Nightcap

NIGHTCAP is a strange addition to the Jethro Tull museum of music. This is not a studio album, but rather a double CD (once suggested to be a 3rd !!! box set) of (once again) older and unreleased material. Of note is that it (one would guess) is finally the exhausting of all unreleased material, thus being Tull's last 'marked card' of gems and ditties from the past to excite fans. The first CD is the rejected material recorded by the band right after THICK AS A BRICK; conceptually mind-numbing, this work was supposed to be a double LP. While the music and lyric stay right in step with TAAB and the subsequent conundrum of A PASSION PLAY (1973) as being ruthlessly tricky (one can almost hear the entire band counting 11 and praying for the best), the meaning is lost on even the most strident Tull listener; other than some kind of fascination with animals and perhaps their alliteration to castes of society, we're in the dark. Yet the music during this period of 71–74 is potentially some of Tull's most interesting and odd stuff. To say for fans only may be an understatement, Tull fans have never been a worried lot; to this author the first CD is downright gleaming. The second CD believe it or not, follows suit in quality and content. This round is a collection of songs in varying times from 1974 to oh, maybe 1991 or so. While there's a few real toss offs (something about a 'silky maiden' --really!), there's also a number of excellent Tull tunes on CD 2: "I Don't Want to Be Me," "Man of Principal" the leering alliteration of "Piece of Cake" and the 1981 sessioned "No Step," a real odd and enjoyable gem of Ian's. This collection is well worth price of admission if you're interested to see what Tull considered 'cutting room' material; true testament that even the sloppy seconds of this pro group are top notch contenders.