As a young person, we all heard Thick as a Brick, smiled at the joke about 8 year old co-writer Gerald Bostock losing his award because he got 14yr old GF Julia up the duff … it was in the news of that day … but the album itself? Two suites, one either side, with bridge?

Yep, clever, ok, they could certainly play, hardly bopping music. 2026 … listen again? Bits, not all the way through … Barriemore Barlow’s drum solo in part two. Robert Plant did not like that they were almost orchestral, no room for improvisation. Plus Tull had an award as best metal band. Tull? Metal? Even rock?

But it wasn’t until late March of 2026 that I watched these two ladies:

|https://youtu.be/_N6IDqm4dSs?si=pol9rY84I62WneFc

|https://youtu.be/_v7NYJd38oU?si=bU-pBgiNE9L3C-rS

… and finally got the backstory, plus about changing time signatures, the whole parody of prog thing. Before Floyd. Two ladies who know music. And now I know why I was not completely into it back then.

Long story short … someone told Ian Anderson that Aqualung was the first prog album. Rubbish … it’s separate songs. You want a prog album, just wait for our next one … a parody of prog.

Trouble is, everyone saw the virtuosity, that these boys could actually play … and it became a prog classic. Oh well, said Tull … let’s be prog for awhile.

The underlying humour is … nice. Here’s the album: