Roots To Branches
	Produced by Ian Anderson
	Released on September 1995
	UK CHART POSITION #20 . . . US CHART POSITION #114
	Find it at GEMM
CDP 535418 cover [high resolution scan]

M ana for the faithful. Roots To Branches is the best album the band has released in years. It’s a departure from their previous albums, infused with middle eastern sounds and featuring their most fluid arrangements since perhaps Songs From The Wood. Gone are the mechanical effects, the leering double-entendres, the contrived genius of too many notes. Truth be told, my eyes had to strain a little to see the genius of Tull in the ‘80s and ‘90s. But by the moment “This Free Will” rolled around, I found myself with eyes closed back in the gardens of Ian’s flowering genius once again. Now I can with clear conscience say that Tull belongs with Rush and Yes as progressive giants who continue to loom large on the earth. The creation of Roots would seem to coincide with Ian Anderson’s Twelve Dances With God, an album I haven’t yet heard. Roots exposes cultural differences and the role religion plays, careful (as on Aqualung) not to take sides. Despite something of a religious theme, the lyrical subject matter isn’t much different than earlier discs. “Out of the Noise” is cut from the same cloth as “The Rattlesnake Trail.” “This Free Will” shares the same graceful sensuality as “Said She Was A Dancer.” But nothing on these earlier albums flowed like “Rare And Precious Chain” or had the light touch of “Beside Myself.” This is Tull re-energized, a “Kashmir” that will take you to new places, and a lion’s roar that reaffirms their place as lord of the jungle for a little while longer.

CDP 535418 back sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. ROOTS TO BRANCHES    5:12
2. RARE AND PRECIOUS CHAIN    3:34
3. OUT OF THE NOISE    3:24
4. THIS FREE WILL    4:04
5. VALLEY    6:08
6. DANGEROUS VEILS    5:33
7. BESIDE MYSELF    5:49
8. WOUNDED, OLD AND TREACHEROUS    7:50
9. AT LAST, FOREVER    7:55
10. STUCK IN THE AUGUST RAIN    4:06
11. ANOTHER HARRY'S BAR    6:22
    
    All songs written by Ian Anderson

CREDITS

IAN ANDERSON -- vocals, concert flute, bamboo flutes, acoustic guitar, engineer
STEVE BAILEY -- bass guitar
MARTIN BARRE -- electric guitars
ANDREW GIDDINGS -- keyboards
DOANE PERRY -- drums
Dave Pegg -- bass guitar
Zarkowski Designs -- design and artwork

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