your end continue to be made, I shall continue watching! 🤗👍
Have you checked out the back catalog? - JD
There music has always reminded of what you would hear at a renisaunts faif.
This album is to music as what Robert Downey Jr. did in Topic Thunder is to movies. Both EXTREMELY satirized an aspect of their craft. With Tull it was progressive rock and with Tropic Thunder it was the Oscar bait movies and method actors. In Tull’s case the album reached the top of the charts and was certified gold and in RDJs case he was nominated for a freaking Oscar for that performance. It’s what happens when people don’t get the joke but your joke is so good anyway.
Thanks! Entertaining and educating! You should let Dave have the original cover (full newspaper) for the second part.
I followed Tull from Stand Up to Bursting Out throughly. Played the records on and on and attended several conserts when they toured in Sweden. Tull (and Zappa) on stage presented most surprises - ever! When they made that about 15 min long live version of Thick As a Brick I was so happy! But I think it was well after (a few years?) the release of the record. Dave should see them doing it live as a bonus although it is not more to analyze (and maybe not worth sending).
A relating is-this-non-sense-or-not song is Traffic's "Hole in my shoes" from 1967. Psycedelic in the hippie year of flower power for sure...or? It is not a typical song for Traffic. I was never a hippie and only 12 at the time, but it is a favourite since.
Steve Vai did a live album where the songs compiled on this album (Alive in an Ultra World) were written specifically for the countries that Vai and his band were visiting. The songs were written in the countries/cities and played live in the show that night....such good stuff
I feel ya John, thanks Dave lol🔥✌🤘
ThLyrics aside- the instrumental work between Martin Barre (guitar) and John Evan (piano and organ) is epic.
I still believe you will develop an affinity for Primus. Such a wonderful bit of music, this.
I have a confession to make! I cheated and skipped a bit! I’ve only listened to this 2,257 times and I don’t have half a day to spare.
You guys are by far my favorite reactors!!!
I dropped everything as soon as I saw this posted. Great pick! I think the lyrics are quite funny, but I also think there is something hidden behind the comedy. There seems to be allusions to war - possibly Vietnam, but it's not clearly stated - all throughout this whole album (the men leaving across the sea, the master of the house is gone, the oldest son of the family returning with a newfound sense of superiority, etc.), being masked behind the viewpoint of a child who doesn't really understand why all the role models in his life are gone and come back worse for ware beyond what he's learned from TV and school. Or maybe I'm just falling into Anderson's trap. Anyway, I'm glad you've decided to do at least the entire first side. I'm hoping you decide to listen to the rest of it. :)
May I recommend Kansas’s live double album from the late 70s “Two for the Show”. It demonstrates how great they were in the 70s!!!😊
You haven't heard the Finish yet you are only at the halfway point
I've listened to these lyrics and read them many times and most of them I don't really get. That's ok, the music is great and Ian's singing is so wild strange, I love how he can stretch a lyric to fit a melody.
It's side one of an album. :)
The instrumental lead in to "The Poet and the Painter" is probably my favorite musical part. The lyrics are great too. :)
Whimsicle is a good description of Ian's music and lyrics.
After this album you should give a listen to A Passion Play. Probably one of the peaks o Ian's writing, full of irony but in a darker way
Absolutely. APP is Tull's progressive peak.
Airplane was actually a spoof of a 1957 movie called Zero Hour not the Airport films altho there were some elements from those movies incorporated into it.....
The “concept” is that the lyrics were written by 12 year old Gerald Bostock who won an award in a poetry contest.
This was a jab at concept albums. Ian Anderson is cheeky Dude. Wicked sense of humor & keen observer of the human condition. The album cover is the front of a newspaper & the original release had a news paper inside. All of the stories made up. And people thought it was REAL! Joke’s on Everyone. He had to be laughing his ass off.
Loved this analysis and cannot disagree with any of the points Dave made. Like a lot of art, it is widely subject to interpretation and since they threw in everying - including the kitchen sink! - you can hardly go wrong.
Now I have to go listen to side 2...
I have it scheduled for recording. Side 2 will appear pretty soon. - JD
@@LiteralistReactions I hope I'm not so busy when it lands. :)
GREAT music and reaction. Dave is red, John is pink. Time to listen to lots more Pink (Floyd). Did you do Comfortably Numb (Live Pulse version) yet? Arguably the greatest guitar solo ever recorded. Visuals are amazing as well.
The finish wasn't "long". It was a transition for side 2 of the vinyl, as that was the medium of choice back in the day.
This is the first half of a 44 minutes song.
The thing is that the "joke" (or, more correctly, satire) is somewhat lost in the amazing musicianship and writing. I think this is an astonishing album.
Great reaction as usual. There's a couple of lyrical mistakes in there. It's not really a huge deal, but it did change the meaning in a few places. For example "We'll make a man of him. Put him to Trade. Teach him to play monopoly and `how` to sing in the rain." It's actually .."and `not` to sing in the rain." Big difference contextually, but again, not that big of a deal in the grand scheme.
the 40th anniversery version is broken into parts for your playlist.
3 albums checkout 1 Uriah Heep "Look at Yourself 2 Ten Years After " A Space in Time" 3 Grand Funk " Survival"
Lace and black curtains- reference to Moody Blues?
I think Ian Anderson being at his creative peak in the early 70s really hurt the parody aspect of this song. The satire comes mostly in the grandness of the music (which is hard not to get into if you're at all into prog) and in the lyrics carrying the weight of their self-percieved profoundness when they amount to nothing more than "Adults put a lot of pressure on kids without really knowing what they want from them," which is exactly the sort of thing that would be insightful coming from a little kid like the fictional Gerald Bostock (who is credited with the lyrics) but is a bit trite coming from university-educated adults with inflated views of their own intellects. It's basically just saying that all the poetic and symbolic lyrics from bands like Yes and Genesis and King Crimson which their fans treat as profound treatises on life really have the philosophical depth of an eight year old who's just learned how to complain in full sentences.
one must remember, the lyrics were written by an 8 year old schoolboy
I think that to better understand this song, you need to read the multi-page newspaper that is part of the original album cover. It is central to the “concept album “ that Ian Anderson wanted to mock.
TaaB --> mocking concept albums = Star Wars --> mocking pulp science fiction.
A = The mocking is lovingly done.
B = The mockery defines a new genre of the thing it's trying to mock.
to understand, you really need to read the cover of the LP which does explain many things
Correction needed, it is not a 22 minute song but it IS a 43 minute song!!! This album was not a “minimal" success but a BIG success in the states when it was released! After side two of this album, the next concept album that absolutely demands time is a 1969 release by King Crimson, “In the Court of the Crimson King”!!!!
We did King Crimson and it was pulled down for copyright infringement. It seems our Mr. Fripp is a stingy bastage. It will hurt him in the end, but, no mind. - JD
@@LiteralistReactions All the more reason for you guys to get on Patreon, I’d join just to see that video.
I will brag a bit! When I was dating my future wife-I would put this album on when making love! I’d have to flip the llama/lol/ lol album! Try typing in LP in the comment section! Where was I? Oh, me having to flip the album was the point. Guess that’s why I’ve been married since 1987! Lol
Side two, in my opinion is better than side one.
Jann Wenner, who controls Rolling Stone magazine and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, treats Jethro Tull like Ian Anderson ran over his dog.
The wind at the end of side A has to be a swipe at every band that questioned what the white noise pot on their new Minimoog did.
Wait 'til you see Wednesday's "reaction." - JD
Dave was lost in the sauce on this song.
FYI - The red haired gene came from the Neanderthals.
'this is 22 minutes long! 2:29
Deletes Grateful Dead suggestion....
Y'all wernt ready... 1:39
It's All "Bungle In The Jungle" Anyway. I'd rather be "Living In The Past", before the systematic robbing of all humans was implemented. Thick As A Brick, is to be Unmovable/Unshakeable. IMO
I bet Dave thinks Jethro Tull is just another member of the band.
Who's Jethro Tull?
@@3ggshe11s a band
jokes. everybody's got jokes. - JD
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jethro_Tull_(agriculturist)
The story is that the band kept changing names in the early days, so that the venue would invite them back, not knowing they were the same band, and “Jethro Tull” happened to be the name they were using when they started to be successful.
Sorry, this was just way too long. I only made it 13 minutes and gave up, I just couldn't make another 28 minutes. I'll try the next one. Have a good day.
There's really no harm in moving along. :) G'day! :)
It's always been a coming of age saga to me, nothing funny about it at all, the humor was in the album cover despite Ian's misdirection, the music is serious as Hell.
Flip the album over.
We will. - JD
You shouldn't have told him that this was a parody album. you should have waited and told him that after he gave his opinions on it, Because by telling him that, he is gonna listen to it completely different than if he didn't know that to begin with, and it's going to affect How he hears and thinks of the Album. Yes I think you made a big mistake doing that. Of course there's no way to undo it now but I would've really liked to have heard his opinion of the album without having it Prejudiced one way or another In his mind. I think when you think about it you'll have to admit his opinion would probably have been completely different.
I don't disagree. Most times I don't give him such prep, this was an experiment. - JD
I thought liberialists hate Jethro Tull but conservatists love them!
Tull was huge with the hippies and bikers