War Child
	Produced by Ian Anderson
	Released on October 1974
	UK CHART POSITION #14 . . . US CHART POSITION #2 . . . GOLD RECORD (11/8/74)
	Find it at GEMM
VK41067 cover [high resolution scan]

A nother malcontented masterpiece, this time saving some of the choicest vitriol for war. War Child marked a return to individual songs over side-long suites, making it a more accessible album than A Passion Play. The tortuously tight arrangements featured here will hold much attraction for fans of Gentle Giant: violins, accordions, electric guitar are only some of the unique sounds stirred together in this great stew. In fact, this might be the most musically ambitious of the Tull albums, swelling the band’s sound to a small orchestra by expanding the arsenal of individual musicians and presenting David Palmer’s orchestrations right in the middle of the mix as a sixth player. Although the record flows well enough, the back cover is a better indication of what lies within: a wide cast of characters with little in common on the surface. One moment, Anderson is steeped in metaphors (“Bungle in the Jungle”), the next he’s stepped out of character to address his critics (“Only Solitaire”). The metaphor arbitrarily changes on “Sealion” (life is now a circus, not a war or jungle), the time line slips from current day to Elizabethan era. With all this skipping around, no resolution comes on “The Third Hoorah” and “Two Fingers” the way it did on Too Old To Rock ‘n’ Roll’s final tracks. Of course, it’s not a certainty that Warchild is a concept album; while the songs have a shared musical sensibility and the themes are perceived to come from the same character, it’s something of an expansive and occasionally rambling criticism of life in general (a charge levelled against Tull’s earlier albums as well). War Child’s achievement is in its music: some of the richest in recent memory, the arrangements are consistently stunning in their execution, courting excess but impossibly balanced by admirable dexterity. Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that “Skating On The Thin Ice of The New Day” is one of my favorite songs (a musical epiphany, if you will).

CHR 1067 front cover	CHR 1067 back cover	CHR 1067 lyric sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. WARCHILD    4:33
2. QUEEN AND COUNTRY    2:59
3. LADIES    3:16
4. BACK-DOOR ANGELS    5:30
5. SEALION    3:35
6. SKATING AWAY ON THE THIN ICE OF THE NEW DAY    4:02
7. BUNGLE IN THE JUNGLE    3:34
8. ONLY SOLITAIRE    1:28
9. THE THIRD HOORAH    4:47
10. TWO FINGERS    5:07
    
    CD reissue bonus tracks
    
11. WARCHILD WALTZ
12. QUARTET
13. PARADISE STEAKHOUSE
14. SEALION 2
15. RAINBOW BLUES
16. GLORY ROW
17. SATURATION
    
    Songs composed by Ian Anderson. Music arranged by Jethro Tull.

CREDITS

IAN ANDERSON -- vocals, flute, acoustic guitar, alto, soprano and sopranino saxophones
BARRIEMORE BARLOW -- drums, glockenspiel, marimba and sundry percussion devices
MARTIN BARRE -- electric and Spanish guitars
JOHN EVAN -- organ, piano, synthesisers and piano accordion
JEFFREY HAMMOND-HAMMOND -- bass guitar and string bass
David Palmer -- orchestrations, conductor
Members of the Philomusica of London -- orchestra
Patrick Halling -- orchestra leader
Terry Ellis -- executive producer
Robin Black -- engineer
Shirtsleeves Studio -- banner model

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