''War Child'' is the seventh studio album by
Jethro Tull, released in October
1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
. It was released almost a year and a half after the release of ''
A Passion Play
''A Passion Play'' is the sixth studio album by British progressive rock band Jethro Tull, released in July 1973 in both the UK and US. Following in the same style as the band's previous album ''Thick as a Brick'' (1972), ''A Passion Play'' is ...
''.
The turmoil over criticism of the previous album surrounded the production of ''War Child'', which obliged the band to do press conferences and explain their plans for the future.
Recording
The band began recording songs for the album on 7 December 1973, starting with "Ladies". They recorded "The Third Hoorah" along with the outtake "Paradise Steakhouse" on 8 December, "War Child" and "Back-Door Angels" along with the outtake "Saturation" on 16 December, the sound effects from "Bungle in the Jungle", "Ladies", "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day" and "The Third Hoorah" along with the outtake "Good Godmother" and the orchestral piece "Mime Sequence" on 19 December, "Sea Lion" along with the outtake "Sea Lion II" on 6 January 1974, "Queen and Country" on 20 January 1974 and finally "Two Fingers" and "Bungle in the Jungle" along with the outtake "Tomorrow was Today" on 24 February 1974. The whole album was recorded at Morgan Studios, in London, except for tracks 6 and 8, which were recorded at the Château d'Hérouville, in France. According to the liner notes on the 2014 Theatre Edition reissue, ''War Child'' was a much more relaxed record to make, compared to the previous album and the Château d'Hérouville sessions. The studio equipment worked, the sound in the studio was very workable, and the atmosphere within the band was very settled and productive. "Only Solitaire" and "Skating Away" were recorded earlier, as detailed below.
Music
Much of the music derived from past recording sessions of the band. "Only Solitaire" and "
Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day
"Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day" is a song by British progressive rock band Jethro Tull. It was released on their album '' War Child'' in 1974. Written as a comment on global cooling for the band's aborted " Chateau D'isaster" album, ...
" were left over from the summer 1972 writing sessions for what was to have been the follow-up to ''
Thick as a Brick
''Thick as a Brick'' is the fifth studio album by the British rock band Jethro Tull, released on 3 March 1972. The album contains a continuous piece of music, split over two sides of an LP record, and is intended as a parody of the concept ...
'' (1972). The basic tracks and lead vocals for those two songs were recorded during September 1972 sessions in France. "
Bungle in the Jungle
"Bungle in the Jungle" is a song by British progressive rock band Jethro Tull. It was released on their album '' War Child'' in 1974.
A remnant from the band's abandoned " Chateau D'Isaster Tapes", "Bungle in the Jungle" features lyrics based on ...
" also shares some elements with material recorded in September 1972. Ian Anderson told Songfacts: "It was actually late '72 or early '73 when I was in Paris recording an album that never got released, although one or two of the tracks made it out in 1974, but that was at a time when I was writing an album that was exploring people, the human condition, through analogies with the animal kingdom."
"Two Fingers" is a rearrangement of "Lick Your Fingers Clean", a track from the ''
Aqualung'' (1971) recording sessions that was not included on that album's original release.
Film
Originally meant to accompany a film project (the album was planned as a double-album set), it was reinstated as a ten-song, single-length rock album after failed attempts to find a major movie studio to finance the film. The "War Child" movie was written as a metaphysical
black comedy
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
concerning a teenage girl in the afterlife, meeting characters based on God,
St. Peter and
Lucifer
Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passage ...
portrayed as shrewd businessmen. Notable British actor
Leonard Rossiter
Leonard Rossiter (21 October 1926 – 5 October 1984) was an English actor. He had a long career in the theatre but achieved his highest profile for his television comedy roles starring as Rupert Rigsby in the ITV series ''Rising Damp'' from ...
was to have been featured,
Margot Fonteyn
Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias DBE (''née'' Hookham; 18 May 191921 February 1991), known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn, was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet (formerly the Sadler's Wells T ...
was to have choreographed, while
Monty Python
Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...
veteran
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...
was pencilled in as a "humour consultant".
Packaging
The front cover is a composite photograph featuring a positive colour print of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
at night, and a negative print of a studio photo of lead singer Ian Anderson. The back cover of the album contains images of people, including the five members of the band, friends, wives, girlfriends, Chrysalis Records staff, and manager
Terry Ellis
Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence or Terrier (masculine).
People
Male
* Terry Albritton (1955–2005), A ...
, all related to the song titles. Anderson's personal touring assistant (and future wife) Shona Learoyd appears as a
ringmaster, while Terry Ellis appears as a leopard skin-clad, umbrella-waving aggressive businessman.
Music style and themes
The album prominently features
Dee Palmer
Dee Palmer (formerly David Palmer; born 2 July 1937) is an English composer, arranger, and keyboardist best known for having been a member of the progressive rock group Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull from 1976 to 1980 (although she had worked wi ...
's string orchestration across an eclectic musical set, with the band members, as the two predecessor albums, playing a multitude of instruments. The music is lighter and more whimsical than the dark ''A Passion Play'', with hints of comedy in the lyrics and the music's structure, although the lyrics still unleash lashing critiques of established society (as in "Queen and Country" and "
Bungle in the Jungle
"Bungle in the Jungle" is a song by British progressive rock band Jethro Tull. It was released on their album '' War Child'' in 1974.
A remnant from the band's abandoned " Chateau D'Isaster Tapes", "Bungle in the Jungle" features lyrics based on ...
"), religion ("Two Fingers") and critics ("Only Solitaire").
Releases
Tracks slated to accompany the film such as "Quartet" and "Warchild Waltz" (called "Waltz of the Angels" on the Theatre Edition) were unearthed and released across several Tull compilations, and finally all of them appeared on the 2002 CD reissue.
In 2014, to commemorate the album's 40th anniversary, ''War Child: The 40th Anniversary Theatre Edition'' was released; a 2 CD/2 DVD, limited edition package, remixed by
Steven Wilson
Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosio ...
containing unreleased tracks, a promo video of "The Third Hoorah", orchestral pieces that were originally written for the film project, a script synopsis and track-by-track annotations by Ian Anderson.
Critical reception
The 1974 ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' review of the album is very harsh, as was the ''Rolling Stone'' review of ''A Passion Play'': "Each handcrafted track comes chock-full of schmaltz, strings, tootie-fruitti sound effects and flute toots to boot, not to mention Anderson's warbling lyricism." Concluding, the reviewer said: "Remember: Tull rhymes with dull."
The ''
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
'' review, by Bruce Eder, recognizes the quality of the album and the musicians, but stated that: "
'War Child''never made the impression of its predecessors, however, as it was a return to standard-length songs following two epic-length pieces. It was inevitable that the material would lack power, if only because the opportunity for development that gave ''Thick as a Brick'' and ''A Passion Play'' some of their power."
Covers
* "Rainbow Blues" was covered by
Blackmore's Night, former
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...
's guitarist
Ritchie Blackmore
Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. He is prolific in creating guitar ...
's band. The song was released on their 2003 album ''
Ghost of a Rose
''Ghost of a Rose'' is the fourth studio album by the folk rock group Blackmore's Night, released June 30, 2003. It features covers of Joan Baez's "Diamonds and Rust", and Jethro Tull's "Rainbow Blues".
Background
Allusive to the alchemical f ...
''. Blackmore's Night also performed the song live.
Track listing
1974 Original release
2002 Remaster
2014 The 40th Anniversary Theatre Edition
''*Tracks 12-21: orchestral recordings''
Personnel
;Jethro Tull
*
Ian Anderson –
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
,
flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
,
acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
,
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...
*
Martin Barre
Martin Lancelot Barre (; born 17 November 1946) is an English guitarist best known for his longtime role as lead guitarist of British rock band Jethro Tull, with whom he recorded and toured from 1968 until the band's initial dissolution in 201 ...
–
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...
,
Spanish guitar
*
John Evan
John Evan (born John Spencer Evans; born 28 March 1948, in Derby, Derbyshire.) is a British musician and composer. He is best known for having played keyboards for Jethro Tull from April 1970 to June 1980. Evans' father was headmaster at a De ...
–
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
,
organ,
synthesizers
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
,
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
*
Jeffrey Hammond
Jeffrey Hammond (born 30 July 1946), often known by his former stage name Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond, is an artist and retired musician best known for being the bassist of progressive rock band Jethro Tull from 1971 to 1975. With Jethro Tull, Ha ...
– lead vocals and
spoken word
Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...
(on "Sealion II"),
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
,
string bass
The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...
*
Barriemore Barlow
Barrie "Barriemore" Barlow (born 10 September 1949, Birmingham) is an English musician, best known as the drummer and percussionist for the rock band Jethro Tull, from May 1971 to June 1980.
Christened Barrie, 'Barriemore' was an affectation ...
–
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
;Additional personnel
*
Dee Palmer
Dee Palmer (formerly David Palmer; born 2 July 1937) is an English composer, arranger, and keyboardist best known for having been a member of the progressive rock group Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull from 1976 to 1980 (although she had worked wi ...
– orchestral arrangements
* Robin Black – sound engineer
*
Terry Ellis
Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence or Terrier (masculine).
People
Male
* Terry Albritton (1955–2005), A ...
– executive producer
Charts
Certifications
References
External links
* (with Bonus Tracks)
Jethro Tull - ''War Child'' (1974) album releases & creditsat
Discogs.com
Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the l ...
Jethro Tull - ''War Child'' (1974) album review by Thomas Bambaataa Ghidrah Towersat
SputnikMusic.com
Jethro Tull - ''War Child'' (1974/2002 Remaster) album to be listenedas stream at
Play.Spotify.com
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Jethro Tull (band) albums
1974 albums
Chrysalis Records albums
Island Records albums
Albums produced by Ian Anderson
Albums recorded at Morgan Sound Studios